Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Reuters NewMedia - March 14, 2001
A study of the 394,705 Americans found to have AIDS from 1984 to 1997, and reported to the surveillance system of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, showed that median survival times rose to 46 months from 11 months during the period.
Beginning in 1987, antiretroviral drugs first appeared as a treatment for H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. By 1996, a drug cocktail of protease inhibitors and reverse transcriptase inhibitors no longer meant that a diagnosis with AIDS was equivalent to a death sentence. The drugs can cost $10,000 or more annually and require a strict regimen.
The number of Americans living with AIDS rose 33 percent from 1996 to 1999, to 320,282 from 240,184, the study said, citing other reports.
"Increasing prevalence resulting from improved survival times implies that more infected persons will need H.I.V.-related services for a longer time," wrote the study's author, Lisa Lee of the centers' Division of H.I.V./AIDS Prevention-Surveillance and Epidemiology.
The study found that 67 percent of people whose AIDS was diagnosed in 1996 were alive at least 36 months after diagnosis.
"The longer need for treatment may make it more difficult for patients to adhere to complex treatment regimens," the report said.
"Enhanced prevention efforts to decrease subsequent transmission will be necessary to help sustain safer sex and needle-sharing behaviors for a longer period."
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