Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - Thursday, October 8, 1998
David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor
As a result, the disease no longer ranks among the nation's top 10 causes of death, and is now 14th, compared with 8th in 1996.
Specialists attributed the sharpest drop in the AIDS death toll on record to the impact of a new family of drugs, called protease inhibitors, that can virtually wipe out detectable levels of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The drugs have restored many infected people to at least temporary good health. Increased use of condoms and other prevention efforts have also played a significant role in the improving picture of the AIDS epidemic in the United States -- although its ravages in Africa, Asia and the nations of the former Soviet Union remain unchecked.
Daniel Zingale, executive director of the national advocacy group AIDS Action, called the news ``one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in the 15-year fight against AIDS,'' and added: ``Just a few years ago, those diagnosed with AIDS received a sentence to near-certain death. Today, despair has been transformed into hope.''
Among young U.S. adults in the most sexually active age group -- those between 25 and 44 -- AIDS- related illnesses were the leading cause of death in 1995, but by 1997, they ranked fifth, the report said.
The annual preliminary estimate of deaths from all causes was issued yesterday by the National Center for Health Statistics. It reported that AIDS-related illnesses killed a total of 16,685 Americans last year -- a striking 46.4 percent drop from the 31,130 AIDS deaths in 1996.
The report also noted that the nation's infant mortality rate declined slightly last year to reach a new low of 7.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, while births to teenagers -- a long-standing problem in the changing sexual behavior of young people -- fell by an estimated 3 percent.
The report also estimated that national homicide rates dropped by 12 percent last year, and there were significant declines in deaths from firearm injuries, drug abuse and alcoholism.
As a result of many other improvements in the nation's health, life expectancy for people born in 1997 rose to a record high of 76.5, according to the estimates.
The three leading causes of death in America remained virtually unchanged last year, the report said: heart disease, with an estimated 725,790 deaths compared with 733,361 deaths in 1996; cancer, with 537,390 deaths in 1997 and 539,533 the year before; and strokes, with 159,877 deaths last year and 159,942 in 1996.
Rounding out the top 10 are chronic lung diseases, accidents, pneumonia and influenza, diabetes, suicide, kidney disease and bacterial blood infections.
On the other side of the nation's statistics were the estimated totals of births for the year. Preliminary estimates indicated there were 3,894,970 births in the United States during 1997, only a little more than the 3,891,494 babies born in 1996. Of the 1997 babies, 1,260,593 were born to unmarried women, a virtually identical total to 1996.
Table 1. AIDS DEATHS DROP Total yearly AIDS deaths in U.S.
| 1990 | 31,466 |
|---|---|
| 1994 | 47,636 |
| 1997 | 16,685 |
Source: National Center for Health Statistics
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