Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International; Sunday, September 28, 1997 - 4:53 PM EDT
Michael Smith UPI Science News
"It's great news," said Patricia Sweeney of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, because it means that most infected people know their status and can seek treatment.
But, at an infectious diseases conference in Toronto sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology, Sweeney said today, "a large number of people (at risk from AIDS) still have not been tested and we need to encourage early testing for those people."
Sweeney said her study indicates that between 509,000 and 545,000 infected people know about their disease, out of an estimated 650,000 to 900,000 people who have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
If the numbers are correct, she said, that would mean about two- thirds of HIV-infected people already know about it and can begin to seek treatment. But getting accurate figures is hard, she said, because not all states require doctors to report HIV. As well, some people are tested anonymously.
So, Sweeney says, the estimate "is likely a minimum of persons... known to the health care system."
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