AIDS: Down but not out As the number of AIDS cases continues to soar, the number of AIDS-related deaths in the United States dropped substantially for the first time in the first half of 1996. On Feb. 27, federal health officials said that the 13 percent nationwide decline was highest in the West and Northeast, and lowest in the South. In New York City, deaths dropped a full 30 percent.

In the United States, deaths from AIDS peaked in 1994 and dropped rapidly in 1996. Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on AIDS, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 13 percent decline translated to 2,900 fewer deaths in the United States in the first half of 1996, compared to 24,900 deaths in the first half of 1995. Credit for the decline goes to better access to treatment, better medicines for the opportunistic infections that kill AIDS patients, and to better drugs that prevent HIV from reproducing. Most of the excitement in the last year has concerned three so-called protease inhibitors. When used in combination with two other drugs, these medicines (care to jump ahead in the story?) can reduce virus in the blood so profoundly that it can't be detected. In the past year, scientists have also made astonishing basic discoveries about how HIV sneaks into cells. Want to skip to that coverage? Fruits of basic research But while HIV disease may be down, it's not out. "These are exciting advances against AIDS," says Robert Gallo, a long-time AIDS researcher, and are the result of "steady progress" over more than a decade of research. "But I see no evidence that anyone is cured. When you hear all this excitement, I say wait a minute -- let's analyze exactly where we are with a lot more hesitation." Want to see the actual totals on AIDS infections, broken down by year and race/ethnicity? Here it is. Gallo, who helped discover HIV, the AIDS virus, has been a driving force in research since virtually the beginning of the epidemic. He points to rising rates of infections in African Americans as one cause for concern. Furthermore, the epidemic has not abated among women: deaths rose 3 percent nationally (although they fell 24.5 percent in New York). Most serious, however, is the global picture: About 22 million people are infected, and more than 90 percent of them live in developing countries where the most effective drug therapy -- costing about $12,000 per year -- is essentially unaffordable. And with 8,500 new people being infected each day, Gallo says, "That's hardly being on top of the epidemic." Gallo is correct -- there are no signs that protease inhibitors are curing AIDS, only that they are preventing HIV from reproducing, and restoring health to people who've grown used to staring death in the face. Slowing the pace of death? But the pace of death could slow even more as the effects of protease inhibitors become more widespread. The first protease inhibitor was approved in December, 1995, so statistics from early 1996 showed only some of the benefit the inhibitors will eventually produce. There's no question that science is getting a better handle on the once-mysterious disease that began destroying immune systems in the early 1980s, and that those huge AIDS-research budgets are now bearing fruit. "We probably know more about HIV than about any microbe," says Gallo, "and likewise with AIDS. It was inevitable that this would begin to pay off at some point." As Gallo indicates, the present situation shows if you've got to be infected with HIV, it's a lot better to be rich. But then again, the life-saving therapies weren't available at all two years ago, and that's a sign of progress. Let's start our examination of new advances against AIDS by looking at current research on how HIV attaches itself to immune cells.

There are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 documents.
Glossary | Bibliography | Credits | Search