FRIDAY, June 3 (HealthDay News) -- Despite declines in AIDS diagnoses and deaths with the advent of antiretroviral therapy, more than one million people in the United States were living with HIV in 2008, according to a report in the June 3 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The CDC reviewed data from the National HIV Surveillance System to characterize trends in HIV infection and AIDS in the United States between 1981 and 2008. Between 1981 and 1995, the data revealed sharp increases in the number of new AIDS diagnoses and deaths among those aged ≥13 years, reaching highs of 75,457 in 1992 and 50,628 in 1995, respectively.
Between 1995 and 1998, AIDS diagnoses and deaths declined substantially after the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy, with AIDS diagnoses and deaths remaining stable between 1999 and 2008. But by the end of 2008, an estimated 1,178,350 individuals were living with HIV, including 236,400 (20.1 percent) whose infection was undiagnosed. Almost 50 percent of the individuals living with HIV were men who have sex with men.
"These findings underscore the importance of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy focus on reducing HIV risk behaviors, increasing opportunities for routine testing, and enhancing use of care," the authors write.
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