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Date: Thursday, Sept. 18, 1997 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: CDC, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention Office of Health Communication (404) 639-8895
The incidence of AIDS among people over age 12 declined 6% between 1995 and 1996, from 60,620 cases to 56,730 cases, says the report in the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. This decline reflects recent advances in treatment of HI V infection that have lengthened the healthy lifespan of people living with HIV and the success of HIV prevention and education efforts that have helped to reduce the number of Americans becoming infected with HIV.
"This is remarkable evidence that our efforts in prevention and treatment are allowing more people to live free of HIV while we are extending the healthy lives of those who are infected," said HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala. "We m ust not let up in our determination to put an end to this epidemic by reducing new infections, developing more effective treatments, and ultimately, developing a vaccine and a cure."
The impact of combination drug therapies--including the use of protease inhibitors--has been evidenced throughout this year as AIDS
deaths in the U.S. have continued to decline. These new data released today not only confirm the trend of declining AIDS deaths, but also indicate that, for many individuals, the new therapies are helping to delay progression from HIV infection to AIDS d iagnosis in the first place.
Despite these positive new trends, there still are reasons for concern. While the incidence (new AIDS diagnoses) declined 15% among white gay and bisexual men, the incidence of AIDS among heterosexuals continued to rise, increasing 11% among men and 7% among women. AIDS incidence declined or leveled in all racial and ethnic groups with the largest drop (-13%) occurring among whites, followed by Hispanics (-5%) and African Americans (0%). There was a significant decline in AIDS incidence among g ay and bisexual men who also inject drugs (-17% among whites and -13% among African Americans).
"To succeed in the fight against HIV, we have to continue to focus on both prevention and treatment," said David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., Director of CDC. "Today's findings show we are making progress, but to keep reducing AIDS, we ne ed to maintain a comprehensive effort to provide treatment to those infected while continuing to work to prevent new infections in the first place."
According to CDC, the challenge of prevention will be even greater as the number of people living with HIV and AIDS grows. CDC reports that the number of people living with AIDS (also known as AIDS prevalence) increased 11% between 1995 and 1996. As of December 1996, there were 235,470 Americans reported to be living with AIDS. As progression from HIV infection to AIDS diagnosis slows, the number of people living with HIV (HIV prevalence) will also increase.
In response to the changing epidemic, CDC is taking steps to improve the nation's ability to monitor HIV prevalence and incidence, given the new era in HIV treatment. "We are approaching a turning point in the way we need to track this epide mic," said Helene Gayle, M.D., M.P.H., Director of CDC's National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention. "As our ability to treat HIV infection has advanced, reports of AIDS cases have become less indicative of recent trends in the epidemic. We must improve our ability to monitor HIV infection to effectively determine evolving patterns of epidemics so that we can appropriately target resources for prevention and treatment."
Currently all 50 states require the reporting of AIDS diagnoses and AIDS deaths to the CDC. Thirty states also require the reporting of HIV infections among adults and/or children. CDC plans to continue working with state health departments, hea lth care providers, and the community to ensure that HIV/AIDS surveillance data accurately reflect the epidemic.
Other important trends in AIDS incidence between 1995 and 1996 include: