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HIV/AIDS Drugs Have Saved Three Million Years of Life in US

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Brief Description:
Researchers funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH have determined that increasingly effective HIV therapy — including a decade of highly effective active antiretroviral therapy — has provided three million years of extended life to Americans with AIDS since 1989.

Transcript:
Schmalfeldt: With the recent focus on the 25th anniversary of the first reported cases of AIDS, much of the media attention has been on such dire aspects as the loss of life and expenditures of money as medical science searches for a cure and treats those infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Yet one can find positive and hopeful news in these numbers as well. For instance, researchers funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH have determined that increasingly effective HIV therapy —including a decade of highly effective active antiretroviral therapy — has provided three million years of extended life to Americans with AIDS since 1989. Doctor Anthony S. Fauci, director of the NIAID, explains.

Fauci: If you look at the number of years of life that have been saved if you base it on the projection of what would have happened if there were no drugs available, since the time of the availability of these drugs, we've saved in this country — the United States — approximately three million life years. That's not three million people, that's three million years of life spread out among the hundreds of thousands of people who have been on drugs for a considerable period of time. Now, that's very good news, particularly for those who are in countries and regions of the world where these drugs are available.

Schmalfeldt: Dr. Fauci cautioned against letting this good news cause one to lower his or her guard as far as HIV is concerned.

Fauci: One of the problems we have to be careful of is that we don't assume because of these favorable results that getting infected by HIV isn't such a terrible thing. Getting infected by HIV is a terrible thing for the person who gets infected. Being infected by HIV is not as difficult a clinical situation today because of the drugs as it was years ago before the drugs were available. But by no means should people think that getting infected is something that is a trivial issue. Prevention and avoidance of infection still must be paramount in the minds of individuals who are protecting themselves and in public health strategies. Notwithstanding the excellent results with drugs, we still must not let down our guard and our vigilance and our diligence in avoiding infection.

Schmalfeldt: Researchers noted in the report that survival benefits related to therapy are available only to those with known HIV infection, and about one-fourth of people in the US infected with HIV are unaware of that infection. From the National Institutes of Health, I'm Bill Schmalfeldt in Bethesda, Maryland.

This page was last reviewed on June 16, 2006 .

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