CDC Marks 30 Years of AIDS and HIV Citing Medical Advances and Economic Impact

CDC′s Roybal campus in Atlanta - credit James Gathany CDC

Earlier this week marked 30 years since what is now known as the AIDS virus was first reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their weekly Morbidity and Mortality report. Now, three decades later the disease has claimed the lives of over half a million people in the United States and many more around the world.

In first world countries like the U.S., efforts to educate the population on the disease and methods of prevention have helped to keep the number of individuals affected in check. Unfortunately other parts of the world, especially where poverty is high, the efforts have not been as successful, but progress is being made.

Medical advances have also improved drastically since the outbreak of AIDS began. Once seen as an automatic death sentence, the HIV virus now has a high success rate of controllability allowing patients to live with the virus and never develop AIDS.

In their recent statement to the public, the CDC voiced concerns that the recent success rate with medications to treat HIV may have led the public to a false sense of security about the continued risks of the disease. According to CDC Director Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, “Far too many Americans underestimate their risk of infection or believe HIV is no longer a serious health threat, but they must understand that HIV remains an incurable infection. We must increase our resolve to end this epidemic.”

According to CDC data more than 1 million people living in the U.S. are infected with HIV with most infection in people under the age of 30. Because of improved medical treatments, the number of Americans living with HIV increased by more than 71,000 people from 2006 to 2008.

The economic impact of the disease was also noted by Dr. Frieden saying that, “Reducing HIV rates in the United States is not only possible—it is imperative. A recent analysis of the epidemiological and economic impacts of HIV estimates that if infection continues at its current rate, it could cost more than $200 billion to treat those who become newly infected over the next decade.”

For more information on HIV, please visit www.actagainstaids.org; to find an HIV testing site in your local area, visit www.HIVTest.org.

Source – U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES