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Some good news
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 1:39 am
by Scooter
From
CATIE (a great source for HIV and Hep C info, take a look around the site if there's anything you're looking to find out):
At the start of the epidemic, AIDS was for most a death sentence. Most people died within months or a few years. Since the introduction of effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 1996, HIV-related deaths have steadily declined in Canada. The number has dropped by 83%, from a peak of 1,764 deaths in 1995 down to 303 deaths in 2011.
The average life expectancy for HIV-positive Canadians is approaching that of HIV-negative Canadians in similar circumstances. A young person diagnosed with HIV today, who is connected to care and starts treatment shortly after becoming infected, can expect to live into their 70s or longer.
Note: Life expectancies differ based on when a person begins treatment, whether they are Aboriginal, male or female, and whether they use, or have used, injection drugs.
Re: Some good news
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 1:49 am
by Gob
Thanks mate, that may come in handy.
Re: Some good news
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 1:52 am
by TPFKA@W
The bad news is some strains of HIV are becoming resistant to the drugs that have been so successful in treating it.
Re: Some good news
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 2:31 am
by MajGenl.Meade
Two reactions:
1. I am sincerely glad that the number of annual deaths is in steady decline. 2. Successful medication should be more widely available in Africa and other places, in addition to the first world.
Re: Some good news
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 3:07 am
by Scooter
TPFKA@W wrote:The bad news is some strains of HIV are becoming resistant to the drugs that have been so successful in treating it.
This is not as much of a problem as it used to be with so many new drugs in new classes being developed in the past few years. For example, the mutations associated with the use of dolutegravir, an integrase inhibitor, actually render the virus less fit and more susceptible to the drug, rather than conferring resistance.
Re: Some good news
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 6:09 pm
by rubato
That's great news.
Is there data on the number of infected people and deaths/infected as well?
I'm curious to see if there is something driving that rolling off off the total deaths for the later years, 2007-2011.
And. not to quibble, but is there more current data? 4-year lag is a ways back.
But very good news and it shows how much we can do when we apply resources to a problem.
yrs,
rubato