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Prognosis?
Without antiviral medication or with only monotherapy
(using just one antiviral drug), the average time
for HIV infection to progress to AIDS is 10 to
11 years. However, in about 20 percent of persons
with HIV infection, AIDS develops sooner (5 years
after infection), whereas in 2 percent of people
it develops later (more than 12 years after infection).
Once HIV infection has progressed to AIDS, there
is an increased risk of death that varies dramatically
from patient to patient. For example, some persons
with AIDS have died shortly after they were diagnosed,
whereas others have lived 12 years or more. A
longer life expectancy is often seen in AIDS patients
with the following characteristics: male sex;
young adult age group; white ethnic background;
and Kaposi's sarcoma, rather than a serious opportunistic
infection, as the first sign of illness.
Since the Food and Drug Administration approved
newer antiretroviral drugs in 1995, the number
of deaths from AIDS has decreased dramatically
in the United States. Between 1996 and 1997 alone,
44 percent fewer AIDS patients died, and the rate
of AIDS hospitalizations and complications also
declined. As more patients take advantage of the
new combination therapies, there is hope that
all patients with AIDS will have the chance to
live longer and healthier lives.
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