AIDS deaths decline by 47 percent

Virus no longer among nation's top 10 killers

WASHINGTON - For the first time since it joined the list in 1990, AIDS is no longer among the nation's top 10 leading killers, as deaths last year dropped by a whopping 47 percent.

The disease moved from 8th to 14th after the unprecedented declines in 1997, according to a report released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.

The data came from the CDC's annual vital statistics report on births and deaths in the United States, and reflected information from 1997. The study also reported a new low for infant mortality and continued declines in teen births and the homicide rate.

Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala called the "tremendous decline" in AIDS deaths "particularly striking." She and others attributed the dramatic reduction to the huge impact of powerful new AIDS drugs that have come onto the market in recent years.

"What this says is that the benefits of the research effort that has been ongoing for last 15 years is clearly paying off for patients," said Dr. Robert Schooley, who chairs the executive committee of the federal government's AIDS Clinical Trials Group.

"This is why we do the research, and it's really gratifying to see these improvements show up so dramatically," he added.

"I would challenge anybody to come up with any single disease that has had such a dramatic change in mortality in such a short period of time."

Similarly, Daniel Zingale, executive director of AIDS Action, called the news "one of the most extraordinary accomplishments in the 15-year fight against AIDS," adding: "Just a few years ago, those diagnosed with AIDS received a sentence to near-certain death. Today, despair has been transformed into hope."

AIDS deaths dropped for the first time in 1996, reflecting both the introduction of potent protease inhibitor drugs and increases in resources devoted to treatment and prevention, and the trend has continued, with staggering declines.

In 1995, there were 43,115 AIDS deaths, according to health statistics center. By 1997, the number had plummeted to 16,685, down from 31,130 in 1996.

In other statistics, the government reported that the overall infant mortality rate reached a new low of 7.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, and the teen birth rate fell about 3 percent last year, continuing a six-year trend. Also, the homicide rate fell 12 percent in 1997.

In addition, life expectancy for those born in 1997 reached a record high of 76.5 years, CDC said.

Schooley, noting that advocates for increased funding for other diseases have attacked AIDS funding hikes in recent years as unfair, said that current AIDS therapies have proved vastly more cost-effective than other, more routinely used interventions for other diseases.

AIDS drugs cost about $10,000 a year, but are offset by savings resulting from fewer hospitalizations and AIDS-related illnesses, Schooley said.

Low-income Americans in many states are still being denied access to these life-saving drugs under Medicaid or other assistance programs.

Some states deny coverage until after AIDS develops, despite research that shows the biggest impact from therapy results when it is used as soon as possible after infection.

"Medicaid must be modernized to ensure that all HIV-positive individuals get access to drug treatment and medical care before AIDS sets in, not after," Zingale said.

Deaths decrease

numbers dropped to their lowest rate since 1987. A look:

10-08-98