Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 28 July 1996
Stephanie Nebehay
But the UNAIDS program, which issued semi-annual figures on the eve of a major global conference in Vancouver, pointed to "encouraging trends" in the fight against the deadly pandemic.
"There is growing evidence that behavioral changes such as increased condom use, reduction in the number of sex partners, and later initiation of sexual activity contribute to these hopeful trends," the Geneva-based program said in a statement.
Worldwide, between 75 and 85 percent of all HIV infections are transmitted through sexual intercourse without condoms, most through heterosexual contact. Homosexual intercourse accounts for between five and 10 percent of HIV infections.
The number of new infections in the United States fell to 40,000 last year from 100,000 a few years ago, it said.
Infection rates have also dropped in Australia and New Zealand and have stabilized in northern European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
HIV prevalence seems to be dropping or stabilizing in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and among some groups in Thailand, the Asian country with the highest proportion of infected adults.
UNAIDS said 21.8 million people across the globe are now estimated to be living with HIV or AIDS. About 42 percent of them are women and "the proportion is growing," it added.
Roughly one million children are believed to be living with HIV or AIDS, most infected by their mothers. Some 65 percent of them are in sub-Saharan Africa, where anti-retroviral drugs to prevent transmission by HIV-infected pregnant women are less available.
The majority of adult HIV infections occur between the ages of 15 and 24, but take 12 to 13 years to progress into full-blown AIDS. Most victims get AIDS by the age of 35.
Survival after the onset of AIDS is now three years in industrialized countries, but less than one year in poor ones.
"Longer survival appears to be directly related to routine treatment with anti-retroviral drugs, the use of drugs for opportunistic infections and a better overall quality of health care," UNAIDS said.
Sharing of HIV-infected needles by drug users accounts for five to 10 percent of all adult HIV infections and this proportion is on the rise, according to the U.N. program.
In all, nearly 28 million people have been infected with the HIV virus since AIDS was first recognized some 15 years ago.
Of these, more than 7.7 million are estimated to have developed AIDS. They include 5.8 million who have died.
Nine out of 10 victims live in developing countries, with sub-Saharan Africa (led by Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda) and the Caribbean (Haiti and Barbados) having the highest HIV infection rates among adults.
"During 1995 HIV/AIDS-associated illnesses caused the death of 1.3 million people, including 300,000 children below the age of five," the statement said.
"According to UNAIDS estimates, over 3.1 million new HIV infections are expected to occur during 1996, or more than 8,500 a day -- 7,500 adults and 1,000 children," it added.
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