It is almost unimaginable how far we have come from the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. The first cases of AIDS were reported in 1981, and the mortality rate increased every year until it peaked in 1995. In that year, more than 40,000 people died from complications related to AIDS. To date, more than 700,000 Americans have died from AIDS. The good news is that there has been a steady decrease in HIV deaths. Today, HIV medications have made it possible to live a long, healthy, and productive life with HIV.
We now have the tools we need to end the epidemic — antiretroviral therapy (ART) medications that can reduce a person’s viral load to undetectable, meaning they will never develop AIDS and they can no longer transmit HIV to their sexual partners or unborn children. We also have pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) which, if taken regularly, prevents a person from acquiring HIV.
