Experts Hopeful of Eradicating AIDS in Future

Declining cases of people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have offered hopes of eradicating AIDS in future with better access to drugs that can both treat and prevent it, according to experts.

Some 34 million people had HIV by 2011. Worldwide, the number of people newly infected with the disease, which can be transmitted via blood and by semen during sex, is falling, it said.

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At 2.5 million, the number of new infections in 2011 was 20 percent lower than in 2001. Deaths from AIDS also fell to 1.7 million in 2011, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2005 and from 1.8 million in 2010.

The report said this allowed the "foundation to be laid for the eventual end of AIDS". In 2012, over 100,000 people are living with HIV in the UK. Of these, a quarter do not know they are carrying the virus, according to the Daily Mail.

However, sub-Saharan Africa is the most severely affected region with almost one in every 20 adults infected with it, nearly 25 times the rate in Asia.

Screening for HIV/AIDS Infection
Efficient screening and better drugs help reduce the prevalence of HIV infection. A number of tests like ELIZA & Western Blot are used for screening HIV.

There are also almost five million people with HIV in South, south-east and east Asia combined.

"Although AIDS remains one of the world's most serious health challenges, global solidarity in the AIDS response during the past decade continues to generate extraordinary health gains," the report said.

Quiz on HIV / AIDS
Statistics tell us that the world HIV+ population has risen drastically from 8 million in 1990 to a whopping 33 million in 2007! Even more alarming is the fact that young people (below the age of 25) account for half of these infections! This is adequate proof for the lack of awareness among the general public even in these modern times. So take our quiz and brush up on the essential facts of HIV/AIDS.

There are 10 questions on HIV / AIDS in this quiz that will explore the depth of your knowledge and provide answers to the following:

Immune control of HIV ()
Symptoms of HIV/AIDS ()
Cure for AIDS ()
Acute HIV syndrome ()
World AIDS day ()
Western blot ()

Since 1995, AIDS drug treatment - known as anti-retroviral therapy (ART) - has saved 14 million life-years in poorer countries, including 9 million in sub-Saharan Africa, the report said.

Source-IANS

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