AIDS drugs have so improved the survival prospects of people with HIV that death rates among the recently diagnosed in industrialized countries have become comparable to those never exposed to the virus, according to a newly published European study. Medical records show that, before 1996 – when combinations of antiviral drugs became available – the death rates for HIV-infected patients were 41 times that of people of comparable age in 10 European nations and Australia. Death rates fell dramatically by 1997, to 31 times the norm, and continued dropping until they reach six times the norm by 2006. That’s still a substantial increase in risk of death from HIV, but it takes into account patients who were diagnosed long ago and have been switching from one drug regimen to the next to stay alive. It also includes those who contracted the virus through sharing of needles, and who live with a variety of health risks related to their drug use. The picture is brighter for those who were infected more recently and have been treated with the latest generation of drugs. Among a sub-group of HIV-positives – those diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection since […]