AIDS info

AIDS is the most catastrophic disease in modern history. It has become the world's deadliest infectious disease and is threatening to eliminate up to a sixth of the world's population. An estimated 42 million people worldwide are infected with HIV and 3 million died of AIDS in 2003 (Staff, 2004c). About 880,000 people in the United States (US) have been diagnosed with HIV, about 385,000 are living with AIDS, and more than 500,000 have died from the disease. More than 700,000 cases are males, about 160,000 cases are females, and more than 9,000 cases are children under age 13 (CDC, 2002b). 40,000 new cases are diagnosed annually in the US (Trynka, & Erlen, 2004).