HIV spreading faster but becoming less fatal

According to a UN report published today, the HIV infections hit a record high last year outpacing the global effort to put an end to it, quotes fftimes.com.

The number of people living with the AIDS virus has risen in every region of the world. Last year, five million people became infected—more than in any single year since the crisis began.

According to wtvo.com, HIV infection is continuing to spread in the U.S. also, but fewer Americans are dying of it. That's according to the latest United Nations worldwide report on AIDS, which is compiled every two years.

The report says 950 thousand people in the U.S. are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. That's up 50 thousand from two years ago. But the number of deaths due to AIDS dropped to 16300, compared to more than 19 thousand back in 1998.

Kathleen Cravero, the deputy executive director of the United Nations AIDS program, said that a small window of opportunity exists to stop the H.I.V. epidemic in Asia and elsewhere.

"If we miss it, it will slam shut forever" and "we will see an epidemic the likes of which we never imagined, despite what has happened in Africa," Ms. Cravero said at a news conference, reports New York Times.