ATLANTA – Only about 1 in 4 Americans with the AIDS virus have the infection under control with medications, federal health officials said Tuesday.
Part of the reason is that about 20 percent of those infected with HIV don’t know it. People can have an infection for years without developing symptoms.
An infection was once a death sentence, but medications that have been available for 15 years can turn it into a manageable condition, allowing those infected to live longer and healthier lives.
However, in its first study of the issue, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found only a small fraction of people are being successfully treated.
“The big picture is we could do a lot better than we’re doing today,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC’s director.
Of the nearly 1.2 million people with HIV, only about 40 percent are getting HIV-fighting medications regularly. Worse, only 28 percent have gotten the virus
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