Health News
2006-06-13
AIDS deaths
decline in Kansas
AIDS deaths drop
in Kanasas, but HIV infection rates remain steady.
The number of
newly diagnosed HIV cases is
The number of
newly diagnosed HIV cases is holding steady in Kansas, but
AIDS-related deaths are dropping in the state, health
officials told the Associated Press. A total of 176
new HIV cases were diagnosed in Kansas in 2004,
roughly the same number that were diagnosed a decade
earlier. But AIDS deaths have dropped from a peak of
134 per year in 1994 to just 34 last year. Health
officials say improvements in anti-HIV drugs and other
advances in medical technology have helped lower the death
rate. But they still worry that HIV infections
continue at high levels. "People think that if you get
the virus, it's OK because there's a pill to take,"
Geri Summers, director of the Douglas County AIDS
Project, told the Associated Press. "There's still no cure
for AIDS, and the pills that people have to take a lot
of times have horrible side effects.” (The
Advocate)
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