Better Treatment, Longer Life

The number of deaths for people living with AIDS has dropped significantly in the United States due to the rise of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The rate of deaths for people with HIV/AIDS decreased from 35,340 in 1996 to 13,750 in 2006, according to Medical News Today.

The study, by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's division of HIV/AIDS prevention, showed, however that the number of deaths due to liver, heart, and kidney diseases. AIDS treatment drugs tend to be taxing on these organs, which filter or regulate blood.

"HAART has prolonged the survival of HIV-infected persons by reducing deaths caused by diseases attributable to HIV," the study's authors wrote in the Journal of International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care. "HIV-infected persons and their health care providers should take action to prevent diseases unrelated to HIV that are common in populations at risk of HIV infection, including conditions resulting from smoking and abuse of alcohol and other drugs, as well as chronic diseases common in the general population."