The rate of those living for at least five years past an AIDS diagnosis improved dramatically during the post-1996 modern era of HIV treatment, but there’s still room for improvement. Researchers analyzed data from the San Francisco Department of Public Health on nearly 21,000 people diagnosed with AIDS during three periods: 1981 to 1986, 1987 to 1996, and 1997 to 2012.
By 2012, a respective 98 percent, 89 percent and 42 percent of the people diagnosed in each period had died. The five-year survival rate leaped from 7 percent in the first era to 18 percent in the second and 65 percent in the most recent. The study authors have made a push for better prevention and treatment efforts to boost the current survival rate.