Summaries for patients. Comparison of survival among HIV-infected and noninfected people in Denmark, 1995-2005.

M. Væth, and N. Obel. What is the problem and what is known about it so far? Human immunodeficiency virus is the cause of AIDS, an illness that interferes with the body’s ability to fight infection and some types of cancer. Human immunodeficiency virus passes from person to person through contact with blood or other body fluids that contain the virus. Treatments containing multiple drugs have dramatically improved health outcomes for HIV-infected patients. These treatments are known as HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy). Before the availability and widespread use of HAART, people with AIDS usually died of an infection or cancer related to HIV infection. With HAART, fewer people with AIDS succumb to these conditions. They live longer now than in earlier years when HAART was not available, and many people eventually die of causes unrelated to HIV infection.