New AIDS Cases Drop 25% In NYC

New York City continues its long trend of fewer new AIDS cases, thanks in part to the increasing ease of complying with HIV drug regimens.

In a sign of progress against one of the great plagues of the last generation, a dwindling number of New Yorkers have been diagnosed with AIDS over the last eight years, according to new statistics released Friday. The number of adults newly diagnosed with AIDS dropped to 2,225 in the 2011 fiscal year, which ended June 30. That total was 25 percent lower than the total the year before (2,969 cases diagnosed), and 47 percent lower than in the 2003 fiscal year, when there were 4,164 new cases, according to the Mayor’s Management Report, which was released Friday.

At the pandemic's peak in 1993, NYC saw almost 13,000 new cases of AIDS.

UPDATE: In case it's not clear, this story is about the number of HIV-positive people who progress to full-blown AIDS, not the rate of new HIV infections.