If we can curb the AIDS pandemic in, say, Uganda, why are we having such a hard time keeping new infections from raising right here in the U.S.? Since its recognition in 1981, annual rates of new infections peaked at 160,000 in the mid-1980s and fell to about 40,000 in 1990. But there it has remained, for a decade and a half.

The number of new HIV infections in the United States has been about 40,000 a year for the past decade and a half. It has not budged -- not with new drugs, new prevention strategies or new administrations. Five years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched an effort to cut it in half. It did not move. [...]

There is little question that, for public health experts and AIDS activists, the fact that the HIV infection rate has not changed since 1990 is an embarrassment. At the same time, it is a testament to a victory -- albeit one that happened long ago.

Meanwhile, the total number of Americans living with AIDS is on the raise. The number is currently pegged at 1.1 million people, but with drugs helping people with the disease live longer, that number is increasing. The sunny side of all this? That even with the number of total Americans living with AIDS going up each year, new infections are not. Perhaps that there's "only" 40,000 new cases of HIV infection each year – and not any more than that – is a sign of progress all by itself.

Why the U.S. Has Not Stemmed HIV [WaPo]