Epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus-associated pulmonary disease.

HIV/AIDS was initially characterized as a progressively worsening disorder of cellular immunosuppression. In 1996, HIV/AIDS was separated into 2 diagnostic, management, prognostic categories: high-income and low-income groups. High-income people with HIV have had access to antiretroviral therapeutic agents, which have transformed HIV from a lethal to an indolent disease, with life expectancy comparable with other chronic conditions. About 50% of low-income people with HIV who are candidates for antiretroviral therapy actually receive it. Since 1996, the principal HIV-associated pulmonary disease in high-income countries has changed from Pneumocystis pneumonia to community-acquired pneumonia; tuberculosis has predominated in low-income countries as long as HIV has prevailed.