December 6, 2002
According to the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the number of newly diagnosed cases of AIDS dropped by more than 17 percent last year, to 4,677. As recently as 1997, new cases totaled 7,316. The department said AIDS data are continually restated because of new reporting requirements and changes in classification. AIDS-related deaths totaled 1,774 last year, down nearly 10 percent from the year before. The number of New Yorkers living with AIDS was 50,715, up nearly 6 percent from the previous year, in part because of advances in medication, the department said. Of the new cases in 2001, blacks and Hispanics made up 82 percent.