An alarming 56,300 new infections of HIV/AIDS are reported each year in the United States alone. And 1.1 million people are living with HIV, of whom 20% do not know they are infected. The global count of new annual infections stands at 2.7 million, as per the facts revealed last week during a briefing that focused on combating the deadly virus.

According to Anthony Fauci, MD, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, the common goal in HIV/AIDS research is to control and ultimately end the pandemic.

Held in collaboration with Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Barbara Lee, and Elliot Engel, the briefing was cosponsored by amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research; AVAC; HIV Medicine Association; IDSA/HIVMA Center for Global Health Policy; the San Francisco AIDS Foundation; and the Treatment Action Group.

Dubbing the advances by the virus as stunning, the briefing highlighted the need to do away with the impression that HIV/AIDS had been combated. "There is an impression that we really have our arms around this and that things are stable - but they are not," Dr. Fauci said. "Currently, worldwide, there are 2.7 million new infections each year, which is still really completely and totally unacceptable," he said.

Dr. Fauci asserted that the three vital, common goals that needed to be achieved for restraining the HIV/AIDS pandemic from spreading further included scaling up delivery of proven therapies, curing existing infections and preventing new infections.