Study gives new hope to HIV-AIDS patients

A Canadian study has found the use of combination anti-retroviral drug therapy against HIV-AIDS increases life expectancy and cuts death rates, transforming a fatal disease into a chronic condition.

The study examined ongoing research into more than 33,000 HIV patients in the United States, Canada and Europe.

The study, which is published in British medical journal The Lancet, found that a 20-year-old starting the anti-retroviral drug therapy could expect to live another 43 years - about two thirds of the average life expectancy of a non-affected person in the countries studied.