Infection of AIDS

According to areport of the World Health Organization,this year will see 2.6 million deathsfrom AIDS,the highest yearly international total since the disease began to take

hold in the late1970s, despite questionable antiretro-viral drugs（抗逆转录酶病毒药）that staved off AIDS deaths in the richercountries.

As things stood,thenumber of deaths was likely to increase for many years before peaking. Thereport said about half of all people who acquired HIV become infected before

they turned 25 andusually died before their 35th birthdays of AIDS,which destroys the body'simmune methods.

Although ninety-fivepercent of people with HIV live in the developing world,battling HIV rates wasstill a challenge in the developed countries of the West,where there

are"veryworrying facts" that safe sex practices are dropping among gays.

While AIDS deaths inthe United Statesdropped by 42 percent between 1996 and 1997,the figure dropped by only halfthat between 1997 and last year.

The report addedthat in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,thenumber of infected people had risen by a third this year,to 360,000.

This was mainly dueto an increase in the use of infected needles to inject drugs in Russia and the Ukraine. More than 2,700 cases ofHIV were reported in Moscowin the

fitst nine months ofthis year.

Although cases ofHIV remain relatively low in the Middle East,increasing use of injected drugsaccounted for two thirds of new HIV cases in Bahrian last year,half in Iran

and more than athird in Tunisia.AIDS is alife-threatening disease because__________.

A.it makes peopleunable to fight infection

B.it kills thelargest number of people

C.it has the longesthistory

D.more and morepeople are killed by AIDS