Extensive academic as well as economic resources have been invested to study AIDS at a scale and speed unparalleled by any other disease or syndrome. In spite of all these efforts, an estimated 25 million people have died from AIDS in the last 25 years. December 31, 2005. In the latest UNAIDS update on the AIDS epidemic, â¼40.3 million people are believed to be living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or AIDS worldwide.