Despite early progress with medications, the virus continued to spread. By 1994, AIDS was the leading cause of death for all Americans aged twenty-five to forty-four. By 1999, sub-Saharan Africa became the epicenter of the global epidemic: HIV patients occupied 50 to 80 percent of the hospital beds in the region. South Africa became the country with the highest absolute number of people living with HIV. While treatments continued to develop, their benefit was not shared equally across classes or continents.