Question

what is the history of AIDS

Answer 1

March 1985, the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed the first commercial blood test, ELISA, to detect antibodies to the virus. Blood banks began to screen the USA blood supply.28

In April, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) hosted the first International AIDS Conference in Atlanta Georgia.29

Ryan White, a teenager from Indiana, USA who acquired AIDS through contaminated blood products used to treat his haemophilia was banned from school.30

On 2 October, the actor Rock Hudson dies from AIDS - the first high profile fatality. He left $250,000 to set up the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).31

In December, the U.S. Public Health Service issued the first recommendations for preventing mother to child transmission of the virus.32

By the end of 1985, every region in the world had reported at least one case of AIDS, with 20,303 cases in total.33

1986

In May 1986, the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses said that the virus that causes AIDS will officially be called HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) instead of HTLV-III/LAV.34

By the end of the year, 85 countries had reported 38,401 cases of AIDS to the World Health Organization. By region these were; Africa 2,323, Americas 31,741, Asia 84, Europe 3,858, and Oceania 395.35

1987

In February 1987, the WHO launched The Global Program on AIDS to raise awareness; generate evidence-based policies; provide technical and financial support to countries; conduct research; promote participation by NGOs; and promote the rights of people living with HIV.36

In March, the FDA approved the first antiretroviral drug, zidovudine (AZT), as treatment for HIV.37

In April, the FDA approved the western blot blood test kit, a more specific HIV antibody test.38

In July, the WHO confirmed that HIV could be passed from mother to child during breastfeeding.39

In October, AIDS became the first illness debated in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.40

By December, 71,751 cases of AIDS had been reported to the WHO, with 47,022 of these in the USA. The WHO estimated that 5-10 million people were living with HIV worldwide.41

Answer 2

Before the 1980s, researchers estimate that about 100,000 to 300,000 people were infected with HIV. The earliest case in North America was confirmed in 1968, in Robert Rayford, a 16-year-old teenager, who never left the Midwest and never received a blood transfusion. This suggests that HIV and AIDS may have been present in the United States before 1966.

But before AIDS was identified, the disease presented with other immunodeficiency conditions like Pneumocystic jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) and Kaposi sarcoma (KS). A year after scientists identified AIDS, they discovered the cause: HIV.