You snooze you lose?
The HIV/AIDS timeline effectively begins in the early 20th century when Simian immunodeficiency virus found in chimpanzees first entered humans in Central Africa. This gave rise to the pandemic form of HIV.
In 1959, the first known case of HIV in a human occurred in a Banto man who died in the Congo. The discovery was made during a study on malaria, his blood later found to be infected with the virus.
Also in 1959, a resident of New York City succumbed to pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, a disease closely associated with AIDS. The diagnosis was made during the victim's autopsy.
In the 1960s, an HIV viral variant known as HIV-2 was identified in West Africa. HIV-2 is believed to have transferred to humans from sooty mangabey monkeys, likely in Guinea-Bissau.
In December 1977, a Danish physician and surgeon called Grethe Rask died from what was believed to be pneumonia. She'd spent a year working in the Congo. Ten years after her death in Copenhagen, a blood test taken during her illness was reanalyzed. Doctors confirmed she was in fact HIV positive. Grethe Rask was the first woman known to have died of AIDS-related causes.
On April 24, 1980, Ken Horne, a gay man living in San Francisco, contracted Kaposi's sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer linked with weakened immunity. He died in November. The CDC retroactively identified Horne as the first American patient of the AIDS epidemic.
The following year, the CDC published the first scientific report on AIDS (in 1982, the CDC used the term "AIDS" for the first time). Meanwhile, more numbers of otherwise healthy, young gay men were reported as being stricken with Kaposi's sarcoma. The widespread misconception that AIDS only affected homosexuals was beginning to circulate exponentially.
In 1982, American author and playwright Larry Kramer founded the service organization Gay Men's Health Crisis. Five years later, he also cofounded Act Up, an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. In England, the Terrance Higgins Trust was established, named in honor of Terry Higgins, one of the first people known to die of an AIDS-related illness in the UK.
A major breakthrough in the fight against HIV/AIDS was made in January 1983, with French virologist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi's identification of the human immunodeficiency virus as the cause of AIDS. In 1984, American biomedical researcher Robert Gallo, who is also credited with pinpointing the link between HIV and AIDS, helped develop the HIV blood test.
Also in 1984, the CDC suggested that sexual contact and exposure to blood and blood products were the most likely vectors for the disease.
Rock Hudson had been diagnosed with HIV on June 5, 1984, but initially chose to keep his illness a secret. On October 2, 1985, the Hollywood movie star died. Hudson was the first major celebrity to go public with such a diagnosis. More celebrities, names such as Liberace, Freddie Mercury, and Rudolf Nureyev, would also succumb to the disease.
In 1987, the CDC also launched a massive public education campaign that warned that "everyone is at risk" to dispel the myth that only gay people developed AIDS. And an additional poster campaign reminded people that there was no evidence that AIDS could be caught from handshakes, dishes, toilet seats, door knobs, or from daily contact with a person who has the disease.
By 1986, a public health crisis had been declared in the US. Other countries were also alarmed by the spread of HIV/AIDS. The US government's response to the crisis included a public health awareness campaign. Posters like this one started appearing across the country.
The year 1987 also saw the creation of the first panel of what became known as the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Today, there are roughly 50,000 panels dedicated to more than 110,000 individuals who died from AIDS in this epic tapestry, the largest community arts project in history.
In March 1987, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved AZT, the first medication for treating AIDS. In August, the FDA gave the go-ahead for the first human test of a candidate vaccine against HIV.
The very first World AIDS Day was declared by the World Health Organization on December 1, 1988. Since 1991, the red ribbon has been used to represent AIDS awareness.
The new decade began with more prejudice being directed against those diagnosed with AIDS. American teenager Ryan White became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States after his school barred him from attending classes following a diagnosis of AIDS. He became infected after a contaminated blood treatment. Ryan White passed away on April 8, 1990, aged 18.
In December 1993, 'Philadelphia' premiered in cinemas. The movie, starring Tom Hanks, was one of the first mainstream films to deal with homophobia and HIV/AIDS, and was a critical and commercial success.
By November 1994, AIDS had become the leading cause of death for all Americans aged 25–44, with the number of total AIDS cases reported in the United States passing 500,000. Pictured is an AIDS patient receiving treatment.
At the turn of the new century, the World Health Organization estimated that 15-20% of new HIV infections were the result of blood transfusions.
As has been noted, stem cell transplantation has yielded encouraging results. American Timothy Ray Brown, called the "Berlin patient" in 2008, was coinfected with myeloid leukemia and HIV. He's considered to be the first person 'cured' of HIV/AIDS after undergoing a stem transplantation in 2007. But he died in 2020 after the leukemia that prompted his historic treatment had returned. So is there any real way of combatting HIV?
Studies have shown that pre-exposure prophylaxes (PrEP) are effective in reducing HIV transmission. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), PrEP when taken as a prescribed medicine reduces the risk of getting HIV from unprotected intimate relationships by around 99%. PrEP also reduces the risk of getting HIV from injection drug use by at least 74%.
In 2023, an estimated 39.9 million people globally were living with HIV, according to data published by UNAIDS. Statistics also revealed that 1.3 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2023.
Sources: (Scientific American) (ABC News) (aidsmap) (History) (CROI Conference) (UNAIDS) (National Institutes of Health) (ONCURATING)
See also: Deadly diseases and infections with a 24-hour window
In July 2024, Scientific American ran a report that a man in Germany, known as the "Berlin patient," had become at least the seventh person with HIV to be announced free of the virus after receiving a stem cell transplant.
Previously, six people infected with HIV had been declared free of the virus after undergoing similar treatment. All but one had bone marrow transplants to treat serious cases of cancer, receiving stem cells from a donor with a mutation of the CCR5 gene. This mutation is known to block HIV from entering the body's cells.
However, one patient (known as the "Geneva patient") had received a transplant from a donor who did not carry the CCR5 mutation, meaning the virus was still able to enter their cells.
Nearly two years later, and after the man stopped taking antiretroviral treatment—which reduces the amount of HIV in the blood—doctors have not found a trace of the virus in his system. While there's always a possibility that the man's HIV will return, researchers now consider the "Geneva patient" to be in long-term remission.
While these results are encouraging, stem cell transplantation remains a risky procedure and is usually only offered to those with leukemia. But there are potential drugs and treatments out there that might lead to a cure.
Among these are potent targeted activator of cell kill (TACK) molecules that selectively eliminate HIV-1-infected cells. TACK drugs could also contribute to a cure by killing off HIV-infected reservoir cells (an HIV reservoir is a group of cells that are infected with HIV but have not produced new HIV for many months or years).
Another method of combating HIV is with the use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs. People who take these medications can reduce the amount of the virus in their bodies and live long and productive lives. But because an inactive form of the virus is still present in a reservoir, the moment a patient stops taking ART the virus in the reservoirs can become active again and lead to AIDS.
Some patients have experienced treatment-free remission without the need for ART drugs. Viral eradication, or eliminating all HIV in the body, is another way of looking at a potential cure. And research is progressing on employing gene therapy that involves changing a person's DNA, effectively "editing out" certain genes from HIV that help it get into other cells.
The United Nations has set a goal of ending the international HIV and AIDS epidemic by 2030. And while 40 years have so far passed without a cure for the disease, the progress made in understanding the virus and how it works is remarkable. Let's take a look at how HIV emerged and how humanity responded.
A recent report published by Scientific American claimed that a patient with HIV/AIDS had been cured of the disease after receiving a stem cell transplant. And this isn't the first time a person has been declared HIV-free after undergoing this risky treatment. While the results appear to be encouraging, there is still no definitive remedy for this potentially deadly condition, a disorder that was first identified over 40 years ago. So, what exactly does this treatment entail, and how does it work?
Click through and find out how scientists are searching for an HIV cure, and what's been achieved over the last four decades.
Progress in HIV research: how close are we to a cure?
How close are we to the answer?
HEALTH Viruses
A recent report published by Scientific American claimed that a patient with HIV/AIDS had been cured of the disease after receiving a stem cell transplant. And this isn't the first time a person has been declared HIV-free after undergoing this risky treatment. While the results appear to be encouraging, there is still no definitive remedy for this potentially deadly condition, a disorder that was first identified over 40 years ago. So, what exactly does this treatment entail, and how does it work?
Click through and find out how scientists are searching for an HIV cure, and what's been achieved over the last four decades.