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THE HISTORY
OF HIV AND AIDS
HIV, also known as human immunodeficiency virus, attacks and weakens the body's immune system. Once a person has HIV they have it for life. There is no cure, but there are treatments to help control the virus. If not treated, HIV can reach its deadly phase, AIDS, the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. People with AIDS have such damaged immune systems that they cannot easily fight off illnesses [T44]. To learn more about how HIV and AIDS have impacted history, scroll down.
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1968
The first North American case of HIV is discovered in 16-year-old Robert Rayford. Doctors at the time were unaware of what he was afflicted with and he died later in 1969. [T2]
1959
A sample of blood was retrieved and preserved from a man living in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Researchers later analyzed it and verified it as the first blood sample containing
HIV. [T1]
1981
Pneumocystis Dr. Michael Gottlieb and Dr. Wayne Shandera report that five previously healthy, white men have developed a rare lung infection, known as cariniip pneumonia
(PCP). [T3]
1982
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) name the main at-risk groups for contracting HIV: homosexuals, hemophiliacs, heroin users, and those of Haitian descent. They become known as the "4-H" club. [T4]
1983
Dr. Mathilde Krim finds the AIDS Medical Foundation (AMF) which later turns into amFAR. This organization was one of the first to garner public support for AIDS research.
[T5]
1985
Indiana teenager, Ryan White, is failed to be readmitted into his school because of his diagnosis of AIDS. He begins speaking out against the discrimination and stigma surrounding those with HIV and AIDS. [T7]
1984
Dr. Robert Gallo and his colleagues at the National Cancer Institute discover the retrovirus that causes AIDS, known as HTLV-III. It is later renamed HIV. [T6]
1986
The first drug used to treat HIV/AIDS, AZT or azidothymidine, reaches clinical trials. It is designed to delay the development of HIV into AIDS. [T8]
​
1996
Highly active antiretroviral treatments (HAART) becomes the common treatment for HIV. It decreases the death rate by 47%. [T11]
​
1995
Invirase, also known as saquinavir, becomes the first protease inhibitor treatment to be approved. [T10]
​
1997
Combivir, the first NRTI combination tablet, is approved. This enables people to reduce the number of treatment pills they need. [T13]
​
2002
The first HIV rapid test is approved by the FDA. It works by pricking a finger for blood and produces results in 20 minutes. [T15]
1999
Researchers discover that chimpanzees have a strain of SIV that is nearly identical to HIV. They conclude that through hunting, the SIV got into human bodies and manifested into HIV. [T14]
2009
President Barack Obama lifts the travel ban on those with HIV into the United States. It had been in place since 1987 and officially ends in 2010. [T16]
2012
The FDA approves PrEP which lowers the risk of contracting HIV, specifically through sex and needle usage. Prescriptions for it increased by 500% between 2012 and 2015. [T18]
​
2010
Epidemiologist Quarraisha Abdool Karim and her team announce that the gel antiretroviral tenofovir is the first to be successful at preventing HIV. [T17]
2014
Dr. Tavitiya Sudjaritruk conducts a CIPHER project that analyzes the effect of liver disease on children with HIV in resource-constrained countries. She begins implementing yearly checkups for early diagnosis and treatment. [T19]
​
2017
The World Health Organization reports that 10% of those starting HIV treatments had a strain of HIV that is resistant to common and effective medicines. This causes concern that drug-resistant HIV strains will continue to mutate.
[T20]
2018
At the 22nd International AIDS Conference, the Associate Director for Theraputic Research Jintanat Ananworanich, announces that there are 100 known cases of HIV remission and 1 of complete HIV elimination in Timothy Brown. [T21]
1996
Hydeia Broadbent was born in 1984 with HIV. In 1996, she went on the Oprah Winfrey Show to help spread awareness of HIV and AIDS. [T12]
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