HIV is a recent discovery and not much is known about its history prior to 1980. If HIV infection and AIDS did exist then it was marked by silence because human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was not known and infection did not manifest symptoms prominent enough to be noticed.
Initial History of HIV
What led to the discovery of HIV and consequently to AIDS was the sudden occurrence in 1981 of Kaposi’s Sarcoma, a rare and an indolent form of benign cancer usually associated with the elderly, in gay men in New York. At about the same time, in California, a sudden surge in demand for the drug pentamine pointed towards an increase in the number of cases of a rare lung infection known as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). PCP occurs in infants or in persons with impaired immune systems. Whatever assumptions that were made about the possible causes were shown to be unfounded and HIV and AIDS still remained unknown.
Till that time it was considered that there was no risk from transmission and contagion to non-homosexuals as no case was reported outside the gay community. But by the end of the year, it became apparent the disease affected other population groups as well. Cases of PCP were reported among abusers using injections for delivery of drugs. This was also the time when the first case of HIV/AIDS was documented in the UK.
In June 1982, a group of cases among gay men suggested that the infectious agent could be transmitted sexually. In the US, 452 cases in 23 states had been reported by July 1982. Reports started filtering in of similar cases from Haiti and hemophiliac camps.
In September 1982, the Center for Disease Control defined the disease as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS. It was an appropriate name for a set of diseases (syndrome) caused by an immune deficiency that was not inherited but acquired.
A startling discovery was made in 1999. A similar virus, simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) was discovered among simians in Africa.
How SIV became HIV
It was suggested that zoonosis (an animal disease that can be transmitted to humans) took place either due to eating the killed animal or infected blood getting into human wounds or a polio vaccine prepared from local chimps infected with SIV. Whatever the route, it is now generally accepted that HIV is a descendant of SIV. This is mainly because certain strains of SIV closely resemble the two types of HIV, HIV-1 and HIV-2.
How Did HIV Spread So Rapidly?
Disposable plastic syringes appeared on the scene in the 1950s. These were considered to be cheap as well as a more sterile method of injecting medicine. However, it is thought that in poor African nations doctors did not stick to a one-needle-one-injection formula due to the great cost of inoculation programs. Injecting multiple patients with one needle without sterilization could have led to rapid transmission of HIV infected blood from one person to another.
The world has become a smaller place with convenient means of fast travel. International travel by young men to take advantage of the gay revolution during the seventies and eighties may have played a part in taking HIV worldwide. HIV can also be transmitted through unprotected sex. Lack of awareness during the early years (and even now) can also be considered to a major reason for the fast spread of HIV.
Blood transfusion is part of medical treatments. In many countries, donors are paid to give blood. These were people who were desperate for cash and intravenous drug users could be among them. What made matters worse was the fact that doctors were unaware of HIV transmission and that it could spread so fast.
The HIV epidemic and the consequent disease, AIDS, along with the dangers associated with it, has led to extensive research. It is now possible to determine the presence of HIV in blood or plasma. There are even home HIV test kits that can be used to determine HIV infection with the same accuracy as a clinic or hospital without the need of having to go to a clinic.
Be sure you don’t have HIV. Take an anonymous home HIV test today.
