Virys

AIDS/HIV

By Khawlah nayeem

  • 1920-First transmission of SIV to HIV in humans

    The first transmission of SIV to HIV in humans occurred in 1920 in Kinshasha, the capital and largest city of Congo.

  • 1960-Virus spread across Africa, Haiti and Caribbean.

    In the 1960s, HIV spread from Africa to Haiti and the Caribbean when Haitian professionals in the colonial Democratic Republic of Congo returned home.

  • 1970-Virus moved to New Yorkand San Francisco.

    The virus then moved from the Caribbean to New York City around 1970 and then to San Francisco later in the decade.

  • 1982-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used the term AIDS to describe the disease for the first time.

  • 1983-AIDS was considered as a gay disease.

    Because the disease appeared to affect mostly homosexual men, officials initially called it gay-related immune deficiency.

  • 1984-HIV virus was identified as the cause of AIDS.

    In 1984, researchers finally identified the cause of AIDS—the HIV virus.

  • 1987-First antiretroviral medication for HIV.

    In 1987, the first antiretroviral medication for HIV, azidothymidine (AZT), became available.

  • 1988-1 December was considered as World AIDS Day.

    The World Health Organization (WHO), in 1988, declared December 1st to be World AIDS Day.

  • 1994-First FDA approved oral test.

    In 1994, the FDA approved the first oral (and non-blood) HIV test.

  • 1999-AIDS was fourth biggest cause of death in the world.

    By 1999, AIDS was the fourth biggest cause of death in the world and the leading cause of death in Africa.

  • 2006-Researchers found penile circumcision can reduce risk of AIDS.

    In 2006, researchers found that penile circumcision can reduce the risk of female-to-male HIV transmission by 60 percent.

  • 2017-36.9 million people were living with AIDS

    At the end of 2017, some 36.9 million people were living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and 940,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses that year, according to WHO. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most severely affected region, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the world’s current HIV cases.