This article will cover the primary topics in the history of HIV, from its beginnings to the latest research today.
Origins
Doctors are not exactly sure when HIV originated, but they believe it developed from a type of chimpanzee virus in West Africa called the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). People who hunted the chimpanzees for meat came in contact with the infected blood and contracted the virus. Researchers believe the virus mutated at some point into the human form of HIV.
Researchers collected the earliest detected HIV in 1959 from a man in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Later, genetic analysis determined the virus might have developed between 1910 and 1930.
Pre-1980
In the mid- and late 1970s, doctors noticed that people in New York and California were developing rarer forms of opportunistic infections, such as aggressive pneumonia and rare cancers.
Opportunistic infections tend to occur in people who have a weakened immune system. In healthy people, the immune response is enough to keep these infections at bay.
Doctors at this time did not know that a virus was the underlying cause of these infections.
Studies suggest that HIV was present in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia before 1980.
According to the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, an estimated 8 to 10 million people across the world were living with HIV by 1990.
In 1991, the red ribbon became the symbol of AIDS awareness. The Visual AIDS Artists Caucus created the Red Ribbon Project to show compassion and support for people living with AIDS and their loved ones.
By 1995, doctors introduced the first triple combination therapy as an antiretroviral treatment. This drug combination prevented the virus from replicating, which allowed a person’s immune system to fight off existing HIV in the body.
In June 1995, the FDA approved a type of medication called a protease inhibitor as part of the HIV treatment regimen. In areas where the treatment was available, the incidences of AIDS-related deaths and hospitalizations decreased by 60 to 80 percent, according to the charity Avert.
However, in 1996, around 23 million people around the world were living with HIV and AIDS, according to the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research.
By 1999, AIDS-related illnesses were the fourth-leading cause of death worldwide and the number one killer in Africa.
At this time, researchers estimated that 14 million people had died from AIDS-related illnesses since the HIV epidemic began.
In 2012, the FDA approved the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) preventive drug treatment plan for those who are at high risk for HIV infection.
Also in 2012, about 54 percent of people eligible for HIV treatment were receiving it. Fast-forward to today, and an estimated 19.5 million people are receiving antiretroviral medications.
In February 2015, the CDC announced that diagnosis and proper treatment could prevent an estimated 90 percent of new HIV infections in the U.S.
In 2017, several organizations, including the CDC, endorsed the Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) initiative, which bases its campaign on robust evidence that people who receive antiretroviral medications and have an undetectable viral load cannot pass on HIV.
This education and medical response have provided hope for those with HIV and their partners to live long, healthy lives without the risk of transmission.
Researchers are also currently working toward a preventive HIV vaccine. While the FDA has yet to approve any vaccines, clinical trials are ongoing.
Also, researchers are working on therapeutic vaccines to increase a person’s immune response when they have HIV.
According to the National Institutes of Health, an estimated 30,000 people around the world have participated in studies for preventive HIV vaccines.
Summary
Advances in HIV medications have made the condition manageable with regular treatment. The hopes for a preventive HIV vaccine are bringing researchers closer to eradicating HIV worldwide.
However, the virus remains a threat. An estimated 1.1 million people in the U.S. have HIV, but one in seven people do not know it.
It is vital to get an HIV test as part of regular sexual health testing, or if a person thinks they may have come into contact with the virus.
Source: Read Full Article