History of HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS History & Early HIV Crisis in the United States

The AIDS epidemic was first recognized in the United States in the spring of 1981. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was not isolated until 1983. From 1981 through 1987, the average life expectancy for people diagnosed with AIDS was 18 months.

The early years of the U.S. AIDS epidemic caused an unimaginable holocaust for the family members and loved ones of patients, and for health care professionals. Hundreds of young people died each week and the health care system lacked the medical, ethical, technical, and spiritual resources to soften the blow of so many young people dying of so mysterious an illness.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 940,000 cases of AIDS were reported in the United States from 1981 through 2004. In 2004, about 39,000 new cases of HIV infection were reported. Currently, there are approximately 1.1 million people in the United States who are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), HIV infections are increasing more rapidly among women, who contract the virus primarily through unprotected sex with an infected male partner. In the United States, AIDS is the fourth leading cause of death for women between 25 and 44 years old. AIDS cases among women increased threefold from 1985 to 1996.

Although the rate of HIV infection continues to increase in the United States, the number of AIDS cases has fallen dramatically since 1996, when antiretroviral drugs came onto the market. HIV-related infections and cancers are less common and easier to treat with potent combination antiretroviral therapy. The U.S. mortality rate due to AIDS has plummeted.

Current Worldwide HIV Crisis

Unfortunately, the AIDS epidemic continues today in Africa and much of Asia, where antiretroviral therapy is not available and health care is seriously inadequate. Over 95% of AIDS cases and deaths occur in parts of the world other than the United States.