History of HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS History

The 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 family members, loved ones, and health care professionals who witnessed, died, or survived the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the United States experienced an unimaginable holocaust. Hundreds of young people died each week. We lived through a time and in a system that lacked the medical, ethical, technical, and spiritual resources to soften the blow of so many young people dying of so mysterious an illness.

In the United States, there have been more than 600,000 cases of AIDS reported since 1981, and it's estimated that there may currently be as many as 900,000 Americans infected with HIV.

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.

Though the rate of HIV infections 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 much less common and much easier to treat with the 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 outside the United States.

AIDS is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, the #1 cause of death due to infectious disease, and has surpassed malaria as the #1 killer in Africa. There are more than 2.2 million AIDS cases reported worldwide, and 33.6 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. More than 16 million people have died from AIDS. According to the NIH, AIDS caused 2.6 million deaths in 1999 and more than 3 million deaths in 2000.

Because of its incredible toll on human life, the United States formally identified AIDS as a threat to world security, expecting it to have catastrophic long-term consequences in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the former Soviet Union.

HIV/AIDS & Sub-Saharan Africa

AIDS is the leading cause of death in southern Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa makes up one-tenth of the world's population, but two-thirds of the world's HIV-positive population and more than 80% of all AIDS deaths occur there. In 1999, nearly 70% of the 5.6 million new HIV infections occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.