HIV AIDS - 25 YEARS

 

ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME(AIDS)

25 years of AIDS

KILLER DISEASE HAS INFECTED ABOUT 65 MILLION  AND KILLED 25 MILLION

Year 1981: First discovered in the U.S. in June by US scientists among gay men and intravenous drug users who reported to be having an unusual immune system failure.  Young gay men in New York and California exhibited a rare form of pneumonia and aggressive form of Kaposi's Sarcoma.

Year 1982:  First case of possible mother to child transmission of AIDS as well as infection by blood transfusions reported by US Centers for Disease Control.  Deaths relating to AIDS crossed 1000 in U.S.

Year 1983:  The cause of AIDS, a virus, discovered by Dr.Luc Montagnier (France) and Dr.Robert Gallo (U.S.). The isolated retrovirus later named as Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV epidemic exposed in Central Africa.

Year 1985:  The first international celebrity to disclose AIDS infliction publicly was American film star Rock Hudson.  Screening of blood donations begin even as HIV antibody tests were being developed in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Year 1986: Worldwide deaths attributed to AIDS disease crosses 16,300.

Year 1987:  UN General Assembly debates on the AIDS. Azidothymidine or AZT a first therapy for AIDS approved for use in U.S. Cost of the treatment USD6,300 per year.  AIDS declared as public enemy number one by US President Ronald Reagan.

Year 1990:  An estimated 1 million children worldwide reported to have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

Year 1991:  AIDS awareness globally symbolised by a Red Ribbon.  One more international celebrity, Rock singer Freddie Mercury reveals his AIDS affliction and dies the next day.  The estimated HIV positive persons worldwide put at 10 million.

Year 1992:  HIV prevalence in Uganda and Thailand begins to decrease following massive mobilisation against the epidemic.  First nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor approved for use in the U.S. First clinical trial of the multiple drug cocktails held.

Year 1993:  Two more international personalities die of AIDS infliction. Ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. Tennis Star Arthur Ashe dies due to infection from blood transfusion.

Year 1994:  First treatment to reduce mother to child HIV transmission conducted.

Year 1995:  First protease inhibitor approved for use in U.S.

Year 1996:  Brazil becomes the first developing nation to provide free anti-retroviral therapy through its public health system. UNAIDS program launched. First non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor approved for use in U.S.

Year 1997:  Estimated death toll due to AIDS put at around 6.4 million. CDC reports first case of probable HIV transmission through kissing. An estimated 8 million children in Africa have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

Year 1998:  South Africa barred from producing cheap generic drugs to treat the country's estimated 3.6 million HIV positive victims by 39 pharmaceutical companies who filed a law suit against SA.  This case generated global outrage.

Year 1999:  First trial of possible HIV Vaccine in a developing country starts in Thailand.

Year 2000:  UNAIDS and WHO launch joint initiative with 5 pharmaceutical companies to increase access to HIV treatment in developing countries.

Year 2001:  Centers for Disease Control in US report that incidence of HIV in people older than 50 is rising twice as fast as in younger ones.

Year 2003:  UNAIDS and WHO launch 3 by 5 initiative to increase number of people, in low and middle income countries having access to anti-retroviral therapy, from 400,000 to 3 million by 2005.  An AIDS relief of USD15 billion announced by US President George Bush.

Year 2004:  Centers for Disease Control estimate that 415,193 Americans are living with AIDS, of which 4 in 10 are African-Americans.

Year 2005:  World leaders pledge to come as close as possible to universal treatment by 2010.  The 3 by 5 initiative by UNAIDS and WHO reaches a total of only 1.3 million persons.

Year 2006:  Pope Benedict XVI asks Vatican officials to study whether condoning use of condoms to stop spread of HIV AIDS is consistent with church's pro-life stance.  The biggest impact of this would be seen in Africa which is seen as the epicentre of AIDS pandemic, where more than 18 million children are estimated to be orphaned by end of 2010, an increase of over 20% over the next four years.

Today AIDS has claimed 25 million lives and infected another 40 million people of whom half of them are women.

UN – WORLD’S RESPONSE IS INADEQUATE.

India has the largest number of people living with the Virus estimated at around 5.7 million infections overtaking South Africa which has 5.5 million infected people. Education programs not reaching high-risk groups.

Sources: UNAIDS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  c GRAPHIC NEWS   Courtesy: The Hindu, 01.06.06