While entire regions in South Africa were depopulated because the population fell prey to an epidemic, we are no longer really afraid of the disease here. The HIV virus appears to be controllable by new medications. The young generation is becoming increasingly careless and the number of new cases is rising again. There is still no cure for this disease and living with someone who has AIDS (Acquired Immune Defiency Syndrome) is not easy.
Early eighties
In the summer of 1981, the Center for Disease Control was alerted: up to that point, five healthy homosexual men in the Los Angeles area had been infected with the rare lung disease Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), which attacks the immune system. Almost at the same time, a type of cancer (Kaposi-Sarkom) occurs very frequently in New York. It looks like a new disease has been discovered. Although it does not have a name yet, it does have many symptoms. Because in the beginning it was mainly homosexuals who got the disease, scientists suspected a connection. The syndrome was named Gay Related Immune Deficiency (GRID). But soon this name had to be changed because it was too loaded. More and more patients appeared who have nothing to do with homosexuality. Only then, in the summer of 1982, was the disease called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). In 1982, the disease was identified in 14 countries. We suspected that a certain virus attacks the immune system and thus causes many diseases.
Mid eighties
French scientist Charlie Dauguet worked at the French Pasteur Institute and conducted research into the development of retroviruses. Dauguet is the first to see the HIV virus under a microscope. It was named Lymphadenopathy virus (LAV). Shortly afterwards, the American Robert Gallo also managed to isolate the retro virus. He called it the Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus-III (HLV-III). It was not until 1986 that scientists agreed on the name: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It was believed that a cure against this newly discovered disease would soon be found. Unfortunately, the scientists had to admit how wrong they were. During this time, the number of cases of illness increased rapidly. At the end of 1983, 3,000 people in the USA had been infected with the virus, many of whom had already died. Hysteria developed in the US and Europe. In Germany, an article in “Der Spiegel” startled people. ‘Gay disease’ was used as the title for the piece. However, the article stated that this is a dangerous term. After all, no one knew how the virus was transmitted. One thing was certain: everyone can get it, men and women, homosexuals and heterosexuals, adults and children.
1985 to 1995
In 1985, the death of movie star Rock Hudson shocked the population. Only now did many people become aware that not only unknown people can get AIDS, but also beloved celebrities and acquaintances. Even before his death, Rock Hudson had founded the American Foundation of AIDS Research, of which Elisabeth Taylot became chairman after his death. Her involvement changed the minds of the population, as did Lady Diana’s visit to an English hospital for people suffering from AIDS. The fact that she did not wear gloves during her visit and yet simply shook hands with an HIV-infected person was quite a sensation at that moment. It is now known that the virus can only be transmitted through blood and sexual contact. As knowledge increased, tolerance towards patients grew, but at the same time there was a decline in how the disease was dealt with.
The US banned HIV-infected people from entering the country, Pope John Paul II banned condoms, Bavaria forced certain officials to undergo an HIV test (until 1995) and in America the boy Ryan White was not given the opportunity to attend a normal school. At the end of 1990, the number of HIV-infected people was estimated at 8 million people. Famous personalities such as artist Keith Haring, the father of the muppets Jim Henson and the singer of the rock group Queen, Freddy Mercury, also died here. These famous and also all unknown deceased have been commemorated since 1987 by the ‘Aids Memorial Quilt’, which is visited by thousands of people from all over the world. In 1991 there was the red bow, which was distributed among thousands in Europe a year later during a memorial concert for Freddy Mercury. Until now, the only medicine that alleviated the disease was Azidothymidin (AZT). This drug does have strong side effects and most patients quickly developed resistance to the drug.
1996 to present
In the mid-1990s, HIV scientist David Ho began combination therapy. Finally a method had been developed that, although not a cure, could make life with AIDS bearable. However, the epidemic had not yet stopped; according to WHO data, 2.5 million new people were infected with HIV in 2007. 2.1 million people died of AIDS, including 330,000 children. Worldwide, the number of infected is estimated at 33 million people. Many people die from the consequences of this disease, especially in poorer countries, because they are not sufficiently informed. In addition to information, medicines are the only option for these countries to control the epidemic. In 2001, the WHO agreed and gave developing countries the right to receive these medicines in the event of national disasters. That same year, The Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria was established. Two years later, the WTO agreed that not only would the countries receive the medicines they produced, but that it would also be made easier for other countries. Nowadays, when people talk about AIDS, they often only think of South Africa. Two-thirds of those infected live there. Yet at the same time, the number of venereal diseases is increasing again in western countries. That is a clear sign that people no longer consider safe sex to be so important. A new generation has come of age and that is a generation that did not consciously experience the shock of the first years of this disease. In 2007, the number of HIV-infected people rose alarmingly in Asia and Eastern Europe. Information provision in Asian countries and Eastern Europe has only just begun. In Beijing, it was only in 2003 that they wanted to broadcast a commercial about condoms on television. In the west it was also realized that information had to continue. In America, a television film won all the Golden Globe awards in its section: Angels in America in 2004. That is a film, based on a theater play from the nineties, that tells the stories of several HIV-infected people in America in the eighties. Until then, politicians would have preferred to cover up this new epidemic.
