On June 5, 6, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a research paper in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), which described five rare cases of lung infection, PCP (a common infection in immunocompromised subjects and potentially fatal in a disease group...), in healthy young gay men in Los Angeles. Although it was not fully understood at the time, the article described the effects of AIDS. Today, the MMWR report is often considered the beginning of the AIDS crisis.
People living with AIDS participate in a gay rights march in Washington on October 11, 10. Photo: History.
The article urged health professionals around the country, especially in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, to send the CDC information about similar mysterious cases. Because it was first discovered in gay men, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has been called “gay cancer” and was officially called Gay-Related Immune Deficiency before the term AIDS was coined in 1982.
HIV originated in 1920 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It spread to Haiti and the Caribbean before spreading to New York City around 1970 and California during that decade.
The US CDC laboratory conducted AIDS research in 1973.
Health officials first became aware of AIDS in the summer of 1981. Young and healthy gay men in Los Angeles and New York began to fall ill and die from unusual illnesses that often occur in people with weakened immune systems.
It didn't take long for fear of the "gay epidemic" to spread rapidly in the gay community. In addition to the deadly danger posed by the disease, they also face the possibility of "abandonment" if they contract AIDS or a similar illness.
In the fall of 1982, the CDC first described the disease as AIDS.
By the end of 1984, AIDS had ravaged the United States for several years, affecting at least 7.700 people and killing more than 3.500. Scientists have identified the cause of AIDS/HIV, and the CDC has identified all of its major routes of transmission.
AIDS patient being treated in San Francisco in 1983.
However, US leaders have largely remained silent and unresponsive to the health emergency. It was not until September 9, four years after the crisis began, that President Ronald Reagan first mentioned AIDS publicly for the first time. But by then, AIDS was already a pandemic. He called it a "top priority" and defended the administration's response and research funding. On October 1985, 4, Congress allocated nearly $2 million for AIDS research.
That same year (1985), the CDC also developed the nation's first AIDS plan, led by epidemiologist Dr. Donald Francis.
Under much pressure, Reagan appointed a commission to investigate the epidemic. And by the end of 1987, the country had begun taking steps to raise awareness about AIDS by sponsoring AIDS Awareness Month, launching the "America Response to AIDS" advertising campaign. By now, about 47.000 people have been infected with HIV in the United States.
Within a few years, the AIDS epidemic morphed into a major public health crisis of the late 20th century, although many continue to believe that it only affected gay men. So 2 of the men mentioned in the study were dead by the time it was published, and 3 others died a short time later. By the end of the millennium, nearly 775.000 Americans had died from AIDS-related illnesses.
People marching in New York City, June 6.
AIDS itself is not deadly, rather it severely affects the immune system's ability to fight disease, leaving the patient vulnerable to infections, especially "opportunistic infections". PCP is one such opportunistic infection, and it was one of the few that emerged more and more frequently in 1981.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS), to date, more than 40 million people worldwide have died of AIDS since 1981, and an estimated 38 million people are living with HIV, making it one of the most important global public health problems in recorded history. Despite recent improvements in treatment, the AIDS pandemic still claims the lives of about two million people each year, including more than 250.000 children. As of December 30, 12, 2021 million people are on ART.
HG (Synthesis)
