The history of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in the United States starts in 1981, the year it became recognized by country as an official new strange disease. By 1982 it was recognized as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It started in San Francisco, with five young homosexual men, they were presented with Pneumonia (PCP). As the year went on there were more reports of homosexual men presenting PCP and some of them were diagnosed with PCP and Kaposi´s Sarcoma (KS). Others reports from drug injection users follow the same syndromes. All of these individuals shared a profound immunodeficiency, the hallmark of which was a depletion of CD4-positive, or T-helper, lymphocytes (Osmond, 2003). The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) …show more content…
The first death on HIV reported, was in 1985. By 1987, regulations were issued, AIDS was added to the official South Africa list of communicable disease. The spread of HIV in South Africa is best described as explosive because of the rapid rise in HIV prevalence (Karim & Karim, 2002). HIV kept spreading around homosexuals, it came to a point where also women, infants and people that got blood transfusions were infected with it. At this point it became a red light for the government. In 1994, with Nelson Mandela as a president HIV/AIDS got attention, but it wasn 't the attention it needed. In 2009 with President Jacob Zuma, there was another big change that transformed the health police, bringing more attention to it, looking for a better health care and control of the disease.
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United States United States has a goal in mind regarding Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) infection, to become a country free HIV/AIDS, make it a rare disease and if someone gets it, the person will receive a high quality healthcare and no discrimination for the disease nor the person´s economy, ethics, sexual orientation, etc. In 2010 it was established the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States. With President Obama in charged, the government committed to reach three main goals regarding the HIV/AIDS strategy plan; reduce the number of people
For centuries, “AIDS has been spread through sexual contact and direct contact with bodily fluids such as blood, semean, and breast milk” (Disease background). Also, is spread through perinatal transmission which is when an AIDS-infected mother gives birth and passes the virus on to her child. The virus develops rapidly in the first few months affecting the immune system and preventing the body from fighting infections. The sex trade began to grow around the same time AIDS started to spread. Many say that, “most of the first AIDS cases were recorded in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1920, and by 1980 the disease was spreading in different parts of Africa” (Origin of HIV and AIDS).
Nearly three decades ago, there was an increase in deaths of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Developing countries have experienced the greatest HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality, with the highest prevalence rates recorded in young adults in sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa over three million people are killed by this disease (Macfarlene3). After this epidemic spreaded in Africa and killed people it branched out to other countries in the world.
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is related to HIV, but they are not one in the same. A person has AIDS only in the final stages of HIV, after the immune system becomes unable to defend itself against foreign bacteria, other viruses, and fungi, and allows for the development of certain cancers. The world first became aware of AIDS in the early 1980s. Growing numbers of gay men in New York and California were developing rare types of pneumonia and cancer, and a wasting disease was spreading in Uganda. Doctors reported AIDS symptoms under different names, including “gay-related immune deficiency” and “slim,” but by 1985, they reported them all over the world.
According to a report published in the February 1998 edition of “Nature”, scientists identified what they believe is the earliest case of AIDs in a man from the Congo in 1959. (Lerner and Hombs 39) By the end of the year 1980, 80 men would have been diagnosed with at least of the opportunistic infections that are a characteristic of AIDs. (Lerner and Hombs 40) AIDs cases in the 1980s increased dramatically not only around the world but in the United States, primarily in larger cities like Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco. The numbers of AIDs diagnoses and deaths spiraled out of control throughout the 1980s and towards the end of 1989 there were 117,500 cases of AIDS reported and 89,000 related deaths.(Lerner and Hombs 54) In the
In 1981, mysterious cases of opportunistic infections began appearing in clusters (“Timeline”). An opportunistic infection is an unusual infection that appears in people with a weakened immune system (Ojikutu). One disease, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, surfaced in five gay men living in Los Angeles. Another disease, a rare cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma appeared in patients in both New York and Los Angeles. When doctors at the time realized this, they noticed obvious similarities. The patients were separated geographically, they were only located in two cities. They were also all gay men, that were previously healthy (Ojikutu). Doctors were also finding that whatever they’re patients had was highly fatal. This mysterious disease was first called GRID, Gay-Related Immune Deficiency. Symptoms began lethargy, diarrhea, weight loss, sweats, rash, and swollen lymph nodes. Initial stages resembled the common flu
In 2015, specifically in LA downtown, I met Sara who is an African American girl who was suffering from HIV virus. She told me her sadly story when she was having sexual things with random people just because of having money. She didn’t have any knowledge about this virus. So, because of that, she got the HIV virus, and she thanked god that she treated so long to be clean. So, some people in this world don’t know what the AIDS means. So, the AIDS is a dangerous virus that attack cells human’s immune system, and if the people who didn’t treat themselves in the hospital, they probably are going to die. It is dangerous because this virus happens when the human’s immune system badly damaged and it becomes impressible to opportunistic infections. When the number of the human CD4 cells decrease below 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood, it is considered to have progressed to AIDS. People who have the AIDS virus need medical treatment to prevent death. Overall, it takes time to treat around one year, and without treatment it is typically survive about three years (AIDS.gov). According to Tony L. Whitehead that between June 1981 and October 1995 in United states that U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention got report of 501, 310 cases of AIDS. In addition, there were sixty-two percent of groups who have died, and although African American was represent only 12 percent of the United States, African American was represent 34 percent among them. In only five years, the
Despite the government’s best efforts to downplay the HIV epidemic that was beginning in South Africa, the disease began to spread throughout the general population in the late 1980s. In 1988, cases of seroconversion started to appear in individuals outside of the MSM community; each year, between 1988 and 1994, saw a doubling of HIV prevalence. As of 1990, the dominant mode of transmission for HIV switched from homosexual to heterosexual intercourse, creating an epidemic among the citizens of South Africa. At the same time, the rate of mother-to-child transmission was on the rise. Throughout the escalation of the HIV epidemic in South Africa, the apartheid government took a hard line stance on HIV and AIDS, calling it a ‘black disease’ and refusing to invest resources to combat the spate. Rather, it continued to use fear tactics and stereotyping to reinforce the ‘typical’ HIV-infected individual, targeting MSM and black populations in country-wide campaigns. Any attempts at preventing the spread of disease were usually thwarted by a lack of infrastructure in the local governments and provinces, with each area attempting a different strategy to combat HIV infection.
In the 1920's, HIV crossed from chimps to humans. There is evidence on how, when and where HIV first began to cause illness in humans. HIV is a type of lentivirus, which means it attacks the immune system. In a similar way, the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) attacks the immune systems of monkeys and apes. There is even a theory on hunters, in the Democratic Republic of Congo eating monkey and transfer the virus. These well-known diseases, travel from Africa, Kinshasa to the United States. Started off being called GRID also known as gay-related immune deficiency introduced to united state in 1981. This disease has taken 121 healthy gay man lives in the U.S. since the mid-1970s. Scientists began to notice clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and
Approximately 34 years ago a covert infectious agent plagued a distinct group of individuals, and took its rightful place in medicinal history. Young homosexual men were succumbing to rare terminal malignancies at an alarming rate, causing doctors to notify the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention alongside other healthcare agencies of its disturbing effects. In the early 1980’s, light was shed upon a new illness formally described as gay compromise syndrome, GRID (gay-related immune deficiency), or gay cancer. After a significant number of heterosexuals were infected, those names were considered redundant and the acronym AIDS was adopted.
In July of 1981, a rare form of cancer was killing gay men in New York and California. This new, deadly homosexual disease would come to be known as AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. In the decade or so that followed, as it became clear that this was not merely gay disease, but a disease that affected, women, hemophiliacs and children, the government reacted with indifference. This led those affected to fight for recognition and for treatment options.
Emerging in the early 1980s, HIV/AIDS was an unknown disease that spread rapidly throughout the United States. In the beginning not much information was found due to this being a very new disease with a completely unknown background. As decades passed, research has increased as well as the number of cases of people reporting that they are infected. Being that 1 out of every 4 people are infected with HIV/AIDS, this disease has had such an immense impact socially, domestically, as well as politically. Due to this increase in cases, the United States Congress passed the CARE Act (Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act). Named after a young AIDS activist, Ryan White, the CARE Act helps primarily fund health care and support services for
Researchers believe that this syndrome originally originated from chimpanzees as HIV and later turned to AIDS somewhere along western Africa. Humans contracted the syndrome when they hunted these animals and ate them. AIDS was first recognized in gay men from both New York and California around the 1980s. Researchers and doctors labeled this sickness going around as “gay-immune related deficiency” but by 1985 they labeled the sickness as AIDS and realized it was being found amongst both sexes and worldwide. By 1986, a successful treatment to control HIV was found. It was a failed cancer drug called AZT and was later used for AIDS as well. Doctors were giving AZT as well as a combination of other drugs to help control the disease, but it only helped those who had money and access to the treatment. Within later years, the treatment and control for both HIV and AIDS have widened but they now focus more on giving access to all victims of this sickness.
In the lates 1970s, early 1980s, doctors from New York and San Francisco started to treat an increasing number of male patients affected from mysterious infections. Most of these patients deteriorated at a rate never seen before, dying without responding satisfactorily to any know treatment. In 1982, the CDC uses the term Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) to circumscribe the new and deadly disease. Soon, those four capital letters flooded the American media, invoking fear in many, and compassion in those whom where suffering the lost of a close friend or family member. By the 1990s, without a cure, and effective symptomatic treatment, or other prevention method besides condoms, AIDS became the number one cause of death among
HIV/AIDS burst on to the scene in the 1980’s and was originally thought to only affect homosexual males. That myth was debunked a few short years later as the virus started to affect people from all walks of life. At the time the FDA only had one drug for treatment and patients wanted something different. These patients pooled their resources together
HIV first was noticed in early 1980s. Over twenty years, it has been debated and argued for many