History

Research has lead some to believe that HIV arose in Africa from retroviruses of monkeys.  It is said that urbanization and the change in traditional lifestyles brought HIV-1 to the cities.  It then spread to other parts of the world.  However, it is proven that HIV-1 has been in circulation since 1959, because antibodies to HIV-1 have been detected in   stored frozen blood samples taken from individuals in Zaire in 1959 and the United States in 1968. AIDS was first officially detected in the United States in 1981 in New York and California. 

In 1981 doctors found what they thought was a rare form of cancer called Kaposi's Sarcoma in many males.  These patients also had signs of a type of pneumonia called Pneumocystits which occurs when one's immune system is not functioning well.  Unable to decide what exactly was wrong with these men, some doctors contacted the Centers for Disease Control of the Public Health Service.  The patients' conditions were then investigated by the CDC, which was also unable to define what was happening.  They (the CDC) named this new disease Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. 

In the early research, it was determined that these patients died not only because their immune systems were weak, but because infections normally combated by the immune system were now able to progress unchecked.  It was discovered that many people afflicted with this disease had a similar lifestyle.  This evidence gave researchers the idea that the cause of AIDS may be transmitted by certain types of sexual contact.  This transmutability implied AIDS may be caused by a virus, which may be tested for.  Soon after the detection of AIDS, symptoms were seen in IV drug users and patients receiving blood transfusions.  This told researchers the disease may be spread via blood contact.  This led to the discovery of the virus causing AIDS in 1983, dubbed Human Immunodefficiency Virus, or HIV, by Robert Gallow and Luc Montagnier.   By 1984 research developed two test , combined called Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELIISA) which, when positive, would confirm viral infection.  The tests show if antibodies to the virus are present in the blood.  In 1985, the ELISA test was implemented nationally in order to protect the nation's blood supply.  All donated blood had to be tested. 

Since 1984, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates some 14 million people worldwide are infected with the virus, and more than 3 million people had developed AIDS by mid-1993. By the year 2000, between 30 and 40 million people worldwide will be HIV-infected, according to WHO estimates.

In the United States, at least 1 million people are infected with HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates. Through August 30, 1993, 331,845 cases of AIDS in the United States had been reported to the CDC.

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