How you can Help Make History In 1983 the virus causing HIV was
first identified, 2 years after the first patients with AIDS
were described in the scientific literature. By 1984 there was a
reliable test that, if positive, meant an individual had
acquired HIV. It was already suspected that AIDS was transmitted
through body fluids, but having the test helped to confirm this
and to create a clearer picture of who was at high risk, and
which countries had the highest proportion of positive
individuals. Today, the global burden of HIV is greatest in sub-
Saharan Africa and these countries are struggling to deliver
treatment and care to an ever increasing number of HIV positive
individuals. Back in the ‘80s, there was great hope for an
effective vaccine, especially as so many viral disease can be
controlled this way (such as measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis
B). However, in the case of HIV infection, unlike many other
viral infections, there are no immune markers of natural
protection yet. Some rare individuals pr