When Was AIDS First Recognised As A Disease?

AIDS was first recognised in 1983 as a wasting disease that affected four distinct groups of people – homosexual men, drug addicts, haemophiliacs (and other patients who had received blood products) and prostitutes.

Research showed that the disease was blood borne but could be transmitted through sexual intercourse, which explained why it affected such a strange mix of people. As the disease spread, these initial groups no longer applied – the virus that causes AIDS, the human immunodeficiency virus can affect anyone and can be passed on in heterosexual contact as well as homosexual contact.

Noone really knows why the disease suddenly appeared – the virus that causes it may have mutated from another form – but the disease has spread throughout the world and millions of people are now HIV positive. Modern drugs help control the disease, so the onset of symptoms is not always the fate of someone who gets the virus. More than 80 per cent of AIDS cases are now in Africa, where drug control is rarely used because of the cost.

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