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AIDS certainly has the attention of many. Its pandemic levels throughout the world has demanded the attention of medical researchers for decades as patients cry for quicker and better treatment. The AIDS timeline stretches as far back as the 1950s and has impacted the lives of millions since that time. 1958 was the first year that has now been identified as this disease having struck. A patient by the name of David Carr presented to his doctor with a variety of mysterious symptoms, including the very serious pneumocystis carinii. Having died from his illness in 1959, tissues samples were salvaged and tested in 1990 as technology advanced. The result was that Mr. Carr was HIV positive. 1959 also showed the first active HIV infection. A man in the Congo proved to be positive for two of six of the genes that make up the AIDS disease. His blood was preserved and later tested. Consequently, the first case of AIDS in America occurred in 1959. A Haitian man in New York City died of pneumocystis carinii, a common problem for those with AIDS. Dr. Gordon Hennigar examined the man's corpse and believed AIDS was responsible for the death. 1969 was the next time that AIDS would show itself in America. A teenager in St. Louis was found to have died of an illness that left his doctors clueless. In 1987, tests confirmed that the boy had indeed died of AIDS. The continent of Africa began to show signs of the disease in 1975 and in the years that followed others throughout the world were infected, many of whom could trace their exposure back to Africa. For example, in 1976, a Norwegian sailor died of AIDS that he likely contracted in Africa in the 1960's. In 1977 a man from Denmark and a woman from San Francisco were found to be infected with the disease, with both cases coming from the African continent. The woman in San Francisco had given birth to three children who also carried the disease. 1978 brought the first recognized HIV-2 infection, occurring in a Portuguese man who claimed he probably got infected in Guinea-Bissau. - In 1980, a man named Gaetan Dugas traveled to the bathhouses of New York and likely introduced the disease to America in a major way. He became known as "Patient Zero" due to the wide spread of the infection that he caused. In 1984, the HIV virus as we know it became officially recognized by the United States. Dr. Robert Gallo was credited with discovering the virus as well as stating his belief that the virus was what was actually causing AIDS. Until this point, there were suspicions that various activities common in the homosexual community were responsible for the contraction of the disease, such as the use of amyl nitrate 'poppers'. Dr. Gallo continued to push the advances of AIDS research in the medical community and in 1996 he ultimately discovered that a compound known as chemokines can be helpful in slowing the progression of the disease. This singular advance proved extremely beneficial to AIDS patients everywhere. These are just a few of the landmark moments in our understanding of AIDS. As our knowledge continues to grow, we gain more and more hope that the disease is something that we will eventually be able to conquer.
By: Tammy Foster
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