Turning Points in History: The Aids Virus

1377 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The origin, causes and effects of Aids

The AIDS virus was a major turning point in world history. Contrary to popular belief, if a person gives blood to or recieves blood from a hospital or blood bank that person will not risk transmitting HIV, a.k.a. human immunodeficiency virus and that person does not risk transmitting AIDS, a.k.a. acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. In addition, “It is now generally accepted that HIV is a descendent of a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus because certain strains of SIVs bear a very close resemblance to HIV-1 and HIV-2, the two types of HIV” (AIDS Doctors).
On June 5, [1981] the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [published] a…. report describing cases of a rare lung infection … in five young, previously healthy, gay men in Los Angeles. All the men [had] other unusual infections as well, indicating that their immune systems [were] not working; two [had] already died by the time [that this] report [was] published. This… marks the first official reporting of what [would] become known as the AIDS epidemic. (“Timeline of AIDS”)
In 1969, “a fifteen-year-old-boy … in Saint Louis, Missouri … [was] the first known North American know to have died of AIDS” (Kallen 56). The AIDS epidemic is a turning point in world history because it had a big impact on scientific advances made during the turmoil, which helped people to know that this disease was affecting many people all over the world, and not just some people in some small areas.
AIDS has evolved over time. There are a few theories as to how AIDS evolved from HIV, and how HIV evolved from SIV. One theory on how HIV came into existence is the Hunter Theory. This theory is most commonly accepted and it is the belief that “SIVcpv was transferred to humans ...

... middle of paper ...

...Feb. 2014. .
Cefrey, Holly. Epidemics: Deadly Diseases throughout History: AIDS. New York: Rosen Group, 2001. Print. Epidemics: Deadly Diseases Throughout History.
Cichocki, Mark, Rn. Living with HIV: A Patient's Guide. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2009. Print.
Fake AIDS Cures. AVERT, 2013. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. .
Kallen, Stuart A. The Race to Discover the AIDS Virus: Luc Montagnier vs. Robert Gallo. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century, 2013. Print.
Origin of HIV & AIDS. AVERT, 2013. Web. 3 Feb. 2014. .
Szabo, Liz. "Doctors Report First Cure of HIV in a Child." Doctors Report First Cure of HIV in a Child. USA TODAY, 4 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 Feb. 2014. .

Show More
Related

  • Comparing The AIDS Hysteria And Salem Witch Trials

    439 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the early 1980’s, reports were appearing in California and New York of a small number of men who appeared to have rare forms of cancer and pneumonia (Blumberg). The men were young and in very good health (Blumberg). These men were alike because they were homosexual (Blumberg). They had a disease known as AIDS, which is caused by HIV (Blumberg). The virus slowly attacks the immune system which makes the human body more prone to infections (Blumberg). They did not know what the disease was for a while (Blumberg). It was believed to be “gay-related” because homosexuals were many of the first reported cases (Blumberg). That belief was abolished when scientist found out that heterosexuals could be infected too (Blumberg).

    Read More

  • The Crucible Witch Hunt Essay

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    AIDS/HIV was first recognized as a new disease in the US when clinicians in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco began to see young, homosexual men with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) and Kaposi 's sarcoma (KS), unusual diseases for young adults which were not known to be immunosuppressed. These discoveries led to increased fear throughout the US since many people didn’t know what caused AIDS, how it could be contracted, or even what to call it.

    Read More

  • The Role of Disease in European Exploration and Colonization

    1892 Words  | 4 Pages

    Before discussing how disease has shaped history and altered cultures, it is important to understand how they themselves have developed and changed throughout history. Disease, in the broadest definition of the word, has been present since the beginning of humanity. Even ...

    Read More

  • The Cell that Started a Pandemic

    1889 Words  | 4 Pages

    Carl Zimmer the guest speaker of this broadcast states that in 1981 doctors described for the first time a new disease, a new syndrome which affected mostly homosexual men. The young men in Los Angeles were dying and the number of cases was growing faster and faster. The number of deaths was increasing from eighty to six hundred and twenty five in just the first few months. After the first few cases in LA, AIDS was declared to be one of the deadliest pandemics the world had ever seen after the plague in the Middle Ages.

    Read More

  • Film: The Age of Aids

    1862 Words  | 4 Pages

    2) Moore, J. (2004). The puzzling origins of AIDS: Although no one explanation has been universally accepted, four rival theories provide some important lesson. American Scientist, 92(6), 540-547. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/stable/27858482

    Read More

  • Plagues And Peoples Chapter Summary

    1646 Words  | 4 Pages

    Plagues and Peoples. By William H. McNeill. (New York: Anchor Books: A division of Random House, Inc., 1976 and Preface 1998. Pp. 7 + 365. Acknowledgements, preface, map, appendix, notes, index.)

    Read More

  • The Historical and Cultural Aspects in The Plague

    1305 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lapaire, Pierre J. "The Plague: Overview." Reference Guide to World Literature. Ed. Lesley Henderson. 2nd ed. New York: St. James Press, 1995. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

    Read More

  • Critique of Film And the Band Played On

    340 Words  | 1 Pages

    The medical community had much trouble in the progress of researching the disease. In the beginning and for a period of time, the disease had no name. This was partly because no one really wanted to announce that a new disease had been discovered. After being dubbed “GRID”, an acronym singling out gays, it was changed when it was finally discovered that AIDS could be transmitted though blood transfusions and IV drug use. There was also an amazing display of medical misconduct as the head of one laboratory in the US engaged in a competition-like struggle with a lab in Paris in the research of the disease. When he finally agreed to collaborate with the French, he announced discoveries ahead of time and took all the credit for himself. This led to a long legal action that delayed much of the research of AIDS and caused many people to “die of red tape.”

    Read More

  • AIDS in African American Community

    1310 Words  | 3 Pages

    Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized as a new disease in 1981 when increasing numbers of young homosexual men succumbed to unusual opportunistic infections and rare malignancies (Gallant49).During this time, many people were contacting this disease because it was not discovered yet and people did not have knowledge about it.Scientists believe HIV came from a particular kind of chimpanzee in Western Africa. Humans contracted this disease when they hunted and ate infected animals. A first clue came in 1986 when a morphologically similar but antigenically distinct virus was found to cause AIDS in patients in western Africa (Goosby24). During this time, scientists had more evidence to support their claim about this disease. Once discovered this disease was identified as a cause of what has since become one of the most devastating infectious diseases to have emerged in recent history (Goosby101). This disease was deadly because it was similar to the Black Death, it was killing majority of the population. Since its first identification almost three decades ago, the pandemic form of HIV-1 has infected at least 60 million people and caused more than 25 million deaths ...

    Read More

  • Freely Accessible Birth Control for Teenagers

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    Spink, Gemma. "AIDS." AVERTing HIV and AIDS. 23 Dec 2009. Web. 11 Jan 2010. .

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Movie And The Band Played On

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the movie And the Band Played On, stakeholders’ interests stymied public health efforts to research and implement health policy to control the rapidly emerging disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The stakeholders within the movie, those whose interest would be impacted by policy change, included the affected populations, scientists, state and federal public health officials, and organizations including blood banks. Early in the epidemic, the Center for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were tentative in disclosing vital information – many homosexual men were becoming infected in the bathhouses (Pillsbury, Sanford, & Spottiswoode, 1993). Despite having the supporting evidence of patient zero and a sexual cluster

    Read More

  • HIV Speech

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    I have researched this topic through various sources and compiled pertinent information to provide adequate information on this. topic. The sym First of all, AIDS is caused by the retrovirus HIV. HIV stands for human immunodef- iciency virus. AIDS itself stands for acquired immune deficiency.

    Read More

  • HIV

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many eyebrows raised late in 1979, when the then unkown HIV virus raised its ugly head. The first two cases of the rare cancer, Karposis Sarcoma was diagnosed in two homosexual men in N>Y>C. About the same time in Los Angeles, several cases of the rare infection, Pneumocytis cariini pneumonia were being treated. Incidences of these strange diseases and infections were sky-rocketting around the country. The disease was effecting mostly young gay men in their 30's. There was no official name for the syndrome, but it was referred to by various names, GRID (gay related inmmune disease), Gay Cancer, and, "Community Acquired Syndrome". In 1982 public health officials began to use the term, Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease (AIDS) to describe the incidences of oppotunistic infections that caused AIDS. Scientists discovered the virus that caused AIDS in 1983 (HorowitzXV). According to Brennnan Durack, this was the dawning of AIDS epidemic, or the beginnning of the public's awareness of AIDS (Durack 385-386).

    Read More

  • Poverty and Disease

    383 Words  | 1 Pages

    The AIDS virus is the most common disease, and with no cure, an infected person will die. It is estimated that 90 to 95 percent of AIDS infections occur in developing countries where the world’s worst living conditions exist.

    Read More

  • Technology is a Benefit to Our Society

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gould, Stephen Jay. “The Terrifying Normalcy of AIDS.” The McGraw-Hill Reader. 8th ed. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 594-597

    Read More

More about Turning Points in History: The Aids Virus

Open Document