AIDS: a historical overview

AIDS has been a recognized clinical entity now for just 10 years. In that time in the United States alone, it is estimated that 1 to 2 million people may be infected with HIV. Estimates of numbers infected worldwide are as high as 10 million. Over these 10 years, considerable progress has been made. The disease and all its protean manifestations have been accurately described. How HIV spreads and where it is spreading have been accurately recorded. The cause is known and well understood, with more detailed information available about HIV than about any other virus. Drugs that slow down the replication of HIV have been discovered and are in widespread use. A cure or vaccine, however, seems unlikely in the near future. The major hope for the present would appear to be continued education to prevent the spread of AIDS and better antiviral agents that will keep HIV suppressed and, ideally, soon allow infected individuals to lead a close-to-normal lifespan (if treatment is commenced at an early-enough stage in the course of the infection).