HIV/AIDS and COVID-19: Shared Lessons From 2 Pandemics

The global experiences with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemics hold important lessons for preparing for, and responding to, future outbreaks of emerging or reemerging infectious diseases. Scores of infectious diseases have emerged or reemerged over the past 4 decades, and future outbreaks are inevitable. The next emerging pathogen likely will again come from unanticipated sources and pose puzzles in terms of microbiology, transmission, natural history, pathogenesis, and epidemiology, and will present challenges to developing countermeasures such as diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. Although dozens of lessons could be addressed, 8 selected lessons common to HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 are addressed here. Consideration of the commonality of lessons learned from HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, the 2 most devastating pandemics over the past half century, will help us-and those who follow us-to minimize the impact of future outbreaks and prevent them from becoming global pandemics.