History Of Aids Research

AIDS

AIDS as a term for a disease was not commonly heard by many people during the 80s, but as it took over many lives around the world, it became a familiar term. To better understand what AIDS actually means, we have to study the long history and medical conditions related to it. AIDS is the abbreviation of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. This viral disease mainly weakens the human immune system and hence makes the patient sensitive to many infections. These infections can ultimately cause the death of a person because they become severe in AIDS patients.

AIDS became the major health problem across the world when the studies showed that it took over 2 million lives in a year. After getting such results the health organizations and medical research centers became active and started learning about this virus. The studies conducted in those early times suggested that this viral disease mostly spread through body fluids and affects the immune system of the individual. Later with technology and research many treatments were tested on the patients, but all failed to remove the virus completely. Though these treatments slowed the disease, but still they were not able to cure the patient completely.

History of AIDS:

The historical background of every syndrome is important to study because it provides relevant information about the nature and cause of disease. Moreover, the archival information also helps the researcher in finding proper treatments for the infections. The history of Aids can be dated back to 1981, when a patient was recognized in the United States. However, with proper studies, the researchers found that the disease was also present during the 50s, but was unidentified. A researcher found that the disease had its origin from a place in Africa and is transmitted from mammals like Chimpanzees. Later, the Red Cross identified larger cases of such viral disease and named it AIDS.

In early times of its identification, the disease was said to be found in almost 20 countries around the world. The health organizations realized that the disease was mostly caused by blood transfusions and birth from infected mothers. Due to the high mortality rates, these organizations allowed many medicine companies to start testing different drugs on such patients. This reduced the number of deaths in a specific region, but still because of less awareness people were getting infected. In 1985, drug companies and health organizations decided to go public about HIV so it can be prevented.

Aids Researches:

The researches on AIDS were started soon after it was discovered in 1980. Though, because of little information, the early research was less useful for the patients and medical companies. However, as more and more information was gathered about the origin of the disease and its symptoms, it became easier for the researchers to find the right treatment. The history shows that the first attempt to treat this disease was made in late 1980s, when the vaccine for improving the function of antibodies was introduced. The originators of that vaccine created a similar virus like HIV and used it as an antigen in their vaccines. However, it didn’t produce the desired results because the HIV virus was more powerful then the antibodies. Later, many other researchers were conducted on improving the immune system, but they just got the success in slowing down the infection process rather than curing it completely.

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