Hiv and Aids Research

HIV and AIDS Research

The origin of AIDS and HIV has puzzled scientists ever since the illness first came to light in the early 1980s. For over twenty years it has been the subject of fierce debate and the cause of countless arguments, with everything from a conspiracy by the government to a contaminated needle theory being blamed. So what is the truth? Just where did AIDS come from? The discovery of HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, was made soon after. There is now clear evidence to prove that HIV causes AIDS. So, in order to find the source of AIDS, it is necessary to look for the origin of HIV, and find out how, when and where HIV first began to cause disease in humans.

I became interested in this topic because I thought instead of researching something I liked. So I thought maybe I should do something that would be worth learning more about! As I though of what I could research I began thinking of all the things I would like to learn more about, and that’s when I thought of doing my project on AIDS and HIV . I also chose this to find out the closets number of people Infected with HIV and AIDS, and this I did.

Researchers believe that sometime in, the 1930’s a form of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) jumped to humans who butchered or ate chimpanzee bush meat in, the Democratic Republic of Congo. The virus becomes HIV – 1 the most widespread form found today. It wasn’t till 1959, when the worlds first known case of AIDS had been traced to a sample of blood plasma from a man who died in, the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the 1960’s HIV – 2 , which is restricted to West Africa, is thought to have transferred to people from sooty mangabey monkeys in Guinea-Bissau. A genetic analysis of HIV in 2003 suggests that it may have first arrived in the United States in about 1968. During the 1970’s it continues to spread undetected in the US and around the world – the pandemic has begun. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) establish the term Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) , and determined that aside from gay men , other group at risk are injecting drug users , people of Haitian origin (people from Republic of Haiti) and hemophiliacs ( genetic illnesses that stop the body's ability to control bleeding). By 1982 AIDS has been detected on five continents. In 1987 AZT (zidovudine), the first antiretroviral drug becomes available to treat suffers after a successful clinical trial. The drug works by blocking the action of HIV’s enzyme reverse transcriptase, stopping the virus from replicating in cells. AZT slows down the course of AIDS, delaying death. US blood banks are also starting to be screened for the virus. Also in 1987, 16,908 people have died from AIDS in the US. A total 71,751 cases of AIDS had been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), 47,022 were in the US. In 1988 WHO declares the first World AIDS Day on the 1ST of December. In 1995 one million cases of AIDS have been reported to the WHO, 19.5 million people