HIV/AIDS: From The 1920s On

            There have been many pandemics throughout history. HIV/AIDS is one that people don't often think about when talking about pandemics. Perhaps because it causes a chronic condition, it is often compared to diseases like cancer. HIV/AIDS is believed to fist have emerged in DRC in the 1920s. This belief stems from the fact that DRC has the most diversity of HIV strains in the world. Also, scientist were able to detect HIV-1M in a man in Kinshasa, DRC from 1956. This was the first confirmed case of HIV. 

           Chimps and other apes have long been carriers of SIV. The available genetic evidence points to chimps contracting two strains of SIV that became SIV-cpz. This virus is nearly identical to HIV-1 and is highly communicable to humans. Hunters in Central Africa most likely contracted SIV-cpz while hunting and consuming chimps. This type of activity is common even now in more rural areas of Central and East Africa. Although the consumption of bush meat is officially discouraged by most government organizations. 

            Most hunters were able to fight off SIV-cpz, but in some it developed into the various strains of HIV-1. The obvious question is why did HIV take so long to turn into a pandemic. The answer is it didn't. HIV took off in Africa thanks to  the DRCs great transport systems and emerging sex trade. It just took the world a long time to realize what was happening. 

            Most people when asked about the AIDs pandemic will say that it started in the 1980s in the U.S. HIV/AIDS was in the country for decades before that. It wasn't until the 1980s that doctors realized that people should not be getting rare cancers and illnesses in such great numbers. Also, people initially thought that HIV was only inflicting homosexuals. It took several years for the scientific community to realize that other groups were being infected. These at risk factors became known as 4H: Homosexuals, Hemophiliacs, Heroin injectors, and Haitians. It was really the impact on hemophiliacs that brought attention to the idea that HIV was not related to what was perceived at the time as aberrant behavior. It was the young children afflicted with the virus through blood transfusions that enabled people to find their humanity again. They put a face of innocence on the illness. 

            In 1983, HIV was isolated and the world finally understood what was happening. It still took years for education to reach people about methods of transmission, and more importantly ways the virus was not going to infect them. I still remember being in elementary school and sitting to watch a video about HIV/AIDS. It was about a little boy at camp, and one of his friends was deeply fearful of contracting HIV because he had heard that there was a camper there that had it. The video slowly dispelled myths about transmission through hugging, sharing food or drinks, or being in generally close quarters. There was a huge stigma surrounding the virus. Public education campaigns have been quite effective in educating the population about the virus and dispelling myths. In the 90s is was unsavory to even discuss the illness or homosexuality in America. MTV show had this show The Real World. In one of their first seasons if not the first, one of the cast members had HIV. I remember my mom watching it, and seeing the pain this man experienced because of social stigmas. It was heart wrenching. 

            Enough of me dating myself. A lack of education is what let this pandemic get out of control. It decimated the population of East Africa. There's a lost generation in the area. It caused an entirely different crisis in the form of the orphan boom. This of course also helped give rise to terrorist organizations like Al Shabab that recruit heavily from at risk populations like orphans. Preventative health measures were nearly impossible to implement in many parts of Central and East Africa. The man who taught me Swahili was on George Bush Sr's AIDS task force. As a sociologist from Tanzania he needed to find ways to get the population to stop having unprotected sex. A lack of belief in Western Medicine, and cures for the illness spread HIV like fire. In some places it was believed that having sex with a virgin would cure a man of HIV. I don't think I need to explain how that added fuel to the pandemic fire. 

            It took time, but community knowledge grew around the world. Medical advances were made in treating HIV/AIDS. It changed the whole world. It's unthinkable to have unprotected sex anymore. Donated blood is tested thoroughly. Medical procedures were revolutionized to protect patients and practitioners alike from transmission. The world was so successful in medical advances in treatment, this youngest generation doesn't worry about HIV anymore. In some areas it's surging again. Young people don't take the virus seriously. 75 million people infected, and 35 million dead, that's what HIV/AIDS did. 

            COVID-19 is not on the same scale as HIV/AIDS. It's interesting to watch people resist science, and believe that medical practitioners are out to get them in some elaborate conspiracy. I don't know what happened that there are people that believe this virus was released as an excuse to mass vaccinate people and simultaneously insert a microchip to track them via 5G, but that's where America is. What the COVID-19 pandemic has taught me is that a lot of people are not very intelligent. It has also taught me that I'm really wildly happy in my life. I could live in isolation with my family forever.