In the year 1959, the first verified case of HIV emerged. The earliest scientific studies have shown that HIV was first transmitted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A lot of people believed that the first case of HIV in the United States occurred in 1980, but that was really when people began to be aware of it.
HIV was first labeled as a disease that exclusively affected gay people as a sort of "punishment from God", because a very high percentage of HIV-positive people were homosexual men. The disease was later named AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), as HIV was the virus that caused it. More and more cases emerged in which gay men were not the only ones affected: heroin and drug users who shared needles as well as people who had hemophilia were also contracting HIV. This caused a panic among the entire population of the United States, since many people believed that they could contract AIDS by shaking hands with an affected person or sharing silverware. Research from scientists proved that the main agents for transmitting HIV were sexual intercourse, sharing needles, and vertical transmission (mother to child).
So far, there is no known cure for HIV/AIDS even though one person has ever been cured of it. However, people who are HIV-positive can still live long and healthy lives if they adhere to antiretroviral treatment. Current treatments that scientists are working towards include functional cures (ensuring that HIV virus levels are extremely low) and sterilizing cures (HIV is eradicated from all cells of the body).
The treatments for HIV/AIDS is very expensive. Even though it is possible to live a normal life, I believe that it is very difficult to do so because people are not made of money. I believe that the treatments will however become cheaper and cheaper and one day there may even be a cure.
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