Hiv And The Human Immunodeficiency Virus - 3032 Words

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, also known as HIV, was discovered by Dr. Robert Gallo and Dr. Luc Montagnier. HIV had its first known case in a human in the year 1959. Though, its first known case in the United States was in 1981 when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, known as the CDC, reported five homosexual men in Los Angeles, California with Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia, a rare form of pneumonia. These findings were published in CDC S Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, or MMWR, which is read by physicians around the world. Soon after, The New York Times reported that 41 homosexual men had been diagnosed with a rare cancer called Kaposi s Sarcoma. Since this disease was only spreading amongst gay men at the time,†¦show more content†¦There was no evidence that the patients had gotten AIDS through homosexual contact or drug use where the drug is injected into the vein. Though, there was proof that all of these patients had received Factor VIII concent rates which is a blood transfusion made by combining blood from hundreds of blood donors. The CDC began to receive reports of AIDS amongst a small group of Haitian migrants. AIDS had eventually become a disease of the Four- H club; the four H s meaning homosexuals heroin addicts, hemophiliacs and Haitians. Being included in the Four- H club caused controversy. Haitian Americans complained about stigmatization, officials accused the CDC of racism and Haiti began to decrease in tourism. Also, many Haitian immigrants lost their jobs and were evicted from their homes. The fact that certain viruses can pass between species has been known for a long time. The process of a viral transmission between animals and species is known as zoonosis. People soon began to create theories on how AIDS was developed and spread ; the hunter theory, also called the natural transfer theory, was one of them. This theory is the most simple and reasonable explanation of the AIDS cross-species transmission. In this theory, the virus was transmitted into humans from chimpanzees when a hunter would kill and eat them or the blood of the chimpanzee getting into cuts, wounds or bites of the hunter. This exposure to the blood or fluids