Overview

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first identified in 1981. This complex disease is characterized by the breakdown of the body's immunologic defense system, which results in vulnerability to many normally harmless microorganisms. The causal agent, a human retrovirus now known as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), was discovered in 1984. Despite the growing toll of the global AIDS crisis and the absence of a preventive vaccine as well as the lack of safe and affordable therapeutic drugs, by 1995 epidemiologists in the United States were warning policy makers and the public about a growing complacency towards AIDS.

Background

AIDS first appeared as a diagnostic entity in 1981, when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) began to report strange clusters of rare illnesses, such as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) and Kaposi's sarcoma, in previously healthy homosexual men in New York and California. These diseases were associated with...