When it was first discovered, then back in late 60’s and early 70’s, the
HIV has horrified people the same way that today does the concept of ‘terrorism’. The ignorance is a lens that confuses everything, and the lack of answers was extremely disappointing. Because there is not such thing like symptoms of HIV (they vary according to what stage of the infection the patient is in), the sick people just died after any kind of common infection, due to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). Science didn’t know much about transmission of hiv 20 years ago, and, the public idea was that just humosexual men were to blame about the spread of the infection.
Scientists agree about that HIV in South Africa as well as in some other african countries has something like its cradle, like in Sudan or Nigeria or Ecuatorial Guinea, where the HIV transmission rates, always higher than in any other country, were in the news day after day. The virus has developped in that region multiple forms, since years, and scientists have learnt a lot about how it has been transmited from chimpanzees to human beings during the past 80 years.
Today people with HIV can, thank to medical and genetical advances, aspire to continue their lives in a way that was unthinkable just decades ago; specially in developped countries, where the state subventions health and the citizens get medical care, a person that carries the
le HIV in the blood may continue living the rest of his or her life without developping the AIDS, which is when the simplest cold may kill you...
