Unknown facts about HIV/AIDS virus

(Baonghean.vn) - HIV/AIDS has been recognized by the world for about 35 years. During this time, HIV/AIDS has gone from an unknown disease to a global fear and obsession with more than 35 million patients.

1 - Origin of the HIV virus

HIV virus.

There are two strains of HIV: HIV-1 (originated from chimpanzees) and HIV-2 (originated from a small African monkey called Sooty Mangabey). HIV-1 is highly contagious and globally transmissible. Researchers believe that in the early stages of HIV-1 infection in humans, it is mild and even the virus is destroyed by the human immune system. But over time, HIV develops mutations, becomes more complex, combines with each other and weakens the human immune system. By the early 1980s, when the first case of HIV was recognized, the virus had become a death sentence for the patient.

2 - The first case of HIV/AIDS in the world

The world's first case of HIV/AIDS was reported in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, after scientists analyzed a preserved tissue sample in 1959. In 1969, the first clinical case of AIDS was discovered in the United States in a prostitute living in Missouri. Evidence suggests that the AIDS epidemic spread rapidly throughout Europe after World War II. Scientists believe that the disease spread mainly due to the reuse of syringes.

3 - The first case of HIV/AIDS transmission

On a flight from France to Canada, flight attendant Gaetan Dugas was vilified as an AIDS spreader. Dugas was not the first person to contract HIV in the United States, but his complicated personal life, promiscuity, frequenting gay bathhouses, and frequent travel between major European cities were the reasons why this flight attendant spread the disease to others. This went on throughout the 1980s, Gaetan Dugas died in 1984 from severe kidney failure.

4 - HIV virus camouflage

HIV/AIDS is more frightening than other diseases because of its ability to easily penetrate the immune system and rapidly weaken it. When HIV enters the system, it is hidden in carbohydrate molecules, tricking the body into thinking the virus is a nutrient. Today, scientists have successfully researched a synthetic vaccine to help the body recognize this virus and the immune system attack it at the first step of entering the body.

5 - Famous people who died of AIDS

Arthur Ashe (1943-1993) - one of the best American tennis players. Ashe discovered he had AIDS in 1988 due to a blood transfusion error. He died at the age of 50 and became one of the most famous people to die from the disease of the century when receiving a blood transfusion.

Many famous people have died of AIDS, including tennis star Arthur Ashe and Queen Freddy Mercury. It is worth noting that these people and the majority of AIDS patients were transmitted through simple blood transfusions, not through promiscuous sex. The most famous case of HIV/AIDS infection and still living healthy is coach Magic Johnson, who regularly appeared on sports television, although he had HIV for more than 20 years.

6 - Active transmission

Biological warfare has been known since ancient times, when invaders threw the corpses of plague-infected people over ramparts and into civilians. HIV/AIDS has also been used for this purpose during wartime. In the South African prison system, terror reigned as the brutal ruling power injected prisoners with HIV-infected blood as punishment.

7 - Immunity

Are there people who are immune to HIV/AIDS? Scientists have discovered at least two different adaptations when HIV enters the body. One is to repel the infection in the first stage and the other is to keep the HIV virus and develop into AIDS. In fact, there are very few people who have this ability, in their bodies there is a different protein than normal people, this protein has the ability to repel the invasion of the HIV virus. Scientists are conducting research to develop this protein to prevent the progression of HIV.

8 - Cases of discrimination and treatment

In 1984, a young lawyer named Geoffrey Bower was working at Baker & MacKenzie, one of the world's largest corporations. Shortly after, he began to show symptoms of AIDS. Bower was immediately fired, and he could not find a job anywhere with his illness. Bower filed a civil rights suit with the State of New York, and Geoffrey Bower is remembered as one of the first discrimination cases in legal history.

9 - New HIV/AIDS Treatment

Using gene editing, scientists have found a way to completely eliminate HIV from cells, while preventing reinfection of the disease of the century.

Recently, the media has been regularly updating new advances in science in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, a treatment that is about to open up a new direction for millions of patients worldwide.

The story of Timothy Brown, who had been living with HIV for more than a decade when he was diagnosed with leukemia, doctors performed a bone marrow transplant, using marrow from a donor who was immune to HIV. And after the treatment, Timothy Brown was discharged from the hospital completely healthy and especially completely eliminated the HIV virus in his body.

In Mississippi, a baby born to an HIV-positive mother was cured after intensive treatment with antiretroviral drugs immediately after birth. Now 3 years old, the baby has no trace of the disease. This is a hope for people suffering from HIV/AIDS for an effective treatment in the near future.

10 - Why is the red ribbon associated with the disease of the century HIV/AIDS?

The red ribbon was born from the idea of ​​a group of artists to raise public awareness about HIV/AIDS.

In 1991, 10 years after the world discovered AIDS caused by the HIV virus, a group of 12 artists gathered to discuss an art project to raise public awareness about HIV/AIDS. They were photographers, painters, filmmakers, and designers sitting together in an art gallery in New York's East Village to discuss.

These artists came up with an idea that would later become one of the most famous symbols: the red ribbon, which represents support and solidarity for people living with HIV/AIDS.

In the early days, artists who created red ribbons distributed them around performing arts venues and theaters in New York. Initially, the ribbons were labeled with a reason for being worn, but the notes were eventually dropped as the symbolism became more common.

Peace

(Synthetic)