Year of the appearance of AIDS. The history of the emergence and spread of AIDS

HIV infection was first described in its final stage, later known as Acguired Immunodehiciencu Syndrome (AIDS), in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly of 06/05/81, published by the Centers for Disease Control - CDC (USA, Atlanta). In the next MMWR report, it was reported that in Los Angeles, 5 young homosexuals fell ill with a rare form of pneumonia and two of them died. In the next few weeks, new information was added: 4 more cases in Los Angeles, 6 in San Francisco, 20 in New York. All of them mysteriously lost their immune systems. They had severe inflammation of the lungs, caused by pneumacist micro-organisms that are very common in the lungs, but usually not able to cause disease in "normal" people. Some patients were diagnosed with disseminated malignant tumors of the skin - the so-called Kaposi's sarcoma. In addition, in some cases, combined forms of pneumocystosis and Kaposi's sarcoma were noted. Special studies have shown that patients had a pronounced suppression of the immune system, which was accompanied by the development of various secondary infections - candidiasis, cytomegalovirus and herpetic infections, etc. The attention of not only doctors, but also the general public to this new disease was attracted by the fact that all such the patients were homosexual. Thus, among AIDS patients in San Francisco, at first they were more than 90%. If at the beginning of 1981 they talked about 5 cases, then in the summer there were already 116.

In the spring of 1982, the first patient fell ill with hemophilia - a hereditary disease, blood incoagulability, which affects only men. Then the number of cases of the "new disease" in hemophilia began to increase, although at that time 15 patients with hemophilia were registered in the United States. The frequency of registration of AIDS among patients with hemophilia was growing rapidly and caused not unfounded concern about the contamination of the donor blood bank, so necessary for hemophiliacs. In December 1982 a report was published on cases of AIDS associated with blood transfusion, which made it possible to speculate about the possibility of a "healthy" carriage (donor) of an infectious agent.

While medical discussions were going on about the causes of the development of immunosuppressive conditions, more and more case reports appeared. Among the patients were drug addicts of both sexes who do not have a tendency to homosexuality. Some have tried to attribute their immunosuppression to drugs. It is true that some drugs lower the immune system, but this immunosuppression does not seem to be specific to AIDS.

In January 1983, AIDS was reported in 2 women who had sex with AIDS patients, and there was speculation about possible heterosexual transmission of the disease. An analysis of AIDS cases in children has shown that children can receive the agent that causes the disease (most likely in the perinatal period) from an infected mother.

Scientists drew attention to the links in some groups of patients. So, group cases of the disease were described in the company of homosexuals who were in sexual intercourse with each other. In addition, a non-homosexual drug addict who took drugs with these homosexuals and the mistress of one of these persons (a bisexual) fell ill. A natural assumption arose that the disease is caused by an infectious agent that is transmitted through sexual intercourse and blood, since intravenous drug administration usually uses one syringe, which, as a rule, is not sterilized, which causes drug addicts to become infected.

The disease continued to spread to larger and larger contingents. The number of detected cases has doubled every year. An important observation was the discovery of a large number of cases among people from the island of Haiti, representatives of the African race. Among Haitians, there was no relationship between the disease and the propensity to homosexuality or intravenous drug use.

If among patients in the United States men prevailed in a ratio of 10: 1, then in Haiti the number of sick women was approximately equal to the number of sick men. Cases of the disease began to be recorded in Europe, where sick Africans were identified, and there was also no dependence of the disease on sex and bad habits.

There was no longer any doubt about the infectious nature of the disease, since within 1-2 years AIDS became epidemic among various population groups in many countries of the world.

And in 1983, almost simultaneously in France and the United States, a virus was isolated from AIDS patients - the causative agent. In France, the virus was isolated at the Pasteur Institute in Paris by the group of Professor Luc Montagnier from the lymph node of an AIDS patient with severe lymphadenopathy, hence the name "lymphadenopathy-associated virus". In the USA, the virus was isolated by a group of Professor Robert Gallo from peripheral blood lymphocytes of AIDS patients, as well as persons examined for AIDS according to epidemic indications. It was called "Human T-lymphotropic virus type III." The strains of the virus isolated in France and the USA turned out to be identical in morphology and their antigenic properties. To designate the causative agent of AIDS in 1985, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the abbreviation HTLV -III / LAV, and since 1987. HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus).

Subsequently, AIDS was discovered in almost all countries of the world and on all continents.

Survival after HIV infection

Immunological studies have shown that these patients have a sharply reduced content of CD4-lymphocytes (E-helpers). In subsequent years, multiple opportunistic infections and tumors were described that are characteristic of immunosuppressed individuals. Retrospectively, it was shown that a similar syndrome has been observed since the late 70s in some cities in the USA, Western Europe and Africa, not only in the population of homosexuals, but also in drug addicts, recipients of blood and its products, the nature of the transmission of infection is similar to hepatitis B.

This virus belongs to the group of retroviruses, RNA-containing, having an enzyme - reverse transcriptase, which ensures the appearance of deoxyribonucleic acid of the virus in the genome of affected cells with damage to macrophages and T4 (CD4) - lymphocytes with replication in the latter of the virus.

The progressive destruction of the immune system leads to the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Due to the fact that HIV antibodies are present in this disease with various clinical manifestations long before the development of AIDS, the disease has received another name - HIV infection.

It was found that at the beginning of the disease, a flu-like syndrome can develop, after which for many years people can remain “carriers” of the virus without serious signs of the disease, but the immune system is gradually destroyed by the virus, the number of CD4 cells falls, the disease progresses.

Initial symptoms include weakness, night sweats, weight loss, mucocutaneous disorders, and persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL). With further progression of the disease, shingles, oral candidiasis, hairy leukoplakia of the tongue, and others develop. This syndrome was called AIDS-related complex - CCK (AIDS Related Complex - ARC).

Such a complex is, as a rule, a condition that progresses further to AIDS.

Subsequently, opportunistic infections or tumors give a picture of advanced AIDS. In some cases, asymptomatic HIV infection can rapidly progress to AIDS. However, practically healthy long-lived carriers living with HIV for more than 10 years are known to date.

Foreign scientists isolated the virus from many biological fluids of the human body. Large, and therefore the most dangerous concentration of the virus found in the blood, semen, vaginal contents of women and breast milk. The virus is also found in saliva, urine, and even tear fluid, but at extremely low concentrations. In all well-studied and proven cases, infection occurred through contacts "blood-blood", "sperm-blood". The greatest chance of infection is when the virus enters directly into the bloodstream.

Almost immediately after the first reports about HIV, information appeared about its extremely high variability. The rate of error generation in HIV reversetase is so high that in nature, apparently, there are no two absolutely identical HIV genomes. Moreover, the variability in the most variable part of the genome, encoding the envelope glycoprotein of a viral particle, even in one patient is often 15 percent, and the differences between viruses isolated in different countries sometimes reach 40-50 percent. Obviously, such high differences cannot affect the approaches to the vaccine development strategy.

Initially, the virus appeared in Africa and from there it got to Haiti, where the entire African population and due to extreme poverty easily became victims of sexual exploitation, and then it entered the United States. Researchers agree that one of the epicenters of the spread of AIDS was New York. The first patients in South Africa were two white homosexuals who had returned from a vacation they had spent in New York. It has been proven that the first nine AIDS patients in Germany were infected in the United States.

In 1983, the journal Science published an article by French scientists. They reported the presence of a retrovirus in 2 out of 33 AIDS patients, which, unlike HTLV-1, did not have the ability to influence the malignant transformation of T-lymphocytes. The authors gave it the name LAV (Lymphadenopathy Associated Virus). It does not cause reproduction, but, on the contrary, the death of T-lymphocytes.
In 1984, AIDS was declared the number one public health problem in the United States. At the same time, a special institute was created in New York to study it.

The epidemic of this disease has affected almost all aspects of society, including the family, school, business world, court, army and government.

Despite the fact that the problem of AIDS was declared the number one public health problem in the United States back in 1984, the national problem and the program to combat AIDS were formulated much later. Only on February 5, 1986, President R. Reagan instructed Everett Kupp to prepare a report. As requested, Kupp held consultations with 26 US organizations (AIDS Council, Life and Health Insurance Council, Elementary and High School Associations, Nurses, Red Cross, Federation of Teachers, Council of Churches, etc.)

After a thorough study of the problem, on October 22, 1986, the report of the US Surgeon General was made public in the form of an appeal to the American people. The appeal was published in the press, broadcast on radio and television.

The report indicated the main ways in which AIDS is transmitted in the country. Kupp emphasized that the only weapon in the fight against AIDS is education and information, the purpose of which is to change people's behavior. He insisted that the problem of AIDS must be urgently placed in the very early stages of education, considering it in the context of a hygiene and health program. Sexual education at school (including information about safer sex) needs to be supplemented by the amount of knowledge acquired in the family. This training should be no less intensive than training in traffic rules. The discovery of a virus (neither before nor after the discovery of HIV) has ever caused such an extensive public outcry. As a direct result, there has been an unprecedented high funding for development, prevention, treatment of people with HIV, as well as basic research. In the mid-1980s, they included both outstanding scientists of world renown and young specialists from many countries. As a result, much more soon became known about HIV than about some other long-described infections. contained information on 48,703 publications related to HIV (half as many about the influenza virus).

The study of HIV has led to many discoveries, not only in virology, but also in related disciplines - in immunology, epidemiology, molecular biology.

AIDS Mystery
Since then, the whole world has been trying to figure out where it came from. Various hypotheses are expressed, up to the most fantastic ones: for example, that HIV is an alien virus.

There are several hypotheses that have scientific justification.

It's all the monkeys' fault
The very first and perhaps most plausible hypothesis about the nature of HIV is related to monkeys; more than 20 years ago it was stated by Dr. Bette Korber from the Los Alamos National Research Laboratory (New Mexico, USA). According to this hypothesis, the precursor of HIV entered the human blood from chimpanzees; it happened in the thirties of the last century. This could happen quite simply - from a bite or when cutting the carcass of a dead animal. The virus began its deadly invasion from West and Equatorial Africa. (By the way, just in the thirties in Africa there was a mass extermination of chimpanzees.)

I must say that Korber's hypothesis is based on serious scientific research. Based on the extensive database available to scientists, the HIV family tree was reproduced in terms of known mutations of the virus. After that, a special program was written, and the Nirvana supercomputer began a "countdown". The virtual ancestor of the human immunodeficiency virus was discovered in 1930. According to scientists, it is possible that it is from this date that the epidemic begins, which to date has affected more than 40 million people on the planet.

Later, a rare virus was indeed discovered in the blood of chimpanzees, capable of causing a fatal disease when it enters the human body. The sensational discovery was made by Dr. Hahn while studying tissue samples from a female chimpanzee named Marilyn, who died in an unsuccessful birth 15 years ago at the US Air Force Science Center.

However, chimpanzees are only carriers of a deadly virus that does not cause disease in them. Why this happens is still a mystery. If it is possible to understand how monkeys have learned to cope with infection, the creation of an effective cure for the plague of the twentieth century will become a reality.

Where and when did HIV enter the human population? To answer this question, one must think of other primate lentiviruses, HIV-2, and numerous simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs). Interestingly, SIVs do not cause AIDS in natural hosts. Green monkeys, for example, do not get sick themselves, but they can infect monkeys of other species, in particular, when they are kept together in zoos. Thus, Japanese macaques, who have never encountered SIV, develop an infection with symptoms of AIDS, ending in death. It turned out that HIV-2 is close to one of the monkey viruses that is isolated in Africa in the natural populations of smoky mangabeys. Several cases of human infection have been described, with the infected developing all the symptoms caused by HIV-2. Conversely, experimental infection of smoky mangabeys led to the development of a chronic infection without any symptoms of AIDS. We can draw the following conclusion: the infection caused by HIV-2 is a typical zoonosis; the natural reservoir of the virus is in the clouded mangobey population in West Africa. Moreover, there is evidence that the emergence of HIV-2 subtypes (all its variants are also divided into subtypes - from A to E) is most likely associated with several introductions of SIV into the human population.

With HIV-1, the question still remains open, although by analogy it can be assumed that the virus got to people from some monkeys; the development of AIDS symptoms is due to the fact that a person is not his natural host. There are already four cases of detection of viruses resembling HIV-1 in chimpanzees. Three viruses have been isolated in West Africa, and the fourth in the US, from a chimpanzee living in a zoo. An analysis of viral genomes led to the assumption that the natural reservoir of HIV-1 may be one of the subspecies of the chimpanzee Pan troglodytes, which lives on the territory of those countries of West Africa where representatives of all HIV-1 groups are simultaneously found. At the same time, it is considered: the virus “crossed” the interspecies barrier at least three times, giving rise to groups “M”, “N”, “O”.

Interestingly, the earliest blood sample containing HIV-1 (groups "M"), found in the city of Kinshasa (now the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo), is dated 1959. Last year, American experts, having studied the genetic differences between a virus present in a blood sample forty years ago, and modern representatives of the "M" group, expressed the following opinion: the common predecessor of all subtypes of this group could have entered the human population from chimpanzees somewhere around 1940. . However, many scientists quite rightly, in my opinion, believe that the rate of HIV evolution depends on a large number of different factors that have not been taken into account. Therefore, although the origin of HIV-1 from simian "relatives" is not in doubt, the estimated date (1940) is not definitive and may be pushed back many years. The lack of older HIV-infected blood samples is easy to explain: the virus was circulating in African villages far from medical centers at that time. It is not clear why only four infected chimpanzees have been found so far. Indeed, by analogy with HIV-2, the detection of a virus in a natural reservoir should not pose any serious problem.

Finally, the question remains how exactly the virus got from monkeys to humans. In the case of HIV-2, everything is quite clear: in African villages, many mangabeys are the same as Russian mongrels, tamed monkeys constantly communicate with people, play with children .... Moreover, in some parts of West Africa, monkeys of this species are eaten . Chimpanzees are quite rare, and their size and disposition are not conducive to friendly communication. We have to admit: either those chimpanzees - carriers of the virus - have not yet been caught, or a virus resembling HIV-1 got to them and humans from some other African monkeys (possibly already extinct).

The virus that causes AIDS is much older than previously thought
It all started with the fact that in the frozen tissues of a fifteen-year-old black teenager from a homosexual environment who died 30 years ago in a St. Louis hospital from an “unknown disease”, HIV was found. The 1968 sample virus was thoroughly studied and a very interesting fact was found out: it turned out that it had not changed much and was unusually similar to modern HIV samples. This called into question the theory of the origin of HIV from African monkeys. Professor Robert Garry made a report in which he stated that comparative studies of the 30-year-old virus and current species make it possible to judge the rate of HIV mutation: it is much lower than expected. At this speed, the "African" type virus (HIV-2) could not, in the time that has passed since its appearance in Africa, turn into a form isolated in Europe and the USA (HIV-1). According to the scientist, the virus mutated in the human body long before the outbreak in Africa - perhaps for centuries. In other words, AIDS may be 100 or even 1000 years old. This, in particular, is evidenced by the fact that Kaposi's sarcoma, which was described at the beginning of the 20th century by the Hungarian physician Kaposi as a rare form of malignant neoplasm, in fact already indicated the presence of the immunodeficiency virus in patients. But so far it has not been possible to test this hypothesis; no frozen tissue or blood samples of such a prescription have been preserved.

HIV has always existed
Many researchers consider Central Africa to be the birthplace of AIDS. This hypothesis is divided in turn into two versions. The first argues that the virus has existed for a long time and circulated in areas isolated from the outside world, for example, in tribal settlements lost in the jungle. And over time, when the migration of the population increased, the virus broke out and began to spread. This is exacerbated by the fact that African cities are now the fastest growing in the world. And since most of the people there are starving, a huge number of women are forced into prostitution, which, in turn, is an extremely "fertile" environment for the spread of AIDS.

Since life expectancy in the remote areas of the African continent did not exceed 30 years, aborigines who contracted HIV often died before they could develop the disease. In the modern civilized world, the virus has been noticed with a significantly longer life expectancy - it is impossible not to replace the illness and death of a person at the age of 30-40 years. Perhaps when people begin to live for 200-300 years, many new, not yet studied viruses will open that will kill "young" and "healthy" 135-year-old boys and girls. It just takes longer for them to develop in the human body. The second version is that due to the rich deposits of uranium in some parts of Africa there is an increased radioactive background, which contributes to an increase in the number of mutations and, accordingly, accelerates speciation. It is possible that this could also have influenced the emergence of new forms of the AIDS virus that are dangerous to human life.

The year before last, a sensation spread around the world: English researcher Edward Hupeor wrote in his book “The River” that HIV spread due to the mistake of American and Belgian scientists who were working on the creation of a polio vaccine in the early 50s. Chimpanzee liver cells, presumably containing the SIV virus (an analogue of HIV), were used to produce the vaccine. The vaccine was tested just in those three areas of Africa, where today the highest percentage of people infected with the immunodeficiency virus. And about the years when the first infections occurred.

If we accept this hypothesis as correct, then today there is a high probability of HIV infection in children during immunization against polio, since the preparation of vaccines often involves the use of monkey cells. Those who are vaccinated with this vaccine, and these are hundreds of millions of people who are now from one year old to 45-50 years old, can be considered as potentially affected by this virus.

According to one of the versions, which has not been proven, but not refuted either. HIV was obtained in the 70s in the Pentagon laboratories as a result of genetic engineering manipulations to cross a virus that affects the brain of a sheep and a virus that damages the human immune system. For the first time, this was talked about during the period of “perestroika” in some media, but these publications were not paid attention or considered another “duck”. However, some of the reports were based on sound scientific research that unequivocally or with a high degree of certainty indicated that the AIDS virus was artificially created. In 1987, the Swiss newspaper Woken Zeitung, referring to the analysis of a number of American documents, published an article with the characteristic title "Traces lead to the gene laboratory." Documents show that back in 1969, one of the employees of the US Department of Defense told the Congressional Budget Committee that his department had outlined the development of a new biological weapon capable of suppressing the human immune system. In a sensational statement, specific deadlines for the completion of work were also named - from 5 to 10 years.

More than 20 years ago, the world began an epidemic of the most terrible and incomprehensible viral disease of our time - AIDS. Its contagiousness, rapid spread and incurability have earned the disease the fame of the "plague of the twentieth century."

History of occurrence

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is a deadly disease for which there is currently no cure.

Some scientists believe that the HIV virus was transmitted from monkeys to humans around 1926. Recent research suggests that humans acquired the virus in West Africa. Until the 1930s, the virus did not manifest itself in any way. In 1959, a man died in the Congo. Later studies by doctors who analyzed his medical history showed that this may have been the first death from AIDS recorded in the world. In 1969, in the United States, among prostitutes, the first cases of an illness that proceeded with symptoms of AIDS were recorded. Then the doctors did not pay much attention to them, considering them a rare form of pneumonia. In 1978, homosexual men in the United States and Sweden, as well as among heterosexual men in Tanzania and Haiti, were found to have symptoms of the same disease.

It wasn't until 1981 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the discovery of a new disease in young homosexuals in Los Angeles and New York. About 440 carriers of the HIV virus have been identified in the United States. About 200 of these people died. Since most of the patients were homosexuals, the new disease was called Gay Related Immuno Deficiency (GRID) or A Gay Cancer.

On June 5, 1981, an American scientist from the Center for Disease Control, Michael Gottlieb, first described a new disease that occurs with a profound defeat of the immune system. A thorough analysis led American researchers to the conclusion that there was a previously unknown syndrome, which in 1982 received the name Aquired Immune Deficience Syndrom (AIDS) - acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). At the same time, AIDS was called the disease of four "H", in capital letters of English words - homosexuals, hemophiliacs, Haitians and heroin, thus highlighting the risk groups for the new disease.

Immune deficiency (decreased immunity), from which AIDS patients suffered, previously met only as a congenital defect of premature newborns. Doctors found that in these patients, the decrease in immunity was not congenital, but was acquired in adulthood.

In 1983, the French scientist Montagnier established the viral nature of the disease. He discovered a virus in a lymph node removed from an AIDS patient, calling it LAV (lymphadenopathy associated virus).

On April 24, 1984, the director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland, Dr. Robert Gallo, announced that he had found the true cause of AIDS. He was able to isolate the virus from the peripheral blood of AIDS patients. He isolated a retrovirus named HTLV-III (Human T-lymphotropic virus type III). These two viruses turned out to be identical.

In 1985, it was found that HIV is transmitted through body fluids: blood, semen, and mother's milk. In the same year, the first HIV test was developed, on the basis of which the United States and Japan began testing donated blood and its preparations for HIV.
In 1986, Montagnier's group announced the discovery of a new virus, which was named HIV-2 (HIV-2). A comparative study of the genomes of HIV-1 and HIV-2 showed that, in evolutionary terms, HIV-2 is far removed from HIV-1. The authors suggested that both viruses existed long before the emergence of the modern AIDS epidemic. HIV-2 was first isolated in 1985 from AIDS patients in Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands. Studies have shown that diseases caused by HIV-2 and HIV-1 are independent infections, since there are differences in the characteristics of pathogens, clinic and epidemiology.

In 1987, the World Health Organization approved the name of the causative agent of AIDS - "human immunodeficiency virus" (HIV, or in the English abbreviation HIV).

In 1987, the WHO Global Program on AIDS was established and the World Health Assembly adopted the global strategy to combat AIDS. In the same year, in a number of countries, the first antiviral drug, azidothymidine (zidovudine, retrovir), is being introduced into the treatment of patients.

It must be emphasized that HIV and AIDS are not synonymous. AIDS is a broader concept and means a deficiency of immunity. Such a condition can occur as a result of a variety of reasons: with chronic debilitating diseases, exposure to radiation energy, in children with defects in the immune system and in senile patients with involution of immune protection, some medications and hormonal preparations. Currently, the name AIDS is used to refer to only one of the stages of HIV infection, namely its manifest stage.

HIV infection is a new infectious disease, which was called before the discovery of its causative agent as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV infection is a progressive anthroponotic infectious disease, with a blood-contact mechanism of infection, characterized by a specific lesion of the immune system with the development of severe immunodeficiency, which is manifested by secondary infections, malignant neoplasms and autoimmune processes.

source An HIV infection is a person with AIDS or an asymptomatic virus carrier. The main mechanism of infection transmission is blood contact. The disease is transmitted through sexual contact, especially homosexual; from an infected mother to a child during pregnancy through the placenta, during childbirth, while breastfeeding from mother to fetus; through razors and other piercing objects, toothbrushes, etc. HIV epidemiologists do not allow the existence of airborne and fecal-oral transmission routes, since HIV excretion with sputum, urine and feces is very small, and the number susceptible cells in the gastrointestinal tract and respiratory tract.

There is also an artificial transmission route: during medical and diagnostic manipulations by penetration of the virus through damaged skin, mucous membranes (transfusion of blood and its preparations, transplantation of organs and tissues, injections, operations, endoscopic procedures, etc.), artificial insemination, with intravenous administration of narcotic substances, performing various kinds of tattoos.

The risk group includes: passive homosexuals and prostitutes, who are more likely to damage the mucous membranes in the form of microcracks. Among women, the main risk group is drug addicts who inject drugs intravenously. Among sick children, 4/5 are children whose mothers have AIDS, are infected with HIV or belong to known risk groups. The second most frequent place is occupied by children who received blood transfusions, the third place is occupied by patients with hemophilia, medical personnel who have professional contact with the blood and other biological fluids of HIV-infected patients.

The immunodeficiency virus can exist in the human body for ten to twelve years without showing itself in any way. And many people do not pay due attention to the initial signs of its manifestation, taking them for symptoms of other, at first glance, not dangerous diseases. If the treatment process is not started in time, the final stage of HIV-AIDS sets in. The immunodeficiency virus can become the basis for the development of other infectious diseases. Along with the risk of developing AIDS, the risk of other infectious diseases also increases.

Symptoms

The last stage - AIDS - proceeds in three clinical forms: onco-AIDS, neuro-AIDS and infectious-AIDS. Onco-AIDS is manifested by Kaposi's sarcoma and brain lymphoma. Neuro-AIDS is characterized by a variety of lesions of the central nervous system and peripheral nerves. As for infectious-AIDS, it is manifested by numerous infections.

With the transition of HIV to the final stage - AIDS - the symptoms of the disease become more pronounced. A person is more and more often affected by various diseases, such as pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, herpes virus and other diseases, called opportunistic infections. It is they who lead to the most serious consequences. At this time, the immunodeficiency virus becomes a severe disease. It happens that the patient's condition is so severe that the person is not even able to get out of bed. Such people most often are not even subject to hospitalization, but are at home under the supervision of people close to them.

Diagnostics

The main method of laboratory diagnosis of HIV infection is the detection of antibodies to the virus using enzyme immunoassay.

Treatment

At the present stage of development of medicine, there is no medicine that can completely cure this disease. However, with the timely start of HIV treatment, it is possible to postpone the moment of the transition of the immunodeficiency virus to the development of AIDS for a long time, and, consequently, to prolong a more or less normal life for the patient.

Treatment regimens have already been developed that can significantly slow down the development of the disease, and since the infection proceeds in most cases for a long time, we can hope to create effective therapeutic agents during this time.

is an abbreviation for the term Human Immunodeficiency Virus. The virus infects the immune system of the human body, introducing HIV infection into it. Developing, this infection manifests itself with various symptoms, combined in the “acquired immunodeficiency syndrome” or AIDS.

Fundamental differences between AIDS and HIV infection:

AIDS (AIDS) is a state of immunity in which the body is practically defenseless against the harmful effects of the environment and the development of oncological processes. Any infection that is harmless to a healthy person, in an AIDS patient, transforms into a serious illness with subsequent death from complications, inflammation of the brain,;

HIV infection is a slowly developing viral infection that has a long-term course. All currently known methods of treating HIV infection do not lead to a complete cure. The disease affects the immune system, which protects the human body from the negative effects of the external environment. The virus, having entered the body from a carrier of the disease, may not manifest itself in any way for a long time, but for several years it consistently destroys the immune system.

Facts, history and statistics of HIV infection

The danger and pace of the spread of HIV infection are so great that it has been called the "plague of the 20th century." Every day, about 5,000 people die from the consequences of this disease in the world. Until recently, nothing was known about this deadly disease to mankind. Only in the 70s of the last century were the first cases of the disease with symptoms similar to AIDS registered.

The first facts of official recognition of the existence of HIV infection:

1981 - publication of scientific articles describing the unusual course of pneumocystis pneumonia caused by a yeast-like fungus and malignant skin lesions (Kaposi's sarcoma) in men with a non-traditional sexual orientation;

July 1982 - the emergence of the term "AIDS";

1983 - the simultaneous discovery of the virus in two independent laboratories: at the French Institute. Louis Pasteur (research leader - Luc Montagnier) and at the US National Cancer Institute (research leader - Robert Gallo);

1985 - development of a method for enzyme immunoassay, which determines the presence of antibodies to the immunodeficiency virus in the blood;

1987 - the first person infected with HIV appeared in the USSR. The man worked as a translator in African countries, had homosexual relationships;

About the history of HIV

There are several hypotheses for the emergence of the human immunodeficiency virus. One of them is infection from great apes. From the blood of chimpanzees living in Central Africa, researchers have isolated a virus that can cause in the human body. It is possible that a person could become infected by a monkey bite or by contact with raw animal meat.

This type of virus is not capable of causing significant harm to the human body, since the immune defense is able to destroy it within 7 days. In order for it to acquire the properties characteristic of HIV infection, it is required to transfer it to another person within this short period. In this case, mutations occur with the virus, and it acquires characteristics that are dangerous for humans.

In addition to this hypothesis, it is suggested that AIDS existed long before its official discovery by science, affecting the indigenous people of Central Africa. Its rapid spread across countries and continents began due to active migration in the twentieth century.

Statistical data on the number of HIV-infected people

Worldwide, as of December 1, 2016, the number of infected people was 36.7 million.

In Russia, as of December 2016, there were about 800,000 people, with 90,000 identified in 2015. In the same year, more than 25,000 people died of AIDS in Russia, and over 200,000 over the entire observation period since 1987.

For the CIS countries (data for 2015):

Ukraine - about 410 thousand,

Kazakhstan - about 20 thousand,

Belarus - more than 30 thousand,

Moldova - 17800,

Georgia - 6600,

Armenia - 4000,

Tajikistan - 16400,

Azerbaijan - 4171,

Kyrgyzstan - about 10 thousand,

Turkmenistan - official authorities claim that there are isolated cases of HIV infection in the country,

Uzbekistan - about 33 thousand.

Since the statistics record only officially detected cases, the real picture is much worse. A huge number of people do not even suspect that they are HIV-infected, and continue to infect others.

Since the beginning of the spread of the infection, the number of deaths from AIDS worldwide has exceeded 36 million. This epidemic is being contained and even reduced in annual death rates by HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy).

Famous people who died as a result of AIDS:

Rudolf Nureyev - the famous ballet soloist of world renown, passed away in 1993;

Gia Karanji - American top model, was addicted to hard drugs, died in 1986;

Michael Wastphal, a promising tennis player, passed away at the age of 26.

Freddie Mercury is a legend of rock music, the lead singer of the band Queen. Passed away in 1991;

Ryan White is the first child to be infected with AIDS. He gained fame thanks to the fight for the rights of HIV-infected people to a normal life, which he led with the support of his mother. He became infected at the age of 13 during a blood transfusion, which he needed due to a hereditary disease - hemophilia. He passed away at the age of 18, in 1990, leaving a memory of himself as a person who proved that HIV-infected people do not pose a threat to society if precautions are taken.

Despite close attention to the nature of the virus and the recognition of its exceptional danger to humans, scientists have made little progress in the search for an effective cure for AIDS. A feature of HIV is that it mutates extremely quickly, changing at a rate of 1000 mutations per gene. For comparison, influenza virus mutations occur 30 times less frequently. The rapid modification of HIV has affected the fact that a vaccine against this infection has not yet been created, there is no one hundred percent effective drug for the treatment of AIDS. Additional problems create a variety of strains of the virus.

The structure of the human immunodeficiency virus

Main types of HIV:

HIV-1 or HIV-1 - causes typical symptoms, is very aggressive, is the main causative agent of the disease. Opened in 1983, found in Central Africa, Asia and Western Europe, North and South America.

HIV-2 or HIV-2 - the symptoms of HIV are not as intense, it is considered a less aggressive strain of HIV. Opened in 1986, found in Germany, France, Portugal and West Africa.

HIV-2 or HIV-2 are extremely rare.

The virus has the shape of a sphere measuring 100-120 nanometers. Its dense shell consists of a double layer of lipids, has peculiar “spikes”, and a p-24-capsid protein layer is enclosed under the fat-like upper layer.

Elements of the virus under the capsule:

Ribonucleic acid (RNA), which stores genetic information;

Virus enzymes: integrase, protease, reverse transcriptase;

The human immunodeficiency virus belongs to the family of retroviruses that do not synthesize protein and do not have a cellular structure. The reproduction of such a virus occurs extremely slowly, exclusively in the cells of the human body.

Thanks to one of their enzymes, reverse transcriptase, retroviruses convert their own RNA molecule into DNA. Then they introduce this custodian and transmitter of genetic information into the cells of the organism in which they are located.

Resistance to the external environment:

Outside the carrier dies within a few minutes;

At t above 56 ° C, it dies in half an hour;

When boiled, it dies instantly;

It dies very quickly under the influence of ether, acetone, 5% hydrogen peroxide solution, 70% alcohol, chloramine solution;

In the dried state at t + 22 ° C, it lasts from 4 to 6 days;

Heroin solution lasts up to 3 weeks;

In the cavity of a medical needle, it remains viable for several days.

The virus is not affected by ultraviolet and ionizing radiation; after freezing, it remains active.

Features of the life cycle of the virus - prefers to introduce cells of the immune system:

Macrophages - absorbers and utilizers of pathogenic viruses and microorganisms;

T-lymphocytes (helpers) - stimulants of the immune system, producing substances to counteract foreign cells: viruses, fungi, microbes, allergens;

Monocytes are cells that digest pathogenic cells after their death;

Cells of the nervous system with special receptors - CD4 cells.

Phases of the HIV life cycle (on the example of a T-lymphocyte)

The virus enters the body, finds a T-lymphocyte and binds on its surface with special receptors - CD4 cells. Having got into the cage with their help, he throws off his protective outer shell;

With the help of the reverse transcriptase enzyme, one strand of DNA is synthesized on the RNA template of the virus, then it is completed into a 2-stranded molecule;

With the help of the integrase enzyme, the DNA molecule is introduced into the nucleus of the T-lymphocyte and integrated into its DNA;

A molecule can remain dormant for several months or even years. A test for antibodies to the virus at this stage can already detect its presence in the body;

An infection of any etiology can provoke further reproduction of the virus by transferring information from a copy of the DNA to the RNA template of the virus;

With the help of cell ribosomes, HIV proteins are synthesized on viral RNA;

New viruses are assembled from the RNA template and new synthesized proteins. Leaving the cell, they destroy it;

New viruses find themselves new cells for introduction (other T-lymphocytes), the cycle repeats.

Without countermeasures in the form of treatment, the human immunodeficiency virus reproduces its own kind at a rate of 10 to 100 billion per day.

Ways and risks of HIV infection

No one is safe from HIV infection, a person of any gender, age, social status, sexual orientation and financial situation is a target for the virus. The source of its spread is an HIV-infected person, regardless of the stage of development of the disease.

The medium that transmits the virus is blood, semen, breast milk, vaginal discharge, cerebrospinal fluid, that is, the biological fluids of the human body. It is impossible to get HIV by airborne droplets. The infectious dose is at least 10 thousand viral particles that enter the bloodstream.

Ways of getting HIV infection:

Heterosexual contacts that are not protected. Vaginal sex is the most common way of transmission of the virus from person to person (70-80% of the total number of infected people worldwide). In Russia, 40% of those infected with HIV received the virus in this way.

A single sexual contact with ejaculation carries a minimal risk. For a passive partner, it is 0.1-0.32%, for an active one - from 0.01 to 0.1%. These values increase if one of the partners has a sexually transmitted disease (chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, trichomoniasis, etc.). In the focus of inflammation there is always a high concentration of cells of the immune system, for example, T-lymphocytes. The human immunodeficiency virus will definitely take advantage of such a situation.

With sexual infections, the mucous membrane of the reproductive organs is often prone to inflammation and microtrauma in the form of sores, cracks and erosions. This is another factor in the increased risk of contracting HIV.

Regularly repeated sexual contacts significantly increase the risk of infection. A man infected with HIV within 3 years in 45-50% of cases necessarily infects his permanent partner, and a woman with HIV infection infects a permanent partner in 35-40% of cases. For women, this risk is higher because infected semen has longer contact with the vaginal mucosa and covers a larger area.

intravenous drug use. For Russia, this route of infection is typical in 57.9% of cases, global statistics are 5-10%. Infection of drug addicts occurs through common needles for injecting drugs that are not subject to sterilization, possibly through a common container for preparing an intravenous solution. It is this route of infection that is typical for 30-35% of cases. The remaining indicators are related to infection due to promiscuity of persons addicted to intravenous drugs.

Unprotected anal sex. The route of infection is characteristic of both homosexual and heterosexual contacts. Even with a single act, the risk of infection for a passive partner is 0.8-3.2%, and for an active one - 0.06%. This difference is explained by the vulnerability and good blood supply to the rectum.

Unprotected oral sex. With a single contact that ended in ejaculation, the risk of infection for a passive partner is 0.03-0.4%, and for an active one it is practically safe. However, such contact becomes more dangerous if there are defects in the mucous membrane such as “jam”, sores, and wounds in the oral cavity.

Transmission of the virus to a child from an HIV-infected mother. In 25-35% of cases, children become infected during childbirth through contact with fragments of the placenta, as well as during breastfeeding. A healthy woman can get the virus from an infected baby while breastfeeding if the baby has damage to the oral mucosa, and the woman has cracked nipples.

Accidental injuries during medical manipulations, subcutaneous and intramuscular injections. The probability of infection is 0.2-1%, provided that there was contact with any biological fluid of an infected person.

Blood transfusion and organ transplant. The probability of infection from an infected donor is almost 100%.

The higher the immune status of a healthy person, the lower the risk of getting an infection when in contact with an HIV-infected patient. Conversely, weak immunity will lead to an increased risk of infection and a severe course of the resulting disease. A high viral load in a person who has HIV in the body increases his risk as a carrier of the disease several times.

HIV symptoms in men and women

It is almost impossible to identify the specific symptoms of HIV infection, as they are masked as manifestations of other diseases. And the first sign and symptom of HIV in men and women as such does not exist at all. In addition, HIV infection has a different course depending on the state of the immune system of patients.

Stages of HIV infection in accordance with the clinical classification of V.I. Pokrovsky, adopted in Russia:

Symptoms of HIV at stage 1

Incubation lasts from the moment of infection to 1-1.5 months (in some cases up to a year), characterized by active reproduction of the virus.

The first symptoms of HIV, both in men and women, are absent, testing does not detect antibodies to the virus. Suspicion of the onset of infection exists in the presence of a dangerous situation: unprotected sex, blood transfusion.

HIV symptoms in stage 2

There is an immune response to the invasion and reproduction of the virus. The first symptoms of HIV infection may appear before seroconversion. The second stage lasts from 2-3 weeks to several months.

There are 3 options for the course of stage 2:

Symptoms of HIV in stage 4

Kaposi's sarcoma is a malignant tumor of the skin;

Symptoms in Stage 4B

Stage 4B develops 10-12 years after infection. It is characterized by the appearance of diseases that threaten life. The course of infections is extremely severe, they are difficult to treat. However, this stage is also reversible with HAART.

Characteristic symptoms of HIV and disease at stage 4B:

Extreme exhaustion, accompanied by weakness, patients are forced to spend most of the time in bed;

Pneumocystis pneumonia is a characteristic symptom of HIV infection, caused by a fungus;

recurrent herpes;

Fungal infection of the skin and internal organs: esophagus, respiratory organs;

Cryptococcal meningitis caused by a soil fungus does not occur in a healthy person;

Mycobacterioses, which target the gastrointestinal tract, brain, lungs, central nervous system, are characteristic of HIV infection;

Diseases of the central nervous system (clumsiness in movements, dementia, absent-mindedness, memory impairment, intelligence) are the result of complications and the effect of the virus on the cells of the nervous system;

Damage to the heart and kidneys;

Oncological diseases.

Symptoms of HIV at stage 5

The terminal stage develops as the patient's condition worsens. Symptoms of stage 5 HIV progress due to ineffective treatment of secondary infections. Frequent deaths within a few months.

All stages and manifestations of HIV infection are given for the average case. Not all infected people pass through them sequentially, they may skip some stages or linger on some of them. The duration of the disease depends on the state of the patient's immune system and the type of virus, it can last from 7-9 months to 20 years.

This Pokrovsky classification is not the only one; there is a less structured WHO classification. However, experts use a more detailed structure.

Features of HIV symptoms in men, women and children

In men, the symptoms do not have any specifics. Women are noted with cycle disorders, an increased risk of malignant degeneration of the tissues of the cervix. Inflammatory diseases of the pelvic organs in women infected with HIV occur 3 times more often, have a more severe course.

Children infected with HIV are mentally and physically delayed compared to their peers.

An effective drug for a complete cure for this disease has not yet been created. However, there are many effective drugs that reduce the viral load and improve the quality of life of patients with HIV. With strict adherence to the recommendations for their intake, an increase in CD4 cells is noted and a minimum HIV titer is recorded with the most sensitive diagnostic methods.

This result is easily achieved with the developed self-discipline of the patient: timely and continuous medication, observing the correct dosage.

The main directions of therapy:

Maintaining the quality of life of HIV-infected people;

Prevention and temporary delay of conditions that threaten the life of the patient;

Achieving remission with HAART and prevention of secondary infections;

Practical and psychological support for patients;

Providing free medicines.

Principles of prescribing HAART according to the stages of the disease:

At the first stage, treatment is not carried out; in case of contact with HIV, chemoprophylaxis is carried out;

In the second stage, treatment is carried out depending on the level of CD4-lymphocytes present;

At the third stage, HAART is prescribed if the patient actively desires or if the RNA level exceeds 10,000 copies and if the level of CD4-lymphocytes is less than 200 CD4/mm3;

At the fourth stage, treatment is prescribed when the level of RNA is more than 100 thousand copies and the level of CD4-lymphocytes is less than 200 CD4/mm3;

The fifth stage is always accompanied by treatment.

The current standards of HIV care may change in line with recent research showing that early HAART initiation leads to better outcomes.

At the moment, therapy includes a combination of the following groups of drugs:

HIV protease inhibitors,

Nucleoside inhibitors of HIV reverse transcriptase,

Non-nucleoside inhibitors of HIV reverse transcriptase.

There is evidence of the development of a new drug for the treatment of HIV infection - Quad, which is more effective and has fewer side effects. The drug is taken once a day and replaces several drugs.

HIV prevention measures

It has become an axiom that it is easier to prevent a disease than to treat it later. This is true for the prevention of AIDS and HIV infection.

Hetero- and homosexual relationships:

Have one HIV-negative sexual partner;

Protect sexual intercourse with a reliable condom (latex with standard lubrication).

Even such a condom cannot give a 100% guarantee of safe intercourse, since the virus can penetrate through the pores of the latex. In addition, when rubbed, they can expand. You can significantly reduce the risk of infection with the correct use of a condom: choosing the appropriate size, putting it on before intercourse, avoiding a gap (removing air between the latex layer and the genitals). Condoms made from other materials are completely unreliable.

Intravenous injections for drug addiction and the inability to stop taking drugs:

Use for injections of disposable spitz once;

Preparation of a solution for intravenous injection in an individual container.

Reducing the risk of conceiving a fetus in an HIV-infected woman:

Using the method of self insemination (with a partner who does not have HIV);

Semen disinfection for further fertilization (with an HIV-infected partner);

IVF (in vitro fertilization).

Before conception, a woman who decides to become a mother with a positive HIV status is informed about the possible risk to her health and the health of the fetus. Further, STDs, chronic pathologies are necessarily treated, factors that reduce the protective properties of the placenta are excluded: smoking, alcoholism, drug addiction. The key to successful bearing and birth of a healthy child is the exact implementation of the recommendations of doctors, protecting yourself from infection, diagnosing the viral load and the level of CD4 cells.

The pregnant woman is taking the following medications:

HAART for the treatment and prevention of infection;

Iron preparations;

Multivitamins.

Pregnancy with HIV infection is resolved by caesarean section in order to exclude the contact of the child with cervical mucus and placenta containing a large number of viruses.

Protection of medical personnel from infection:

Use of personal protective equipment (mask, goggles, gloves, clothing);

Disposal of used needles in special containers with puncture protection;

In case of accidental contact with infected biological fluids - HAART chemoprophylaxis;

In case of accidental contact of damaged skin with a presumably infected environment - do not stop bleeding from a puncture or cut for several seconds, treat with alcohol with a strength of at least 70%;

In case of accidental contact of intact skin with the biological environment - wash with soap under running water, wipe with 70% alcohol;

If swallowed, rinse with 70% alcohol;

In case of contact with eyes, rinse with running water;

In case of contact with shoes or clothes, wipe with a disinfectant solution or soak in it, wipe the skin under clothing with alcohol;

In case of contact with tiled floors and walls - pour disinfectant for half an hour, wipe.

HIV: answers to questions

Infection occurs from an HIV-infected patient, regardless of the stage of the disease. A healthy person becomes infected when a sufficient dose of the virus enters his bloodstream to cause infection.

How the virus is transmitted:

Heterosexual and homosexual unprotected intercourse with an HIV-infected partner. Most often, infection occurs in those who have promiscuous sex. The risk is increased with anal sex, regardless of the orientation of sexual partners;

In drug addicts with intravenous drug injections with non-sterile syringes, using one container for preparing a solution for injection;

Children from HIV-infected mothers during pregnancy, during childbirth, while breastfeeding;

During medical manipulations, injections associated with contact with infected biological fluids;

In blood transfusion and donor organ transplantation, the situation may arise with a false negative result in the donor during the “window period”.

According to the law on the protection of the rights of HIV-infected people, information about their status must be kept secret and cannot be transferred to third parties. Such a measure allows not to be afraid of discrimination in case of a positive result.

An HIV blood test is carried out free of charge in two ways:

Anonymously. The test is assigned a number to obtain the result, and the name of the person taking the test remains secret;

Confidentially. Laboratory staff maintain medical secrecy, although they know the name and surname of the person being tested for HIV.

Testing is carried out:

At the regional AIDS prevention center;

In the polyclinic at the place of residence in the anonymous testing room,

In a private medical center with special facilities (for a fee).

Before and after testing, psychological support and counseling are provided for a person who decides to undergo an HIV diagnosis. Test results can be obtained on the same day, or 2-3 to 14 days after diagnosis.

What to do if the HIV test is positive?

If the result is positive, an anonymous conversation is held with the doctor about the course of the disease, the necessary additional studies and treatment methods, about possible risks and complications. Such advice can be obtained from an infectious disease doctor at the place of residence or at the regional center for the prevention and control of AIDS.

Required Research:

To determine the level of CD4 cells;

The presence or absence of viral hepatitis;

on viral load;

For the p-24 capsid antigen.

According to the indications, studies of the general immune status, STD pathogens, markers of malignant neoplasms, CT, etc. are carried out.

Airborne (when sneezing and coughing);

When using shared cutlery;

In the bath, sauna, steam room;

When swimming in a pool, a common pond;

When bitten by an animal or insect;

During the medical examination;

In public places, in transport;

When using one toilet;

Through a kiss or a handshake.

Patients with viral hepatitis, for example, are much more dangerous to others than people infected with HIV.

These are people who deny the existence of the human immunodeficiency virus.

Their beliefs are based on the following arguments:

The virus has not been identified and not cultivated outside the human body. No one has seen HIV, so far only a set of proteins has been isolated, it is arguable that they belong to the same virus. In fact, there are a large number of photographs of the virus taken using an electron microscope;

Patients die more frequently from antiviral therapy for AIDS than without treatment. Indeed, the first drugs for the treatment of HIV infection had many side effects. But modern drugs are effective and safe, besides, new, even more effective developments are constantly appearing;

AIDS is a conspiracy of pharmaceutical concerns. If this were true, then companies would offer a remedy for the disease, which is not available until today;

AIDS is an autoimmune disease that is not viral in nature. Allegedly, immunodeficiency is caused by toxic poisoning, stress, radiation and other causes. The argument against this statement is that after the start of taking HAART, patients improve. Such statements disorientate patients, some of them refuse treatment. In fact, special therapy started on time allows HIV-infected people to lead a normal life, have healthy children, and work. At the same time, the course of the disease slows down, life expectancy is preserved. All this is possible with timely diagnosis and timely initiation of HAART.

About the doctor: From 2010 to 2016 practicing physician of the therapeutic hospital of the central medical unit No. 21, the city of Elektrostal. Since 2016, she has been working at the diagnostic center No. 3.

History of occurrence

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is a deadly disease for which there is currently no cure.

In 1987, the World Health Organization approved the name of the causative agent of AIDS - "human immunodeficiency virus" (HIV, or in the English abbreviation HIV).

Symptoms

Diagnostics

The main method of laboratory diagnosis of HIV infection is the detection of antibodies to the virus using enzyme immunoassay.

Treatment

The main problem of humanity is the inability to counteract HIV. Any infectious disease must be fought by influencing the mechanism of development of the pathological process. But unfortunately, every attempt to prevent the activity of the retrovirus leads to an even greater spread of the disease in the world.

To determine how to deal with the pathogen, scientists began to find out how the virus got to humans and where did HIV come from? To understand how AIDS appeared and to determine its reservoir in nature, the smartest people on the planet traveled the whole world. As a result, the emergence of HIV was associated with monkeys that live in southern Africa. When examining these animals, it was possible to isolate the HIV virus. As it turned out, the HIV virus was found in large quantities in saliva, seminal fluid, vaginal secretions and blood of sick animals. It was surprising that the monkeys did not feel the presence of the pathogen in the body, since it did not cause any changes in the state of health. In medicine, this phenomenon is called virus carrying.

According to the laws of nature, a person has a so-called innate (species) immunity to many diseases that only animals suffer from. The most common of these include:

Plague of animals.
Intestinal flu.

It is impossible to determine how long people become infected, and who was the first person to get AIDS, because it was only in the middle of the 20th century that it became possible to observe and evaluate changes in the immune system of an infected person.

How did people get AIDS?

The emergence of HIV in humans is associated with a bite or ingestion of blood particles when cutting the carcass of a sick animal through a violation of the integrity of the skin. When exactly this happened is unknown, but the first clinical confirmation of HIV and AIDS was registered in 1981, when a group of gay men was examined in Los Angeles. Once in the scientific world, during one of the conferences, the case history of a man who died from a variety of infectious diseases in 1959 in the Congo appeared for everyone to review. Later, scientists will be 99% convinced that this patient lost his life precisely from AIDS. Officially, this man is the first AIDS patient. It is not possible to find out who is the first HIV-infected person in the world, although many scientists claim that it was a patient from the western territories of Africa.

History of HIV infection (AIDS)

The history of HIV infection as a specific disease begins with the beginning of the sexual revolution in the United States. It was then that doctors began to notice a similar clinical picture and the course of diseases in homosexual men. It represented a large number of diseases caused by opportunistic flora. In most cases, such pathologies are impossible in humans, since their immune system inhibits the development and activation of this flora. At that time, some scientists believed that it was the microorganisms that live in our body that were the main provocateurs of a weakened human immune status. In this regard, the history of the discovery of the AIDS virus (HIV infection) is accompanied by a lot of gossip and uncertainty. Since the history of AIDS is associated with homosexuals, some members of the medical community began to call this disease "Homosexual Cancer". When it became clear that the cause of such a stormy picture of the disease is immunodeficiency, a new name appeared - “Gay Immunodeficiency Syndrome”.

The story of the discovery of HIV by scientist Michael Gottlieb

In the early nineties, Michael Gottlieb spoke to the global medical community with the identification of a new medical unit. This unit was a disease that is accompanied by a catastrophic decrease in the immune status of a person. During this report, most scientists noticed the incredible similarity of the clinical picture of the disease described by Michael Gottlieb with the previously identified symptoms of the disease, called "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome." The author's mistake is that the scientist identified some unknown factor contributing to the development of immunodeficiency as the main cause of the disease, and not homosexual contacts and drugs. Another option that scientists considered as the cause of the disease was a congenital pathology of the immune system, which finally manifested itself in adulthood.

In what year was the AIDS virus (HIV) discovered and discovered?

In 1983, the scientist Montagnier removed a lymph node from an AIDS patient. The history of the emergence of the HIV virus and its description as a causative agent of immunodeficiency begins from this year. He determined that the onset of AIDS is caused by a pathogen of a viral nature.

Scientist Robert Gallo announced the discovery of HIV. This happened in 1984, when the HIV infection virus was isolated. The famous scientist isolated the pathogen from the peripheral blood cells of one of his patients diagnosed with AIDS. When he voiced his opinion about the history of HIV and the results of research, it turned out that the scientific work of Montagnier and Gallo was almost identical. Since then, both of these scientists are considered the first people in the world to discover where HIV (AIDS) came from. And therefore, to the question: who discovered AIDS, the answer is the scientists Gallo and Montagnier. The next step in the fight against the disease was to find out where HIV came from and how to treat it?

What year was the AIDS virus discovered? AIDS is the last stage of HIV infection, which is accompanied by the development and vigorous activity of opportunistic flora in the human body. The causative agent of this disease was identified before the immunodeficiency virus, since these are often the simplest microorganisms that are not difficult to find even under a light microscope.

Theories of the origin of HIV

For many years, humanity has been at war with a retrovirus, the origin of which is described only in the form of theoretical assumptions. As a disease, AIDS was discovered many years ago. But heated debates about how, why and when AIDS appeared in the world are still ongoing. Scientists have long determined where AIDS (HIV) came from, but how this virus mutated and got to a person, causing such big changes in the state of health, one can only guess.

The first theory about the history of the development of HIV essentially resembles a Hollywood action movie, but it should not be ruled out, since everything is possible in our world. In one of the military laboratories in the United States, weapons of mass destruction were invented, which were supposed to cause permanent changes in the human body to reduce the quality of his health and imminent death. During development, one of the experiments got out of hand. This led to the spread of the virus and the emergence of danger over the existence of all mankind. This theory can be refuted by the fact that the source of the causative agent of immunodeficiency is in Africa.

The second theory of the history of AIDS in the world

The virus was isolated by mutation to renew the principle of natural selection among humans. In connection with the overpopulation of the globe, due to the development and improvement of medical care, a means is needed that will maintain the population of the planet within the required limits, preventing hunger and unemployment that accompanies an increase in the number of individuals.

The theory is refuted by expensive laboratory experiments that are paid for by states in order to ensure a safe life for their citizens. Although if you look at the fact that these experiments often do not lead to positive results, we can talk about a high probability of confirming this theory.

The third theory that tells where AIDS came from in the world

She is one of the most insane and incredible. This hypothesis is refuted by a large number of scientific facts, but its existence among physicians and ordinary people is substantiated by various myths and legends that have overgrown the history of AIDS as the disease of the century.

This theory says that in fact the HIV virus does not exist. And the pathological changes that are observed in those infected are associated with a non-standard reaction of the immune system to a foreign protein, which enters the human blood with the sperm of a man. This theory is based on the fact that the disease was first discovered in homosexuals, and they, as you know, rarely use mechanical types of contraception. In the rectum, there are many vessels through which the body can absorb the remaining water from the feces back into the body. This mechanism of absorption of liquid molecules prevents the body from excessive loss of moisture, which can lead to dehydration. Through these pores, the sperm proteins of the active partner enter the blood of the passive partner, where they cause a specific reaction of the immune system and its further change.

A similar theory exists in the mechanisms and stages of the pathogenesis of some gynecological diseases. For example, infertility in women often has an immune cause. This factor is considered to be the pathological perception by the woman's immune system of a foreign protein that is contained in the man's sperm. The result is a "militant" action of the patient's defense mechanisms against her partner's ejaculate, which ends with the splitting and destruction of spermatozoa. The root cause of this behavior of the immune system is the ingress of a man's ejaculate into the female stomach with ulcers and erosions of the mucous membrane.

Such theories are at first glance unbelievable and have a lot of controversial and untruthful points. But the biochemical and physiological basis for them is also fixed. The refutation of this theory is the scientific confirmation of the viral etiology of AIDS and the isolation of the HIV virus as the causative agent of this disease.

History of the development of HIV (AIDS) in Russia

When the first person with AIDS appeared in Russia, this question is of interest to many. In our country, all the forces of health care are directed to fight the HIV virus, millions of funds are being spent to prevent and treat this disease among Russians. The result of the state program, under which centers for the examination, treatment and emergency prevention of AIDS patients have been opened in almost all regional and territorial points. These centers have a large amount of equipment that is in line with the latest technological innovations. They allow you to correctly diagnose, prescribe appropriate treatment and conduct the necessary laboratory and instrumental studies to identify, confirm and treat complications of any category that always accompany the last fourth stage of HIV.

The history of the emergence of HIV (AIDS) in Russia began at the end of the 20th century. Then in the USSR it was already known about a new disease that was caused by HIV infection, the origin of the AIDS virus. At that time, the infection was considered a foreign curiosity and, due to the low awareness of the population, was not perceived as a most dangerous disease. The first cases of AIDS (HIV) in Russia were registered in the late nineties, early 2000. At that time, many citizens of both European countries and the United States began to visit Russia. There was also a large number of tourists from Africa who came to see the great country. In the film "Intergirl", which was filmed during perestroika, the topic of the disease that citizens of the USSR are infected with from foreigners through unprotected sexual contact is touched upon. The film is about the disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus and the fact that the population was completely unaware of the possible threat from intimacy with a citizen of another country. Who became the first HIV-infected person in the USSR remains unknown.

When did the HIV virus appear in Russia?

The officially documented case of a long-distance sailor was ill in 1985. He became the first victim of AIDS with laboratory confirmation of the diagnosis. This case became a big sensation and brought a lot of grief to the patient's family. Sailor is the first person to contract AIDS in Russia. According to some sources, this happened during sexual contact with a woman of easy virtue in one of the countries he visited during the voyage. The patient was diagnosed with AIDS, he died from the disease within six months. After some time, the man's family had to move to another city, as the rumor about the "infectiousness of relatives" spread quite quickly.

Around the same year, cases of the same disease were registered in Russia among visiting students from Kenya and other African countries. It is very difficult to determine where HIV appeared in Russia for the first time, since the volume of documentation is of an incredible scale. And why is this, if by the end of the 90s more than 150 cases of HIV infection were registered throughout Russia. Cases of the disease were recorded both among adults and children. In one of the epidemic outbreaks, more than 20 cases of infection of babies in the maternity hospital from an infected mother and her newborn child were detected. The reason for this was the negligence of the medical staff, who allowed themselves the use of a non-sterile instrument for injections in patients of the hospital department.

Since that time, the incidence of HIV infection has increased and gradually led to a large number of deaths from immunodeficiency. The first AIDS center for the care and treatment of patients was built in Moscow on the basis of one of the institutes that studied this disease.

Now in all regions, on the basis of medical universities and large medical clinics, AIDS centers are open and actively functioning, providing emergency prevention, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring of all patients who seek medical help.

It is currently known that HIV is not transmitted through water, food or skin contact. Therefore, it is possible to talk about the danger of infected people only through direct contact with their blood and the possibility of unprotected sex, and there is also a high probability of transmitting a retrovirus to an infant in the absence of timely therapy. Any other way of infection with a pathogen is extremely difficult, so you should not avoid sick people.

Information about the human immunodeficiency virus must be fully owned, since at the moment only knowledge about this disease and preventive measures are aimed at preventing infection, can prevent the disease and protect against the introduction of the pathogen.