From October 1980 to May 1981, a rare pneumonia, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), was confirmed among 5 homosexual young men in Los Angeles, California. Symptoms also included a long period of fever, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and candidal muscosal infection. CDC reported these cases in June 5, 1981, and the Newsweek also made a passing mention about this new disease.

Meanwhile, in New York, at least eight cases were identified with aggressive Kaposi’s Sarcoma (KS). These cases were also young, homosexually active men.

In July 30, 1981, CDC sent a memo to National Cancer Institute to request collaboration on researching the new disease. A conference ensued in a few months.

By the end of 1981, cases with similar symptoms were found in other populations, and the New York Times reported the new disease.

During the following years, the new disease was named as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), for the symptoms are all related to the immunosuppression. The virus, a retrovirus, Human Immunosuppressive Virus (HIV), was first identified in France, and almost simultaneously in the US. A new era of medicine began.

Where did the virus come from? How did this stuff jump to human beings anyway?

Several years after the identification of AIDS cases, scientists knew that homologous viruses are naturally circulating among green monkeys in Africa. But it is still unimaginable that monkey virus can jump to human beings, and it was said that the crossing had occurred several times.

One of the prevailing theories suggested that monkey hunters might accidentally have blood contact with monkeys, which might transfer the virus. Although it is not impossible, how the infrequent transmission spread among the world still remain elusive.

Although little is known about the origin of the disease and virus, the biology of the virus has been tossed inside out during last two decades.

The virus is one of the smartest viruses that human know of. This is not surprising, given that the target of the virus is the immune cell. When it infects the T helper lymphocytes through a CD4 protein (thus CD4 cells), it not only replicates quickly inside the host cells, but also sometimes mutes the host cells. When an effective cocktail treatment killed all infected T cells and stopped the virus replication, there are still some viruses hidden somewhere. It is a time-bomb with unknown setoff time.

Furthermore, the virus replicates itself so quickly and makes so many mistakes during replications, it constantly changes itself. Thus, virtually many types of HIV virus coexist in the same body. Its surface proteins are also protected by sugars to evade the antibody attack. These mechanisms significantly hinder the vaccine development. The virus is truly a genius in fighting against the wisdom of human beings.

Till now, scientists are still working diligently on HIV vaccine, and there are some promises. People have examined the natural vaccines from whom the virus replications were magically stopped. They are also rethinking about the strategy of developing the vaccine. As a result, some vaccines are already in the test field. There may be an effective vaccine in the near future.

The virus is also smart in terms of the way it chooses to transmit itself.

We all know sex is sinful, and unprotected sex is disastrous. But sex is the only channel in which human survives. So the virus picks up the sex.

There is a hot debate on whether holding off virginity among teenagers will protect them from sexual transmitted disease which includes HIV infection. It seemed that virginity oath did postpone the first sex. However, it didn’t reduce other types of sex, and it didn’t lower the incidence of STD. On the contrary, those who had virginity oath were less prepared and more likely to engage unprotected sex.

But sex is not the only way to transmit the virus. In China, the majority of HIV infected cases are commercial blood donors. Hundreds and hundreds of peasants were infected with HIV when they were selling their bloods for a meager living. In Africa, most women got the infection by their unfaithful husbands, and children were infected from their mothers. In fact, worldwide, those HIV carriers are more likely to be the poor, African men and women, and hopeless children.

Finally it comes to the conclusion. HIV infection is a disease of disparity. The virus is witty and disproportionally favors the poor because they are more likely to engage risky behaviors, and also are more likely unprotected. The treatment is so expensive that the poor people can’t afford it anyway. Thus, according to the UNAID.ORG, “In 2005, over 40 million people globally were estimated to be living with HIV. The AIDS epidemic claimed more than 3 million lives and close to 5 million people acquired the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 2005.”

There are people crying for our help. There are many things we can do to help them. We just need to do it.