World Aids day – History & facts

World aids day is celebrated every year all over the world on 1st of December to raise the public awareness about AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome). AIDS is a pandemic disease caused due to the infection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The day is celebrated by the government organizations, NGOs, civil society and other health officials by organizing the speeches or forums discussion related to the AIDS.

World Aids day - History & facts

 

It is universally recognized that anti-AIDS stamps can play a significant role in various ways in HIV/AIDS prevention.  A stamp from Brunei in 1990 describes the threat of death. First cases of AIDS victims were reported from USA in 1981. The term AIDS was first used on July 27, 1982.

 

 

 

Discovery of HIV

World Aids day - History & factsFrom the earliest reports of a new disease, scientists around the world focused their efforts on finding the cause of AIDS. They circulated information informally; they held meetings to exchange ideas; and they published promising findings. A pioneer in this effort was Dr. Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute, who only recently had discovered the first two human retroviruses, HTLV-I and HTLV-II. In 1984, research groups led by Dr. Gallo, Dr. Luc Montagnier at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and Dr. Jay Levy at the University of California, San Francisco, all identified a retrovirus as the cause of AIDS. Each group called the virus by a different name: HTLV-III, LAV, and ARV, respectively. As has happened many times in scientific history, contention emerged about who had been first.World Aids day - History & facts

In 1987, the president of the United States and the prime minister of France announced a joint agreement on the issue–the first time a medical research question had reached this level of political negotiation. More importantly, the identification of that virus, renamed human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, provided a specific target for blood-screening tests and for scientists around the world conducting research to defeat AIDS. French Stamp (1994) honors the research carried out at France.

HIV virus belongs to group of lentiviruses which is a subgroup of retroviruses. The genome of HIV virus is made up of RNA (ribonucleic acid) and each virus has two chains of RNA. HIV infects mainly the CD4+ lymphocytes also known as T-cells, once a cell infected the host cell is converted into HIV-Replicating cell in the result human immune system losses that cell from its functioning capacity. So many variants of the HIV/AIDS virus can easily be found in a single patient, and the reason is structure of Human immunodeficiency virus. Moreover, HIV virus evades in the human immune system, because of its biological structure and life cycle of that virus. Therefore it is inevitable to know what kind of structure HIV has.World Aids day - History & facts

Chimpanzees had long been carriers of a virus

World Aids day - History & factsIn 1981 doctors in New York and San Francisco began reporting cases of young, active homosexual men dying from Kaposi’s Sarcoma, a rare type of skin cancer which usually occurs after a breakdown in the immune system. Other types of death resulting from immunodeficiency then began occurring with alarming frequency, and the medical profession realized that it was faced with a new and highly dangerous infectious disease, which it named AIDS. As panic spread, others began calling it “the gay plague”, while fundamentalist preachers declared that it was the wrath of God descending on the inhabitants of the licentious San Francisco and other sinks of homosexual iniquity. Soon, however, reports of AIDS began coming in from countries worldwide, and it became clear that this was not a disease limited to homosexuals. In sub-Saharan Africa, the disease had spread along the main highways running east and west, transmitted by male lorry drivers to the female prostitutes along their routes.World Aids day - History & facts

 

By 1984, 50 percent of Kenya’s prostitutes were HIV positive. By the following year, 10.000 people in the United States alone were infected, and the majority would die within two years of being diagnosed. The disease spread through all levels of society, taking a particularly heavy toll on the artistic and intellectual community. In France, the philosopher Michel Foucault would be the first well-known American figure to declare publicly that he had AIDS shortly before he died in November 1985. Also, there was a big scandal when a very famous American actor Rock Hudson died from AIDS in October 1985.

So what is the biological structure and life cycle of HIV virus, let’s get know.

HIV Structure:
Like other viruses, HIV does not have a cell wall or a nucleus. The basic structure of the virus includes the viral envelope, the HIV matrix proteins and the viral core.

World Aids day - History & facts

HIV cannot grow or reproduce on its own like all the other viruses. For replication, HIV must need to infect the cells of a living organism. HIV is a social class virus. Social class often called retroviruses class. Belonging to social class, HIV is placed in the subgroup of lentiviruses. There are many other well know lentiviruses such as SIV, FIV, Visna and CAEV, which cause diseases in monkeys, cats, sheep and goats respectively.

Helper T cells are the main target for HIV; however, other cells can become infected as well including monocytes and macrophages, which can hold large numbers of viruses within themselves without being killed. Moreover, some T cells harbor similar reservoirs of the virus. So we can conclude that HIV is an enveloped RNA virus.

Structural Details of HIV – The first question regarding structural details of HIV is what it looks like. An HIV particle is about the same as around 100-150 billionths of a meter in diameter. Same as 0.1 microns or 4 millionths of an inch. You can also equalize it with one twentieth of the length of an E. coli bacterium.World Aids day - History & facts

HIV particles are much very small as compared to most of the bacteria. That’s why HIV particles cannot be seen with simple and ordinary microscopes; instead, observers use an electron microscope for clear vision. See the following picture for more details.

The capsid is bullet-shaped made from the protein p24. Its capsid also called its viral core. There are three enzymes required for HIV replication inside the core namely reverse transcriptase, integrase and protease.

What is RNA – RNA is Ribonucleic Acid. HIV is an enveloped RNA virus. As all of the organisms and most of the viruses use to store their genetic material on long strands of DNA, Retroviruses do not store their genetic material on long strands of DNA because their genes are composed of RNA.

There is not much difference between RNA and DNA. The structures are almost the same with few exceptions. The only difference in both is HIV replicate (make new copies of itself) more in RNA comparatively.World Aids day - History & facts

The Viral Envelope – The outer coat of the virus is called the viral envelope. The viral envelope originates of two layers of lipids. The viral envelope is used to cover the protective protein capsids of virus. The envelope is typically derived from portions of the host cell membranes i.e. forming “spikes” including the outer glycoprotein (gp) 120 and the transmembrane gp41.

P17 Protein – A matrix made up of an association of the viral protein p17 surrounds the capsid. The HIV matrix proteins lie between the envelope and core. This matrix proteins consists p17 protein.

The Viral Core – The capsid is made from the protein p24. It’s also called its viral core. The viral core, contains the viral capsule, surrounds two single strands of HIV Ribonucleic Acid. The enzymes like reverse transcriptase, protease, ribonuclease, and integrase etc. always needed to replicate HIV.
World Aids day - History & facts

After one is infected with HIV, gradually symptoms started to develop over months to years before the onset of AIDS leading to death as is described in an Ethiopian stamp of 1991.

Transmission of the disease

World Aids day - History & factsBy now considerable research had been carried out into AIDS. It had been discovered that the disease was spread through the transmission of sexual fluids or blood. It could enter by way of cuts or abrasions, particularly those caused in the sensitive tissues of the sexual organs and the anus. Another prevalent way of passing on the disease was the shared use of syringes by drug abusers. Pregnant women could pass on HIV to their fetuses by way of their bloodstream, and even after birth HIV could be passed on through the mother’s milk. It was also found to be passed on to people requiring blood transfusions, such as hemophiliacs-there was still no test which could detect the HIV virus in blood samples. However, despite all the hysteria, it was soon understood that the disease was not passed on by normal social contact, or even deep kissing; and “safe sex” (involving careful use of a condom) also prevented possible contamination.

Conclusion
Most agree that the epidemic is gradually being brought under control in many advanced Western countries, whereas it is undeniably out of control in Africa and many Third World countries. How long this bipartite state of affairs can continue is uncertain. However, one thing is certain: similar diseases will continue to appear at more or less lengthy intervals. In the blind process of natural selection, human beings are far from being alone in their struggle for survival on this planet. In order to survive, viruses too will evolve and discover their methods of adapting to circumstances. Yet, in discovering how to overcome AIDS, and finding a vaccine against such an elusive virus as HIV, humanity may well discover the means to win these battles in the future to.

 

WORLD AIDS DAY THEME

UNAIDS started organizing the World AIDS Day campaign to be celebrated with the particular annual themes for better global awareness about the disease. Following are the list of all the year wise themes of World Aids Day:

  • The theme of the year 1988 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Communication”.
  • The theme of the year 1989 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Youth”.
  • The theme of the year 1990 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Women and AIDS”.
  • The theme of the year 1991 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Sharing the Challenge”.
  • The theme of the year 1992 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Community Commitment”.
  • The theme of the year 1993 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Act”.
  • The theme of the year 1994 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “AIDS and the Family”.
  • The theme of the year 1995 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Shared Rights, Shared Responsibilities”.
  • The theme of the year 1996 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “One World and One Hope”.
  • The theme of the year 1997 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Children Living in a World with AIDS”.
  • The theme of the year 1998 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Force for Change: World AIDS Campaign with Young People”.
  • The theme of the year 1999 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Listen, Learn, Live: World AIDS Campaign with Children and Young People”.
  • The theme of the year 2000 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “AIDS: Men Make a Difference”.
  • The theme of the year 2001 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “I care. Do you”?
  • The theme of the year 2002 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stigma and Discrimination”.
  • The theme of the year 2003 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stigma and Discrimination”.
  • The theme of the year 2004 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS”.
  • The theme of the year 2005 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise”.
  • The theme of the year 2006 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise-Accountability”.
  • The theme of the year 2007 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise- Leadership”.
  • The theme of the year 2008 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise-Lead-Empower-Deliver”.
  • The theme of the year 2009 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Universal Access and Human Rights”.
  • The theme of the year 2010 for the World Aids Day campaign was, “Universal Access and Human Rights”.
  • The theme from the year 2011 to 2015 for World Aids Day campaign was, “Getting to zero: zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths”