HIV/AIDS: fighting an epidemic no longer in the headlines
Story by Connie Bryson/Illustrations by Jeff Kulak
HIV and AIDS have fallen off the public's radar to some extent. Highly effective new drugs mean that AIDS is no longer a death sentence. But there is still no cure, and the disease continues to affect millions of people around the world-in epidemic proportions.
Since the early 1980s, when acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was identified and attributed to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus has rocketed to its current standing as the number one infectious cause of death in the world. In the countries hit hardest by HIV, it is the most important health problem. In southern Uganda, for example, AIDS is the cause of 80% of adult deaths. But even in Alberta, where infection rates are much lower, HIV/AIDS is a serious issue. It's estimated that there are close to 3,000 Albertans living with HIV, which remains a deadly transmissible virus.
"If you're looking for the answer to 'Why do HIV/AIDS research?', the numbers speak for themselves," says Dr. Stan Houston, director of the Northern Alberta HIV Program and a professor at the University of Alberta. "While there have been two major successes in HIV research to date-a reliable test for the virus and an effective therapy for those who can organize their life in such a way as to take the treatment-there is still no cure. And a vaccine for HIV has remained elusive.
"The other striking characteristic about HIV is how it interacts dramatically with social, cultural, and economic factors in ways we only partly understand. Because HIV intersects with so many sensitive issues-sex, drug use, death-what you might think is strictly a health issue is greatly complicated by the political and social response to it. This has been true of AIDS from the beginning, when it was thought to be a disease of only gay men and Haitians. Now we're seeing some of the HIV/AIDS research agenda devoted to investigating these social issues.
"And active research on many fronts means there's another aspect to HIV and AIDS-things change so fast that there is always something to keep you on your toes."
HIV around the world: the numbers
An estimated 33.2 million people around the world were living with HIV in 2007. In the same year, an estimated 2.5 million people became newly infected with HIV, and an estimated 2.1 million people died of AIDS-related causes.
AIDS was first diagnosed in 1981. Canada saw its first case of AIDS in 1982, and the first Canadian death attributed to AIDS the year after that. Approximately 21,000 people in Canada have since died while infected with HIV. At the end of 2005, an estimated 58,000 people were living with HIV infection (including full-blown AIDS); this number signalled an increase of about 16% from 2002 figures. Health Canada estimates that 27% of people living with HIV in 2005 were as yet unaware of their status.
Sources: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, World Health Organization, Public Health Agency of Canada