Today is HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day, which is observedeach year on June 5 to honor the patients who survived the early HIV/AIDS epidemic but now face new health issues.
The date marks the anniversary of an MMWR published on June 5, 1981 that described five cases of Pneumocystis pneumonia among previously healthy young men who have sex with men in Los Angeles. It would later become the first official reporting of the AIDS epidemic, according to HIV.gov.
Since the start of the epidemic, HIV has infected more than 70 million people worldwide, costing approximately 35 million lives, according to WHO. In 2016, an estimated 36.7 million people were living with the virus, and 1 million people died from HIV-related illnesses.
Despite the continued burden of HIV, it is now considered a chronic, manageable disease in regions with accessible ART, thanks to advances in diagnosis, treatment and prevention. As a result, people with HIV are living longer. The CDC estimates that patients aged 50 years and older represent almost half of the HIV population in the United States.
Adapted from:
- CDC. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1981;30:1-3.
- CDC. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1982;31:305-7.
- CDC. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1982;31:652-4.
- CDC. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1983;31:697-8
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