HIV/AIDS: Medical Breakthroughs and Social Settings of the 1980s, the 1990s

The HIV/AIDS epidemic may be one of the most devastating illnesses in American history due to its incurability and severe effects both on a person’s physical and mental wellbeing. Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS may also be one of the most stigmatized diseases from the period between 1980 and the present day due to its tendency to infect already stigmatized populations, namely intravenous drug users and gay men. Initially, this stigmatization persuaded many researchers to avoid testing potential treatments, which may have impeded progress. However, as public awareness of the virus increased and support for those suffering grew, researchers exponentially improved drugs to treat the illness. Generally speaking, resources to adults suffering from HIV/AIDS in America have become more available not only due to medical breakthroughs, but also due to less stigmatization of the virus from when it was first recognized in the early 1980s to today. I will demonstrate this trend through examining both medical breakthroughs and social settings of the 1980s, the 1990s, and the period from 2000 to present day.

HIV/AIDS in the 1980s

In 1981, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first reported on five previously healthy young men who were suffering from a rare lung infection, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, as well as other infections that indicated a failing immune system. Following this initial report, thousands of doctors across the United States came forward with reports of similar cases. By September 24, 1982, the Center for Disease Control labeled these conditions with the term AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), which refers to “a disease at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell-mediated immunity, occurring in a...

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...ed to more research for a cure and a wider support system.

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