In June 1981 The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a rare form of pneumonia in young gay men in California. Although they didn’t know it at the time, these were the first documented cases of AIDS.
In 1983, HIV – the virus responsible for AIDS – was isolated by virologists from the Institut Pasteur.
Since then 85.6 million people have become infected with HIV and 40.4 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses.
