ABSTRACT
Dr. Robert C. Gallo provides a personal reflection on the 25 year history of AIDS.
Subject(s)
HIV Infections/history , AIDS Serodiagnosis/history , AIDS Vaccines/history , Animals , Anti-HIV Agents/history , Anti-HIV Agents/therapeutic use , Biomedical Research/history , HIV Infections/epidemiology , HIV Infections/therapy , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , HumansSubject(s)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/history , HIV , AIDS Serodiagnosis/history , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/diagnosis , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/virology , Cells, Cultured , HIV/isolation & purification , HIV/physiology , History, 20th Century , Humans , T-Lymphocytes/physiology , T-Lymphocytes/virology , Virus CultivationSubject(s)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/history , HIV , AIDS Serodiagnosis/history , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/drug therapy , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/transmission , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/virology , Animals , Anti-HIV Agents/history , Anti-HIV Agents/therapeutic use , CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/virology , Cells, Cultured , HIV/classification , HIV/isolation & purification , HIV/physiology , HIV/ultrastructure , History, 20th Century , Humans , T-Lymphocytes/virology , Virus CultivationSubject(s)
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/history , HIV , AIDS Serodiagnosis/history , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/diagnosis , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/immunology , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/virology , CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/virology , Cell Line , Cells, Cultured , France , HIV/classification , HIV/isolation & purification , HIV/physiology , History, 20th Century , Human T-lymphotropic virus 1/isolation & purification , Human T-lymphotropic virus 1/physiology , Human T-lymphotropic virus 2/isolation & purification , Human T-lymphotropic virus 2/physiology , Humans , Interleukin-2/history , Interleukin-2/isolation & purification , Interleukin-2/physiology , Patents as Topic/history , RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase/history , RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase/isolation & purification , RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase/metabolism , United States , Virus CultivationABSTRACT
National Reference Laboratory on AIDS (NRL AIDS) was established in the National Institute of Public Health by the Ministry of Health in the late 1985. At that time the existence of HIV/AIDS and the potencial spread of this infection/disease even in a socialistic country has been officially recognized. The main tasks of NRL AIDS were and still are the laboratory diagnostic, epidemiology and research of HIV/AIDS. As one of its first steps NRL AIDS introduced HIV antibody testing methods and strongly recommended obligatory screening of all blood donations to assure the safety of blood and blood products. In 1986 NRL AIDS performed the first serological pilot study to gain basic data on HIV infection incidence and prevalence in the Czech population. National HIV/AIDS reporting system has been elaborated at NRL AIDS and connected with the WHO-EC European AIDS Monitoring System. Several national and international collaborative HIV surveillance studies in different population groups are performed and evaluated yearly to monitor the trends in the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Czech Republic. From 1986 through May 1995 a total of 230 cases of HIV infection were reported in the Czech Republic. Of these 62 cases met the criteria for AIDS case definition. Homo/bisexual men are still the most affected population group accounting for 59% of all HIV reported cases. Nevertheless the percentage of heterosexually transmitted infections is constantly increasing, presently accounting for 19% of all infected persons. The activities of NRL AIDS are very broad, including the field of applied research. Several research grants were obtained from the Grant Agency of the Ministry of Health. Results of some of these are included in the National HIV/AIDS Programme of the Czech Republic.
Subject(s)
AIDS Serodiagnosis/history , Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/history , Laboratories/history , Anniversaries and Special Events , Czech Republic , Female , History, 20th Century , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
Shortly after the first cases of AIDS were reported in 1981, it became apparent that this disease was caused by a blood-borne infectious agent that could be transmitted by blood transfusion. Early reports documented a reduced ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ T cells not only in AIDS patients but also in likely carriers of the AIDS pathogen. On this basis, from July 1983 to June 1985, our blood center utilized flow cytometry to test each donated unit for the ratio of CD4 to CD8 T cells; we did not transfuse blood from donors with CD4/CD8 < 0.85. Despite available data supporting the utility of this or other surrogate blood tests to screen blood donors, the vast majority of blood banks did not initiate blood donor testing for AIDS until 1985, following the discovery of HIV and development of commercial HIV antibody tests. Retrospective analysis indicates that donor screening with surrogate markers would have removed the majority of AIDS-contaminated units from the blood supply and prevented a substantial fraction of the estimated 10,000 cases of transfusion-transmitted AIDS in the United States. In this report, we review the events that led to our decision to initiate blood donor testing prior to the identification of HIV, the results of such testing, the consequences of the decision by most blood banks not to initiate such testing, the current status of the blood supply with respect to HIV, and steps that can be taken in the future to protect the blood supply from new pathogens.
