Spiraling Out of Control
The disco party nights of the late 1970s were hardly winding down when a dismal cloud formed over the U.S. Rumors circulated of an unfamiliar illness in young homosexual men. As the incidence of cases quickly increased, it appeared that America was heading toward an epidemic that primarily affected homosexuals. Two years into the new decade brought another thunderclap; similar illnesses were reported among heterosexuals, mostly intravenous drug users. The disease was proving fatal. Within a few short and terrifying years, similar incidents cropped up around the world, with no evident cure or treatment. A pandemic was on the horizon.
The Cradle Africa
Though America was the first to make AIDS a household name, it wasn’t the first to recognize the trending menace. Research indicates that the first strain of an immunodeficiency virus was found to have been transferred to humans from monkeys in Cameroon, in the middle of the twentieth century. The data reportedly states that, by 1970, cases of HIV infections numbered in the thousands, with an epicenter in the Congo. In 2011, due largely to a migrating workforce and prostitution rings across the continent, some community leaders fear for the extinction of their people.
Roughly 33 million people world-wide were thought to be carrying the HIV virus in 2009; more than 50% of those people being women. In 2011, researchers continue to work furiously toward preventative and curative responses to the pandemic, with some promising developments. Carriers are living longer with the virus, enjoying an improved quality of life. But health care begins at home. Every precaution must be taken to avoid contracting any disease. Once infected, our lives are on the clock.