Sports fans will never forget the day in 1991 when L.A. Lakers star Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced that he was infected with HIV. Johnson was lucky; he survived long enough to see the advent of the first effective AIDS drugs. But not everyone was so lucky.
HAART
If you remember 1982, at that time AIDS was a death sentence – and a gruesome one at that. But a recent Lancet paper shows how far we've come. And the difference between what Randy Shilts describes in his book and today is nothing short of miraculous.
If there is a better example of the law of unintended consequences we have never seen it.
The incredibly successful battle against HIV/AIDS has saved many lives, and will no doubt continue to save many more. Once HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) drugs, aka cocktails, became available in 1995, there was a steep drop in the number of AIDS deaths in the US.
UNAIDS report 2000: A decade ago, HIV/AIDS was regarded primarily as a serious health crisis. Estimates in 1991 predicted that in sub-Saharan Africa, by the end of the decade, 9 million people would be infected and 5 million would die a threefold