Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been traced as far back as a century ago, but it wasn’t identified until the 1980s, when it captured public attention for causing a sweeping wave of deaths.
About 32 million people have died from HIV and AIDS, which is the term for the range of conditions caused by the virus. A cure for HIV has so far been elusive, but hope has flickered anew because two people who received a stem cell transplant are now clear of the disease. Hope, though, can be held with only great reservation because of beliefs in previous efforts for a cure that failed. Not to mention, stem cell transplants are risky for those who don’t have cancer.
Still, any bit of hope for an end to HIV means that work for a cure continues apace, giving the nearly 38 million people living with the disease something to hold onto.
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