Published
Video duration:
2 min
AIDS: a look back at an epidemic that shook the world
December 1st will be World AIDS Day. The HIV virus was discovered in May 1983 by a team from the Pasteur Institute. It will take several years to learn to live one’s sexuality differently and to no longer stigmatize patients. – (France 2)
December 1st will be World AIDS Day. The HIV virus was discovered in May 1983 by a team from the Pasteur Institute. It will take several years to learn to live one’s sexuality differently and to no longer stigmatize patients.
March 1981, a mysterious illness affects the United States. It often manifests itself as spots on the skin and quickly leads to death. American actor Rock Hudson is the first star to die of AIDS. The disease also appears in France. Doctor Gilles Pialoux was one of the first witnesses. “We were helpless because we were trained for almost nothing”, he remembers. In French hospitals, a massacre begins. No treatment then exists and questions about the modes of transmission remain unanswered.
Illness is scary
In 1983, at the Pasteur Institute, a French team, led by Professor Montagnier, discovered the AIDS virus. The enemy is finally known. In French society, illness is scary. A condom is the only way to protect yourself. But it was not until 1986 that the government authorized advertising. The arrival of triple therapies will finally change the situation.
