FROM HEARTBREAK TO BREAKTHROUGHS: 40 YEARS OF HIV/AIDS

First cases of Aids clinically reported in the US in June, in the UK in December.

Terrence Higgins is one of the first people in the UK known to die from an Aids-related illness. The Terrence Higgins Trust is later set up to support those with the disease.

As Aids cases are reported in 51 countries, the UK Department of Health publishes first advice on the disease to medical practitioners. Actor Rock Hudson (right) dies with Aids. An

HIV test is developed. Blood-donation centres start screening for HIV.

UK government launches the ‘Don’t Die of Ignorance’ campaign, delivering a leaflet to every household. The first antiretroviral drug is approved in the US. Princess Diana shakes hands with an HIV positive person at a specialist ward for those with HIV/AIDS in London with no gloves to disprove the myth that it can be

transmitted through touch.

Freddie Mercury (right) dies of an Aidsrelated illness.

Aids diagnoses in the UK reach 10,000, with more than 25,000 living with HIV.

A combination of antiretroviral drugs called HAART becomes standard treatment for HIV. It has been highly successful, meaning the progression from HIV to Aids is increasingly rare–andhas drastically reduced the death rate.

The World Health Report lists Aids as the fourth biggest killer worldwide, two decades after the epidemic began.

The first conviction in England for reckless transmission of HIV.

The Equality Act means HIV is now considered a disability – so people living with it are protected from discrimination.

Public Health England starts to trial pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) drugs for people who do not have HIV but are at risk of getting it – as part of a prevention strategy.

It’s announced that PREP is to be available free on the NHS. The intention is that it will eliminate new HIV infections within ten years.