Knowra AIDS crisis AIDS crisis The AIDS crisis is the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS that emerged in the late twentieth century, causing mass illness and death alongside lasting political, social, and cultural change.
HIV : A virus that attacks immune cells, especially CD4 T cells, and can cause AIDS without effective treatment. HIV infection drives the epidemic, while AIDS is its advanced clinical stage.
GRID (disease) : An early name for a cluster of immune-deficiency illnesses identified among gay men in the United States in 1981. The name captures how early US reporting wrongly framed the disease around one community.
ACT UP : An activist organization founded in 1987 to demand action on AIDS treatment, research, and discrimination. Its confrontational campaigns forced government agencies and drug companies to respond publicly.
HIV/AIDS activism : Organized efforts to secure HIV prevention, treatment, research, legal protections, and public recognition. Activism converted grief and exclusion into pressure that changed research and public policy.
AIDS : The advanced stage of HIV infection, marked by severe immune damage and certain infections or cancers. The crisis took its name from the disease’s most severe stage.
1981 MMWR report on AIDS : A June 1981 report describing unusual Pneumocystis pneumonia cases among gay men in Los Angeles. This report is commonly treated as the first official US warning of the emerging epidemic.
Larry Kramer : American playwright and AIDS activist who co-founded the Gay Men's Health Crisis and helped found ACT UP. His writing and organizing made anger at institutional inaction a force in AIDS politics.
HIV stigma : Prejudice and discrimination directed at people based on actual or presumed HIV status. Stigma intensified isolation, obstructed care, and shaped the public response to the epidemic.
Antiretroviral therapy : Treatment using drugs that suppress HIV replication and prevent or delay immune-system damage. Combination therapy turned HIV from a rapidly fatal infection into a manageable chronic condition for many.
HIV/AIDS in Africa : The epidemic of HIV infection and AIDS across African countries, with varied histories, responses, and burdens. The epidemic’s global scale and earliest history cannot be understood through US cases alone.
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