HIV
From LGBT Archive
HIV (Human Immune-Deficiency Virus) is the virus responsible for AIDS. It was discovered by two separate teams, and was given the name HIV in 1986.
The virus is primarily spread through unprotected sexual intercourse (homosexual or heterosexual), or via blood, for instance through sharing hypodermic needles.
Since the availability of anti-retroviral drugs in the 1990s, HIV infection, if diagnosed early, does not necessarily lead to the person developing AIDS.
There were more than 106,000 people living with HIV in the UK in 2020 [1].
There is an archive on HIV at the London School of Tropical Medicine.
- This article is a stub. You can help the UK LGBT History Project by expanding it.
