December 1st is World AIDS Day.
It is now more than 35 years since AIDS first appeared on the scene. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus HIV was initially detected in Uganda in 1959 in monkeys or apes, and has somehow jumped the species barrier to us.
In 1984, this novel disease appeared among the homosexual community, but it very soon became clear that it also spread among heterosexual. Safe sex became a by-word for the mid-80s, whilst science scrambled for a treatment. Nowadays, there are medicines that will mitigate the effects of an HIV infection, and an infected person may even have a near-normal life-expectancy.
Nonetheless, the safe sex message remains pertinent, as there are plenty of other sexually transmitted diseases about.
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