In 1981, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized and, by 1983, the aetiological agent, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), had been identified. The development and roll out of antiretroviral therapy has led to a reversal of the devastating mortality. Despite substantial progress, the epidemic is far from over and renewed global commitment is urgently needed to ensure the goal of epidemic control by 2030 is met.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Bekker, L.-G. et al. HIV infection. Nat. Rev. Dis. Primers 9, 42 (2023).
Sharp, P. M. & Hahn, B. H. The evolution of HIV-1 and the origin of AIDS. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 365, 2487–2494 (2010).
Logie, D. AIDS cuts life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa by a quarter. BMJ 319, 806 (1999).
Bor, J., Herbst, A. J., Newell, M.-L. & Bärnighausen, T. Increases in adult life expectancy in rural South Africa: valuing the scale-up of HIV treatment. Science 339, 961–965 (2013).
Havlir, D. V. & Richman, D. D. Viral dynamics of HIV: implications for drug development and therapeutic strategies. Ann. Intern. Med. 124, 984–994 (1996).
Kemnic, T. R. & Gulick, P. G. HIV antiretroviral therapy. StatPearls [online] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513308/ (updated 20 Sep 2022).
Figueroa, C. et al. Reliability of HIV rapid diagnostic tests for self-testing compared with testing by health-care workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet HIV 5, e277–e290 (2018).
Hesselgrave, B. L. The 13th International AIDS Conference 2000: Durban, South Africa. J. Public Health Manag. Pract. https://doi.org/10.1097/00124784-200107010-00003 (2001).
Ariyo, O. E. & Jones, C. E. Use of long-acting injectable antiretroviral agents for human immunodeficiency virus: a review. J. Clin. Virol. 146, 105032 (2022).
Bekker, L.-G., Smith, P. & Ntusi, N. A. B. HIV is sexually untransmittable when viral load is undetectable. Lancet 402, 428–429 (2023).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
L.-G.B. has received honoraria for advisories unrelated to this commentary from Merck (Pty) Ltd, ViiV Healthcare and Gilead Sciences.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bekker, LG. The HIV epidemic 40 years on. Nat Rev Microbiol 21, 767–768 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-023-00979-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-023-00979-y