No cure in sight 40 years after AIDS was first identified

A human white blood cell is seen here infected with HIV (yellow). This wily virus can hide in an infected person’s lymphoid tissues and reemerge once they stop their medication. — US National Institutes of Health/AFP

June (2021) marks the 40th anniversary of the first scientific report describing pneumocystis pneumonia, which later became known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

More than 32 million people have died worldwide from AIDS, and 38 million people are living with HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).