SPECIAL REPORT * DOCUMENT
Ten years of AIDS Patrick Sullivan
L ast summer, after we realized that the 10th anniversary of AIDS in Canada was fast approaching, CMAJs editors decided the date should be marked. Although the February 1982 reporting of the country's first case of AIDS to the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control is an arbitrary milestone for a virus and disease that have meant tragedy and heartbreak throughout this country and around the world, it is a convenient one. For CMAJ readers, it offers a chance to reflect on the impact the human immunodeficiency virus has had on their practices and profession. Has it affected your practice? Changed your atti-
tudes? Humbled you? For Canadians, it is an opportunity to consider the ways HIV and AIDS have affected their lives. For each of us, it is a chance to reflect. My memory is of an early May day in 1983 when a young resident at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario told us our 18-month-old son would need a blood transfusion because of a serious Aspirin-related stomach bleed. We were amazed by his quick recovery and did not think back to the transfusion until many months later, when the Ottawa Patrick Sullivan is CMAJ news- and features editor. FEBRUARY 1, 1992
Citizen reported that an Ottawa man who had received a transfusion about the same time as our son was now dying because of a strange new disease that affected the immune system. He died of AIDS about 6 years ago. Thankfully, our son's luck was better and his HIV test came back negative. For several months, though, every one of his colds, every sniffle, had an ominous meaning. Multiply our story by many thousands, and the impact this disease has had in Canada becomes clearer. The ultimate tragedy, of course, is the thousands of young men and women AIDS has claimed. Dr. Philip Berger knows these stories too well. When I called his office last fall to ask if he would write about the effect AIDS has had on his downtown Toronto general practice, he consented immediately. "When I graduated from medical school in 1974," he said then, "I never thought I would be seeing so many young men die. It has been a humbling experience." So far, of course, Canada has been lucky. When Dr. Norbert Gilmore and colleagues wrote their review article in the June 1, 1983, issue of CMAJ (see Encore article, pages 371-375), they reported that 24 cases of AIDS had been reported in Canada. Today the number stands at 5647, and 3432 of these patients have died. Despite that growth, Canada
is much luckier than many other countries. "The worldwide epidemic of AIDS which emerged during the 1 980s has turned into a new and major threat to the health, development and stability of nations around the world," Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, director-general of the World Health Organization, said on World AIDS Day last Dec. 1. "We now know that, even though more than 10 million people have already been infected with the virus that causes AIDS, in many places the epidemic is still in its early stages. We also know that during the 1990s there will be a huge increase in the number of cases of AIDS and deaths from AIDS throughout the world. "And we know that the developing countries are increasingly bearing the brunt of the pandemic. By the year 2000 they will have over 90% of the world's HIV infections and AIDS cases." In this issue of CMAJ we have tried to look at HIV and AIDS from several angles in both the scientific and the news and features sections. As well, the Encore section offers our readers a look back to the early days of AIDS, to some very perceptive suggestions about the way the disease would develop. As editors we all hope that we do not have to prepare another anniversary issue 10 years from now, even if the odds are that we will.CAN MED ASSOC J 1992; 146 (3)
377
Ten years of AIDS Patrick Sullivan
L ast summer, after we realized that the 10th anniversary of AIDS in Canada was fast approaching, CMAJs editors decided the date should be marked. Although the February 1982 reporting of the country's first case of AIDS to the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control is an arbitrary milestone for a virus and disease that have meant tragedy and heartbreak throughout this country and around the world, it is a convenient one. For CMAJ readers, it offers a chance to reflect on the impact the human immunodeficiency virus has had on their practices and profession. Has it affected your practice? Changed your atti-
tudes? Humbled you? For Canadians, it is an opportunity to consider the ways HIV and AIDS have affected their lives. For each of us, it is a chance to reflect. My memory is of an early May day in 1983 when a young resident at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario told us our 18-month-old son would need a blood transfusion because of a serious Aspirin-related stomach bleed. We were amazed by his quick recovery and did not think back to the transfusion until many months later, when the Ottawa Patrick Sullivan is CMAJ news- and features editor. FEBRUARY 1, 1992
Citizen reported that an Ottawa man who had received a transfusion about the same time as our son was now dying because of a strange new disease that affected the immune system. He died of AIDS about 6 years ago. Thankfully, our son's luck was better and his HIV test came back negative. For several months, though, every one of his colds, every sniffle, had an ominous meaning. Multiply our story by many thousands, and the impact this disease has had in Canada becomes clearer. The ultimate tragedy, of course, is the thousands of young men and women AIDS has claimed. Dr. Philip Berger knows these stories too well. When I called his office last fall to ask if he would write about the effect AIDS has had on his downtown Toronto general practice, he consented immediately. "When I graduated from medical school in 1974," he said then, "I never thought I would be seeing so many young men die. It has been a humbling experience." So far, of course, Canada has been lucky. When Dr. Norbert Gilmore and colleagues wrote their review article in the June 1, 1983, issue of CMAJ (see Encore article, pages 371-375), they reported that 24 cases of AIDS had been reported in Canada. Today the number stands at 5647, and 3432 of these patients have died. Despite that growth, Canada
is much luckier than many other countries. "The worldwide epidemic of AIDS which emerged during the 1 980s has turned into a new and major threat to the health, development and stability of nations around the world," Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, director-general of the World Health Organization, said on World AIDS Day last Dec. 1. "We now know that, even though more than 10 million people have already been infected with the virus that causes AIDS, in many places the epidemic is still in its early stages. We also know that during the 1990s there will be a huge increase in the number of cases of AIDS and deaths from AIDS throughout the world. "And we know that the developing countries are increasingly bearing the brunt of the pandemic. By the year 2000 they will have over 90% of the world's HIV infections and AIDS cases." In this issue of CMAJ we have tried to look at HIV and AIDS from several angles in both the scientific and the news and features sections. As well, the Encore section offers our readers a look back to the early days of AIDS, to some very perceptive suggestions about the way the disease would develop. As editors we all hope that we do not have to prepare another anniversary issue 10 years from now, even if the odds are that we will.CAN MED ASSOC J 1992; 146 (3)
377
