A significant difference between COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS is that COVID-19 could be mitigated by public health means which is tough work for HIV/AIDS. Despite over 35 years of arduous public health guidelines and thorough biomedical research, it has never been possible to mitigate HIV/AIDS in any country at this remarkable efficiency.
According to a writer from COVID-19 Hub, "We are now engaged in another deadly episode in the historic battle of man versus microbe. These battles have shaped the course of human evolution and of history. We have seen the face of our adversary, in this case a tiny virus." The writer was referring to HIV/AIDS, speaking in testimony before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on September 26, 1985.
The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that previously healthy gay men tested positive for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia nearly 39 years ago. HIV/AIDS then gained prevalence across the globe by the end of 1985.
Characteristics of COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS
HIV and the novel coronavirus are entirely distinct. The routes of transmission, fatality rates, and disease course are far off.
Harm Reduction, Not Risk Elimination
Areas hit by HIV/AIDS learned to think in terms of "safer" instead of safe. This involved making decisions that permitted people to continue essential activities including conceiving children and using drugs while diminishing the risk. COVID-19 will comparatively need accurate information, an approach to reduce susceptibility to the virus, and tools to diminish infection, reported Open Society Foundations.
Antiretroviral Drugs
In 1996, new antiretroviral drugs were introduced and were taken in combinations of three. Making a so-called Lazarus effect, medications literally revived patients from their hospital beds. The drugs salvaged millions of lives and changed the course of the epidemic. Thus, this leads to a lesson for COVID-19: After it gets worst, it gets better.
Numerous drugs are currently underway that could work against COVID-19 in clinical trials. A vaccine may be created in 18 months or perhaps 12, reported BuzzFeed News.
Learn From History
As COVID-19 continues to ravage the globe claiming tens of thousands of lives, numerous people are turning to the familiarity of the HIV/AIDS to get a better understanding of the global health crisis.
Similarities Between COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS
Similarities between the epidemic and pandemic include the fake news, the federal government's denial to practice its role on the public health front, and the right-wing shrugging off to permit certain groups of people to die.
Tensions Connecting the Two
On one side, in the hunt for a framework to work upon, several have looked to the AIDS epidemic for lessons and guidance to go through a time of mass death, fear, and hysteria. On another hand, the peculiar beast that the AIDS epidemic was, an instinct calls to leave it unperturbed.
According to Cathy Creticos, MD, Director of Infectious Disease at Howard Brown Health, "Here we are in 2020 with this disease that kills people, that we don't have any treatments for, that we really don't understand the full manifestation and presentation biology of the virus. We're really dealing in the same situation as in the HIV epidemic," reported Contagion Live.
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