COLUMBUS, Ohio — World AIDS Day was introduced by the World Health Organization in 1988.

What You Need To Know

  • AIDS is the final stage of the HIV virus
  • AIDS took millions of lives in the 1980s
  • Doctors in Cleveland were integral in research connecting AIDS and blood transfusions

AIDS is the last step of the HIV infection. It happens when the body’s immune system is so badly damaged it cannot recover from the virus.

In the early days of the virus, infectious disease doctors in Cleveland realized HIV could also be transmitted through blood. They came to this conclusion in 1983 when they realized three of their hemophilia patients were infected with the deadly disease. By 1985, doctors, like Michael Lederman, had created ways to check and render blood before giving it to patients. He says he’s proud of how far medicine has come to help those who need it most. 

“I think it's more than 20 different antiretroviral drugs, many of which are extremely well tolerated and allow a person to be treated simply with one pill a day and control viral replication and restore immune function to normal levels,” said Lederman, who now serves as a professor in the Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine. “It's incredibly satisfying just to have been part of the effort to have contributed in some way to the success of treatment and management of HIV disease. It's been pretty central to how I think about myself.”

Doctor Lederman still works in research today and is integral in getting necessary medicine and resources to other parts of the world. There are several World AIDS events happening across the state. You can find them by clicking here.