Reflecting on the AIDS epidemic on the 40th anniversary of the first reported cases
June 5 marks 40 years since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the first report of what would come to be known as HIV/AIDS. In the past 20 years, infections and deaths have fallen dramatically, thanks to awareness and new treatments. But in those early days of the epidemic, fear, discrimination and a lack of understanding of the virus made containing it and defeating it all the more difficult.