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In 2024,<\/span> 1.3 million people contracted HIV, 40.8 million were living with the virus, and 630,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses. <\/b>These figures are in addition to the <\/span>92.3 <\/b>million<\/span> people in total who’ve been infected since the start of the pandemic, <\/span>according to estimates<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n More than forty years have passed since the first cases were detected and, although steady progress has been made, <\/span>we still can’t class HIV as a disease of the past.<\/b><\/p>\n So what have we learned after four decades of fighting HIV? What stigma does it carry today? Which scientific challenges remain to be solved? And what social transformations are essential to envisage an AIDS-free future?<\/span><\/p>\n On the occasion of World AIDS Day, and coinciding with the release of the documentary <\/span>RED: Una cronolog\u00eda del VIH de la mano de sus protagonistas<\/i><\/b> (RED: A chronology of HIV through the eyes of its protagonists)<\/span>, produced in collaboration with IrsiCaixa and available on CaixaForum+, we spoke to researcher <\/span>Beatriz Mothe Pujadas<\/span><\/a> and artist <\/span>Samuel Perea-D\u00edaz<\/span><\/a> to approach HIV from different but complementary perspectives: <\/span>the scientific search for a cure and the need to look at the disease with new eyes<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The term HIV defines both the infection and the virus that causes it: the <\/span>Human Immunodeficiency Virus<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It’s an infection, transmitted via the blood and semen, vaginal and rectal secretions, that attacks and destroys <\/span>CD4 cells<\/b>, a type of white blood cell essential for fighting infection and the development of various types of cancer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Without treatment, HIV progresses in three stages:<\/span><\/p>\n Today, thanks <\/span>to<\/span> antiretroviral treatment<\/b>, it’s been possible to prevent the progression of AIDS, reducing the virus to undetectable levels in the blood, where it remains hidden in so-called <\/span>latent HIV reservoirs<\/span><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n The first recorded case of AIDS was in the United States in 1981. It was Ga\u00ebtan Dugas, a homosexual flight attendant who became known (mistakenly) as <\/span>“patient zero<\/b><\/a>“.<\/span><\/p>\n In <\/span>early studies and publications<\/span><\/a> on AIDS, Dugas was accused of being promiscuous and irresponsible, as well as “playing a key role in spreading the virus across the United States”. Thus, HIV became known as “<\/span>the gay plague<\/b><\/a>.” Years later, the term would evolve to <\/span>GRID <\/b>(Gay-Related Immune Deficiency),\u00a0 <\/span>the 4H disease <\/b>(Homosexuals, Heroin Addicts, Haemophiliacs and Haitians) and, finally, <\/span>AIDS <\/b>(Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Studies published years later indicated that Dugas was far from being the source of the pandemic: the virus had been circulating <\/span>in America for 10 years<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>the first verified case dated back to 1959<\/b><\/a> in the Democratic Republic of Congo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, <\/span>genetic evidence<\/span><\/a> indicates that HIV already existed in chimpanzee species in Central Africa, and that transmission to humans began through <\/span>hunting and handling their meat. <\/b>Trade routes, as well as the expansion of large African cities and the lack of medical infrastructures, allowed for the rapid (and initially silent) <\/span>spread of the virus.<\/b> In the 1960s, Haitian doctors who travelled to the Congo for vaccination campaigns unwittingly contributed to the spread of infection by using shared syringes. Upon returning to Haiti, where there was a major plasma donation centre and which, at the time, was considered a “sexual paradise”, the virus found <\/span>an ideal setting to reach the United States <\/b>and eventually become the global pandemic we know today.<\/span><\/p>\n At first, there was a complete lack of knowledge about the disease. “<\/span>Early HIV research was driven by urgency<\/b>” explains <\/span>Beatriz Mothe Pujadas<\/span><\/a>, an immunology researcher at IrsiCaixa. “The absolute priority was <\/span>to curb the extremely high mortality rate from an unknown virus<\/b>“. Efforts focused on developing antiviral drugs and on understanding how the immune system responded in order to <\/span>slow down the progression of the infection<\/b>. It was a race against time”.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Beatriz Mothe Pujadas, researcher at the IrsiCaixa centre, Badalona<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Today, the scientific landscape has advanced, achieving <\/span>milestones that once seemed unthinkable<\/b>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This was a turning point for patients. “We know that, <\/span>if the virus is undetectable, it’s also untransmittable <\/b>(<\/span>Undetectable = Untransmittable, U=U<\/span><\/a>). This allows people with HIV to live their sexual lives as normal and ensures <\/span>they can have children without the risk of transmitting the virus to the baby<\/b>,<\/span> whilst we also stop the infection from progressing to AIDS”.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n “Although these are exceptional cases, they demonstrated that a cure wasn’t some kind of scientific utopia but a real possibility. They opened up new lines of research and gave a huge boost to the field”.<\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n “<\/b>From a broader perspective, there’s one very important turning point: <\/span>the speed at which we’ve advanced” <\/b>adds Beatriz. “In 40 years, we’ve gone from not understanding what was happening to having very powerful treatments and preventive strategies. Now <\/span>it’s no longer just a question of prolonging life but <\/b>of<\/span> improving its quality <\/b>and moving towards strategies that eliminate or silence the virus in a lasting way. <\/span>That progress, in such a short time, is extraordinary<\/b>“.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There’s still a great deal of stigma towards people with HIV, with damaging results. According to <\/span>UNAIDS<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> 25% of people with HIV experienced discrimination when seeking medical care <\/b>in the past year, and the figures are even higher in already stigmatised groups such as sex workers, transgender people, homosexuals and drug users.<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, in 2019 there were still<\/span> 48 countries with restrictive laws regarding HIV<\/b><\/a>: including mandatory testing in order to obtain entry, residence, work or study permits and, in some cases, even deportation based on serological status. These measures, widely criticised as <\/span>human rights violations, <\/b>are based on the false idea that mobility spreads the virus.<\/span><\/p>\n “At first, <\/span>the disease created uncertainty<\/b> and that spread to the whole of society, including the medical community” Beatriz continues. “Very few professionals dared to work with these patients or to investigate the disease. Those who did were true pioneers, such as <\/span>Bonaventura Clotet<\/span><\/a>. In many centres, <\/span>people with HIV were relegated to specific wards or spaces <\/b>because the rest of the hospital avoided sharing spaces for fear of contagion. It was a very difficult situation”.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 1995, at the peak of the epidemic in Spain, \u201dla Caixa\u201d Foundation made <\/span>a bold and decisive commitment to support the fight against AIDS. Together with the Catalan government, it promoted the creation of IrsiCaixa<\/b>, which is still led today by Dr. Bonaventura Clotet. This was a pioneering initiative at a particularly difficult time for patients, when HIV was taboo, perceived as an inevitably fatal diagnosis and carried a double stigma associated with drug use, certain sexual practices or diseases such as hepatitis and tuberculosis.<\/span><\/p>\n “<\/b>But it was precisely in this hostile context that something extraordinary emerged: <\/span>an absolutely unique doctor-patient relationship<\/b>“<\/span> explains<\/span> Beatriz<\/span>. “The relationship became deeply human, almost one of shared resistance. Clinicians saw the suffering, loss and stigma up close, and this led to a personal involvement that forever changed <\/span>our approach to HIV care and research<\/b>. I believe this connection was one of the forces that were driving the science and helping to sustain an entire community that felt abandoned” she adds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “Today, the perception of HIV within the scientific community has changed a great deal. The taboos have gone but there’s <\/span>less attention<\/b>, perhaps because we no longer perceive it as an emergency. But we can’t give up: <\/span>the pandemic is still ongoing, especially in low-income countries<\/b>. Furthermore,” concludes Beatriz “the social stigma towards people with HIV is still very much present and that’s <\/span>a challenge which science alone can’t solve<\/b>“.<\/span><\/p>\n “HIV isn’t just a biomedical crisis; it’s an ‘epidemic of meanings'”<\/b><\/a> says artist and “la Caixa” Foundation fellow <\/span>Samuel Perea-D\u00edaz<\/span><\/a>. “Its artistic representation, <\/span>key to raising awareness of the reality of the pandemic and to challenging stigma<\/b>, has always been controversial”.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “In the 1980s and 1990s in the West, the art related to HIV was marked by <\/span>grief, anger and political urgency<\/b>.<\/span> The focus was on the sick body, death, loss and the denunciation of institutional negligence. The slogan <\/span>Silence = Death<\/i><\/b><\/a> encapsulated the need to turn pain into public action” recalls Samuel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMEMORY<\/b><\/h3>\n
What is HIV?<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n
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Where did HIV come from?<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n
A scientific revolution<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n
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STIGMA\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
A cultural perspective<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n
A scientific perspective<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n
An artistic perspective<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n