Thirty years ago, we first began hearing about AIDS — then a mysterious, unnamed disease that was initially thought to be a rare form of cancer that affected gay men. Scientists soon learned that it was neither of those things, and, in fact, it was a virus that everyone was vulnerable to.
That vulnerability became apparent when, in 1991, basketball superstar Magic Johnson announced that we would retire immediately because he had contracted HIV.
Johnson assumed he would begin to manage his own death, and yet today, it’s very likely people like him will live to see Social Security checks and Medicare benefits. The biggest part of that reason is because of the breakthroughs in treatment. The new drug Truvada, which can actually prevent HIV, was approved by the FDA this week.
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