Researchers now describe it as both historical phenomenon and public health model. Its success was remarkable Past/Present is a column which places current events in historical context Aids has always been laden with political and emotional volatilities. The possibility of blood or sex based transmission combined with its first emergence among marginalised and criminalised populations created a potent mix of primal terror and terrifying prejudice. It can sometimes be difficult to remember just how potently misinformation, fear and outright hostility framed the knowledge and experience of Aids in the first decade or so of the pandemic. In this period, a positive result on an HIV test was a terminal diagnosis and medical knowledge about transmission and treatment was still cloudy. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...