In 1983, AIDS was a death sentence.
The HIV virus had just been identified as the cause of a terrifying disease
that was killing young, previously healthy people. Even though scientists had
determined that the disease could not be spread by casual contact, people with
HIV were shunned. In 1985, 13-year-old Ryan White was barred from his Indiana
middle school because he had contracted the virus through a blood transfusion
to treat hemophilia.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.
