acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (aids) was identified as a disease in the
HIV/AIDS In 2016, about 36.7 million people were living with HIV and it resulted in 1 million deaths.[16] There were 300,000 fewer new HIV cases in 2016 than in 2015.[17] Most of those infected live in sub-Saharan Africa.[5] From the time AIDS was identified in the early 1980s to 2017, the disease has caused an estimated 35 million deaths worldwide.[18] HIV/AIDS is considered a pandemic—a disease outbreak which is present over a large area and is actively spreading.[19] HIV originated in west-central Africa during the late 19th or early 20th century.[20] AIDS was first recognized by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1981 and its cause—HIV infection—was identified in the early part of the decade.[21]