Their discovery was published in the journal Science on May 20, 1983. This was one of the first steps in the fight against a deadly epidemic, which to date has claimed more than 40 million lives.
The story begins in June 1981. An American medical journal reports five disturbing cases: young men suffering from a rare pneumonia, with very weakened immune defenses; two of them died. Doctors wonder: why these “opportunistic” infections usually reserved for very weak people, in young people who have been in perfect health until now? American experts speak of a ” epidemic among gay men and drug users “. The disease has no name yet and is spreading.
Thousands of miles away, in Paris, a young doctor, Willy Rozenbaum, reads this brief account. A few hours later, he receives in consultation at the hospital a young man presenting the same signs, and makes the connection. Over the months, other cases of this mysterious evil occur, and the hypothesis of a new virus emerges.
A discovery made in 1983
Willy Rozenbaum then came into contact with researchers from the Institut Pasteur, Luc Montagnier, Jean-Claude Chermann and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, among others, who were working on what are called retroviruses. To test the hypothesis, a ganglion is taken from a patient of Willy Rozenbaum, and ganglion cells put in culture.
A month later, on February 3, 1983, at 5:45 p.m., resounds in a laboratory of the Pasteur Institute: “ Eureka, that’s it, I see it, I have it. ” Under his electron microscope, Charles Dauguet, a member of the team, has just seen the virus, which will be named some time later “human immunodeficiency virus », HIV. Professors Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier also received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008 for this discovery.
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“Getting old with HIV was unimaginable”
Forty years after this discovery, it is now possible to live with HIV in a more serene way, notes Gérard Pele Dedieu, of the association Les petits bonheurs. At the time, he says, a lot of people had given up on their aging, selling what they had, saying they had no hope. »
“ You have to remember that in that period, it was inevitable. Growing old with HIV was unimaginable. Now we can live. That’s what’s most important: to have fun, to have fun, to have many small pleasures in your life and great happiness. For all those who experienced this period of the 80s and 90s, which were really dramas in their lives, being able to grow old with their virus is still a great comfort. »
(And with AFP)