Tuesday, December 1st, was World AIDS Day! First discovered at Institut Pasteur, a French university founded by Louis Pasteur, AIDS has been a decreasing concern to the youth of today.

Recently made public through the announcement of Charlie Sheen’s contraction of the HIV virus, more people have decided to research more about the epidemic.

Although the annual number of people that contract HIV/AIDS has decreased, it still should be an area of concern. There are currently 37 million people worldwide that have HIV/AIDS and in 2013 47,352 US citizens were diagnosed with the HIV virus.

HIV/AIDS has existed since 1959 and spread drastically through the 1970s to the 1980s. The virus spread throughout North America and Europe in 1981 and emerged in Asia in 1986-1987.

One of Institut Pasteur’s main focuses has been on the HIV/AIDS virus and in recent years has been able to contain it for further examination. In 2008, Institut Pasteur received the Nobel Prize in medicine for its advancements of HIV/AIDS.

“Because HIV/AIDS has been around for some time now, I think it’s not something a lot of people think about now. HIV/AIDS does need to be taken seriously, however, because it is fatal,” stated school nurse Kelly Hoover.