That number sounded suspicious to me when I first heard it, and it turns out that according to the International AIDS Society president, it was more like six. Still a terrible loss.
Also, they were not just AIDS researchers but AIDS activists and campaigners. The conference they were going to was expecting 12-15,000 delegates (depending on the report); it’s the most prominent international conference in the area but far from the only one. As you say, a terrible loss, particularly for those close to the dead. The wider HIV/AIDS community will be sobered, but it will not be sunk. If nothing else, they coped with far higher annual death rates before effective therapies became widespread in the developed world.
The story of this story does helpfully remind us that the other ‘facts’ about this situation—which we know from the same media sources—may be similarly mistaken.
That number sounded suspicious to me when I first heard it, and it turns out that according to the International AIDS Society president, it was more like six. Still a terrible loss.
Also, they were not just AIDS researchers but AIDS activists and campaigners. The conference they were going to was expecting 12-15,000 delegates (depending on the report); it’s the most prominent international conference in the area but far from the only one. As you say, a terrible loss, particularly for those close to the dead. The wider HIV/AIDS community will be sobered, but it will not be sunk. If nothing else, they coped with far higher annual death rates before effective therapies became widespread in the developed world.
The story of this story does helpfully remind us that the other ‘facts’ about this situation—which we know from the same media sources—may be similarly mistaken.
Ah, thank you!