'Slim' disease (AIDS in Africa)
Enfermedad «slim» (SIDA en África)
- Date
- 1982-1985 · confidence medium
- Place
- Rakai, Uganda
- Credited to
- David Serwadda, Nelson Sewankambo and the Rakai Hospital and Makerere team
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Clinical description in Rakai, on Lake Victoria, of a wasting and chronic diarrhoea illness that locals called 'slim' and that was linked to HIV in 1985. It is the first description of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
The name 'slim' was recorded in 1982-83; Serwadda and colleagues' article in The Lancet appeared in 1985. Cases in Zaire and Zambia were described almost simultaneously, complicating priority.
What it led to
- recognition of HIV as a pandemic in East Africa
- the Rakai Project, a long-running population cohort
- prevention strategies such as circumcision and suppressive therapy