Suniti Solomon, HIV/AIDS Researcher Who Detected India’s First Case In 1986, Passes Away

EH News Bureau/Financial Express: Dr. Suniti Solomon, pioneer in HIV research and treatment in India, passes away
“Dr. Suniti Solomon, whose team was the first to document evidence of HIV infection in India in 1986, died at her residence in Chennai on Tuesday morning…” (Janardhanan, 7/29).

Huffington Post India: Suniti Solomon, Doctor Who Awakened India To HIV, Passes Away
“…She was [in her mid-70s] and diagnosed with cancer three months ago…” (Bose, 7/28).

Quartz: The doctor who detected India’s first HIV case has died
“…AIDS cases were first reported in the U.S. in 1981, but for the next five years, Asia’s second-most populous country did not detect even a single person with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). But Solomon, then a professor of microbiology at the Government General Hospital in Chennai, burst that bubble for India…” (Balachandran, 7/29).

TIME: Dr. Suniti Solomon, Pioneering Indian HIV/AIDS Researcher, Dies at 76
“…In 1986, her discovery of the infection in six blood samples collected from female sex workers in southern India generated headlines internationally. Speaking to TIME in September 1986, after the first Indian cases had been documented, a former senior medical official said: ‘We in India have been shaken and face a moment of truth’…” (Farooqui, 7/29).

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