ASH KOTAK FOURTY years ago, on June 5, 1981, the first cases of what became known as AIDS were reported in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the U.S. national public health agency, reported, “Five cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) among previously healthy young men in Los Angeles,” in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). All were “homosexuals”. Two had died. The cases suggested, “a disease acquired through sexual contact”. Now at the midpoint of the almost forgotten HIV/AIDS pandemic, 77.5 million people have caught HIV, according to UNAIDS. Of those, 34.7 million…