In the era before the widespread use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), people living with HIV/AIDS were rapidly overwhelmed by rare, often fatal, diseases. Median survival after an AIDS diagnosis was about 19 months, and roughly 40% of patients were diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma and 20% with lymphoma. The first 15 years of the epidemic were marked by premature deaths and few successes, yet medical oncologists and haematologists played an important part in the care of HIV-infected patients.
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