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by Richard Ingham, Agence France-Presse Posted on 05/19/2013 12:11 PM |Updated 05/19/2013 12:34 PM

PARIS, France - Big names in medicine are set to give an upbeat assessment of the war on AIDS on Tuesday, May 21, 30 years after French researchers identified the virus that causes the disease.

Scientists will pay tribute to the astonishing success of AIDS drugs and highlight steps being taken towards a cure -- a goal once deemed all but out of reach.

Entitled "Imagine the Future," the three-day conference builds on the 30th anniversary on Monday of the isolation of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

The Nobel-winning achievement, by a team led by Luc Montagnier of France's Pasteur Institute, unmasked a killer.

Then began the drive to treat the disease and halt its spread.

"The discovery of HIV in 1983 and the proof that it was the cause of AIDS in 1984 were the first major scientific breakthroughs that provided a specific target for blood-screening tests and opened the doorway to the development of antiretroviral medications," said Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Introduced in 1996, after many years of frantic drug research, antiretrovirals are saving the lives of millions of people infected with HIV and helping to contain the virus' spread, Fauci said in an email.

By suppressing viral levels, antiretrovirals can prevent HIV being transmitted by pregnant women to their unborn children, and by infected people to their sexual partners.

But there have also been setbacks, particularly in the quest for a vaccine.

Read more:
AIDS science at 30: 'Cure' now part of lexicon