Fernando Aiuti

Fernando Aiuti (8 June 1935 – 9 January 2019) was an Italian immunologist and politician. He was the founder and first President of ANLAIDS Association.

Early life and education

Born in Urbino in 1935, he graduated with a degree in medicine from Sapienza University of Rome.

Career In 1991, during a congress at the Fair in Cagliari, the possibility of AIDS being transmitted orally was being discussed. Aiuti suddenly took Rosaria Iardino, an HIV-positive woman, and kissed her on the mouth, trying to convince public opinion that the virus could not be transmitted orally. A journalist photographed the scene and this photo became internationally famous.

In 2007, his colleague Barbara Ensoli sued him for defamation, seeking $2.5 million in damages after Aiuti had criticized the way the Phase I trial of the AIDS vaccine had been conducted.

Aiuti was head of The People of Freedom list in 2008 for the Campidoglio, and was elected to the municipal council of Rome for The People of Freedom with the mayor Gianni Alemanno, until 2013.

He was full professor at Sapienza University and, in 2010, he was there appointed emeritus professor.

Aiuti died on 9 January 2019 due to an accidental fall at the Gemelli Polyclinic, where he was hospitalized for an ischemic heart disease.

Documentaires 2010: "+ o – il sesso confuso. Racconti di mondi nell'era AIDS", direct. Andrea Adriatico and Giulio Maria Corbelli