Arvid Noe (1946 – 1976) is the alias of a Norwegian sailor who is the first person known to have contracted HIV and died from AIDS outside of the United States. He is the second person confirmed to have died from AIDS, after the teenager known as Robert R., from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1969.
Noe began his career as a sailor in 1961, when he was 15 years old. Journalist Edward Hooper established that Noe had twice visited Africa as a sailor: first from mid-1961 to mid-1962 when Noe worked on the merchant vessel Hoegh Aronde, which traveled the west coast of Africa to Douala, Cameroon (Noe was treated for gonorrhea on this journey); and again in 1964, when he reached the port city of Mombasa, Kenya in eastern Africa.[1]
By 1968, Noe was no longer a sailor and was working as a long haul truck driver throughout Europe (mainly Germany).
From 1966, Noe suffered from joint pain, lymph node swelling, and lung infections. Treatment stabilized his condition until 1975, when Noe's symptoms worsened and he also developed serious problems including motor control difficulties and dementia before his death. His wife grew ill with similar symptoms in 1967, followed by their daughter in 1969. Noe died of Kaposi's sarcoma in 1976. His wife and 9-year-old daughter suffered the same fate as well; they both died in 1977.
About a decade after Noe's death, tests by Dr. Stig Sophus Frøland of the Oslo National Hospital concluded that blood samples from Noe, his daughter and wife all tested positive for HIV.[2]
Based on research conducted after his death, Noe is believed to have contracted HIV in Cameroon in 1961 or '62, where he was known to have been sexually active with many African women, including prostitutes.[3] Noe was infected with HIV-1 group O, which is known to have been prevalent in Cameroon in the early 1960s.
During his tenure as a trucker (from 1968 to 1972), Noe picked up many prostitutes and almost certainly gave some HIV; these women almost certainly passed the disease on to other clients.[4]