Arvid Noe

Arne Vidar Røed, known in medical literature as Arvid Darre Noe (23 July 1946 – 24 April 1976), was a Norwegian sailor and truck driver who contracted one of the earliest confirmed cases of HIV/AIDS. His was the first confirmed HIV case in Europe, though the disease was not identified at the time of his death. The virus spread to his wife and youngest daughter, both of whom also died; this was the first documented cluster of AIDS cases before the AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s.^[1]

Noe was originally referred to simply as the "Norwegian Sailor" in AIDS literature and then by the anagram Arvid Noe. The true identity of Arvid Noe and names, dates, and places associated with his life were changed to help conceal his identity (and that of his wife and daughter) until decoded by David Daniel in 2011.

Illness and death

Røed began his career as a sailor in 1961, when he was 15 years old. Journalist Edward Hooper established that Røed 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. Roed was treated for gonorrhea on this journey. He returned to Africa in 1964, when he reached the port city of Mombasa, Kenya, in eastern Africa.^[2]

By 1968, Arne Vidar Røed was no longer a sailor and was working as a long haul truck driver throughout Europe (mainly in Germany). Beginning in 1966 (the same year Robert Rayford first presented with symptoms), Røed suffered from joint pain, lymphedema, and lung infections. His condition stabilized with treatment until 1975, when Røed's symptoms worsened. He developed motor control difficulties and dementia, and died on 24 April 1976. His wife grew ill with similar symptoms and died in December. Although their two older children were not born infected, their third child, a daughter, died on 4 January 1975, at the age of seven and, thus, was the first person documented to have died of AIDS outside the United States. Arne, his wife, and his daughter were buried in Borre, Vestfold, Norway.

Later investigations

Approximately a decade after Røed's death, tests by Dr. Stig Sophus Frøland of the Oslo National Hospital concluded that blood samples from Røed, his daughter and wife all tested positive for HIV.^[3]

Based on research conducted after his death, Røed is believed to have contracted HIV in Cameroon in 1961 or 1962, where he was known to have been sexually active with many African women, including prostitutes.^[4] Røed was infected with HIV-1 group O, which is known to have been prevalent in Cameroon in the early 1960s.^[5]

During his tenure as a truck driver, from 1968 to 1972, Røed engaged in sexual activity with many prostitutes and almost certainly gave some HIV; these women almost certainly passed the disease on to other clients.^[6]

See also

• Timeline of early AIDS cases
• Robert Rayford — 15-year-old St. Louis teenager who was the first confirmed death from AIDS in North America; died 1969.
• Grethe Rask — Danish physician infected in 1964 in Zaire or in 1972 while performing surgery; died in 1977.
• Gaëtan Dugas — homosexual Canadian flight attendant who was alleged to have infected between 245-350 gay men from 1972 until his death in 1984, and was once called Patient Zero by author Randy Shilts. It became apparent, after it was determined that it takes a person infected with HIV ten years, on the average, to develop AIDS, the earlier statement became false.

References