Margrethe P. Rask (1930 – 12 December 1977), better known as Grethe Rask, was a Danish

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

in Zaïre, now the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. After setting up her own hospital in the village of Abumombazi in 1972, she transferred to Danish Red Cross Hospital in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the Capital city, capital and Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-grow ...

in 1975. She returned to Denmark in 1977 after developing symptoms of an unknown infectious disease, which was later discovered to be

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. In June 1981, the

Centers for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is headquartered in Atlanta, ...

recognized AIDS. Rask was one of the first non-Africans, along with Arvid Noe and Robert Rayford, and first woman known to have died of AIDS-related causes.

Early years and Zaïre (1930–1974)

Born in 1930 in the Danish town of

Thisted Thisted is a town in the municipality of Thisted in the North Denmark Region of Denmark. It has a population of 13,505 (1 January 2025)Zaïre for a brief period in 1964, when she was recalled to Europe for training in stomach surgery and tropical illnesses. From 1972 to 1977, she practiced medicine first at a small local hospital in the Zairian town of Abumombazi, and from 1975, as the chief surgeon at the Danish Red Cross Hospital in

. She was likely first exposed to HIV in 1964. Her friend and colleague, Ib Bygbjerg, a physician specializing in communicable diseases, wrote in a 1983 letter to ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...

'' that "while working as a surgeon under primitive conditions, she askmust have been heavily exposed to blood and excretions of African patients."

Illness and death (1975–1977)

Starting in late 1974, Rask suffered from symptoms of

, including

diarrhea Diarrhea (American English), also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa (British English), is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements in a day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration d ...

, swollen

lymph nodes A lymph node, or lymph gland, is a kidney-shaped Organ (anatomy), organ of the lymphatic system and the adaptive immune system. A large number of lymph nodes are linked throughout the body by the lymphatic vessels. They are major sites of lymphoc ...

, weight loss, and fatigue. Although the symptoms receded temporarily following drug treatments in 1975, they later grew considerably worse. In July 1977, following a vacation in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, she could no longer breathe and relied on bottled

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

. She flew back to Denmark, where tests at

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

's Rigshospitalet discovered she had contracted a number of

opportunistic infection An opportunistic infection is an infection that occurs most commonly in individuals with an immunodeficiency disorder and acts more severe on those with a weakened immune system. These types of infections are considered serious and can be caused b ...

s, such as ''

Staphylococcus aureus ''Staphylococcus aureus'' is a Gram-positive spherically shaped bacterium, a member of the Bacillota, and is a usual member of the microbiota of the body, frequently found in the upper respiratory tract and on the skin. It is often posi ...

'' (staph infection), candidiasis (yeast infection), and ''Pneumocystis jiroveci'' pneumonia (PCP, a fungal infection of the lungs formerly known as ''Pneumocystis carinii'' pneumonia). Tests also showed that Rask had a nearly non-existent T-cell count, leading to a severely depressed immune system. At the time, the doctors treating Rask were at a loss to explain her disease progression which, in retrospect, came to be seen as one of the first cases of AIDS recorded outside

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. After numerous tests and unsuccessful treatments, she returned home to die in her cottage on a fjord in November 1977. In December, she was called back for more tests, and returned to the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen where she remained until she died of AIDS-related ''Pneumocystis jiroveci'' pneumonia on 12 December 1977. In 1984, her blood was tested for HIV in Denmark. The test was negative. In 1987, a sample of her blood was sent to the United States, where it was tested with two different systems. Both tests were positive for HIV.

Early years and Zaïre (1930–1974)

Illness and death (1975–1977)

See also

References

Further reading