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. The researchers studying the cases referred to Røed as the "Norwegian Sailor" and the anagram "Arvid Noe" to conceal his identity; his true name became known after his death.

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 Røed worked on the merchant vessel Hoegh Aronde, which traveled the west coast of Africa to Douala, Cameroon. Røed 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.