The first time Adam Vartanian, a fourth-year computer science and engineering student, encountered someone with AIDS, he was in kindergarten.

Though he was not aware of it at the time, Vartanian’s elementary school teacher from kindergarten through second grade had contracted AIDS. Two years later, the teacher died because of the disease.

“I was really little at the time. ... I didn’t understand (what the disease was),” Vartanian said. “It was the first time anyone I knew had died.”

Vartanian reminisces about a teacher his family knew personally and a “mainstay” of his elementary school who died of the widespread disease, as millions of people worldwide honor AIDS victims and raise global awareness during World AIDS Day, today.

Twenty-two years after the first cases of the disease were reported, the devastating epidemic continues to affect more people around the world than ever before.

According to the annual report compiled by UNAIDS, 3 million people died of AIDS in 2003, and the number of people living with the disease has gone up to between 34 million and 46 million. UNAIDS is a United Nations organization that coordinates efforts to combat the spread of the disease.

Since AIDS first surfaced, “some things have changed a lot and others have not ... but it is 100 percent preventable,” said Gunther Freehill, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Office of AIDS Programs & Policy.

In the past, the infection was not as preventable as it is currently.

Swati Rao, a third-year anthropology student who attends Stanford University, remembers a friend from elementary school who had contracted the virus through a blood transfusion and eventually died. Rao attended Meadows Elementary School in Valencia with classmate Christie Fox, who contracted the disease as an infant. A few of her classmates now attend UCLA.

“I first met her (Fox) in the third grade. ... She was really tiny and small for her age,” Rao said, adding that she remembers Fox was very giving.

Fox started coming to class less and less, until one day her parents came to Rao’s class and spoke to the students about Fox’s situation, Rao said. Fox died when she was in fifth grade.

“At that point, I didn’t know any of the stigmas attached with AIDS. ... I thought of it purely as a disease and (as a) sad experience,” Rao said.

“I think it was helpful that (Fox’s diagnosis) was the first experience I had with AIDS,” Rao added. “Because she didn’t fit the stereotype of someone with AIDS, I never associated AIDS with a stereotype.”

Fox’s mother, Debbie, said she hopes more people become educated about the disease.

“Young people don’t realize how devastating their lives could be if they contract this disease,” she said.

With the medical technologies available in the United States, contracting the virus through blood transfusions is no longer a large concern in the country. Other medical advancements with anti-retroviral drugs that slow down the replication of the virus have helped curb the effects of the disease.

Though globally the number of people affected by the disease is increasing, the situation in the United States is actually improving, said Roger Bohman, a molecular, cell and developmental biology professor at UCLA.

Bohman teaches the “AIDS and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases” general education course.

Lack of education about the disease and lack of access to appropriate medical care is contributing to the large-scale spread of the infection throughout the rest of the world, Bohman said.

The UCLA AIDS Institute is currently testing the effectiveness of an HIV vaccine. According to the institute’s Web site, the goal of the study is to determine whether administration of an HIV vaccine will improve immunity to the virus.

Debbie believes even the atmosphere surrounding the disease has come a long way.

“Back then, it was like, ‘Don’t tell anybody because you’d be ostracized.’ ... We were terrified to speak about it,” Debbie said, adding that it is now encouraged to talk to people who have been through the same experiences.

“Don’t hide too much of the burden in your own heart,” she said.