{{infobox disease | name	HIV | Image HIV Virion-en.png | Caption Diagram of HIV | Width 190 | ICD10 B20-B24 | ICD9 - | DiseasesDB | MedlinePlus 000602 | eMedicineSubj article | eMedicineTopic 783434 | eMedicine_mult | MeshID D006678 | OMIM 609423 }}

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a member of the retrovirus family) that causes ''acquired immunodeficiency syndrome'' (AIDS), a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells. The four major routes of transmission are unsafe sex, contaminated needles, breast milk, and transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth (perinatal transmission). Screening of blood products for HIV has largely eliminated transmission through blood transfusions or infected blood products in the developed world.

HIV infection in humans is considered pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Nevertheless, complacency about HIV may play a key role in HIV risk. From its discovery in 1981 to 2006, AIDS killed more than 25 million people. HIV infects about 0.6% of the world's population. In 2009, AIDS claimed an estimated 1.8 million lives, down from a global peak of 2.1 million in 2004. Approximately 260,000 children died of AIDS in 2009. A disproportionate number of AIDS deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth and exacerbating the burden of poverty. In 2005, it was estimated that HIV would infect 90 million people in Africa, resulting in a minimum estimate of 18 million orphans. Treatment with antiretroviral drugs reduces both the mortality and the morbidity of HIV infection. Although antiretroviral medication is still not universally available, expansion of antiretroviral therapy programs since 2004 has helped to turn the tide of AIDS deaths and new infections in many parts of the world. Intensified awareness and preventive measures, as well as the natural course of the epidemic, have also played a role. Nevertheless, an estimated 2.6 million people were newly infected in 2009.

HIV infects vital cells in the human immune system such as helper T cells (specifically CD4⁺ T cells), macrophages, and dendritic cells. HIV infection leads to low levels of CD4⁺ T cells through three main mechanisms: First, direct viral killing of infected cells; second, increased rates of apoptosis in infected cells; and third, killing of infected CD4⁺ T cells by CD8 cytotoxic lymphocytes that recognize infected cells. When CD4⁺ T cell numbers decline below a critical level, cell-mediated immunity is lost, and the body becomes progressively more susceptible to opportunistic infections.

Most untreated people infected with HIV-1 eventually develop AIDS. These individuals mostly die from opportunistic infections or malignancies associated with the progressive failure of the immune system. HIV progresses to AIDS at a variable rate affected by viral, host, and environmental factors; most will progress to AIDS within 10 years of HIV infection: some will have progressed much sooner, and some will take much longer. Treatment with anti-retrovirals increases the life expectancy of people infected with HIV. Even after HIV has progressed to diagnosable AIDS, the average survival time with antiretroviral therapy was estimated to be more than 5 years as of 2005. Without antiretroviral therapy, someone who has AIDS typically dies within a year.

Classification

+Comparison of HIV species
Species !! Virulence !! Infectivity !! Prevalence !! Inferred origin
! HIV-1	High	High	Global
HIV-2	Lower	Low	West Africa

HIV is a member of the genus ''Lentivirus'', part of the family of Retroviridae. Lentiviruses have many morphologies and biological properties in common. Many species are infected by lentiviruses, which are characteristically responsible for long-duration illnesses with a long incubation period. Lentiviruses are transmitted as single-stranded, positive-sense, enveloped RNA viruses. Upon entry into the target cell, the viral RNA genome is converted (reverse transcribed) into double-stranded DNA by a virally encoded reverse transcriptase that is transported along with the viral genome in the virus particle. The resulting viral DNA is then imported into the cell nucleus and integrated into the cellular DNA by a virally encoded integrase and host co-factors. Once integrated, the virus may become latent, allowing the virus and its host cell to avoid detection by the immune system. Alternatively, the virus may be transcribed, producing new RNA genomes and viral proteins that are packaged and released from the cell as new virus particles that begin the replication cycle anew.

Two types of HIV have been characterized: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is the virus that was initially discovered and termed both LAV and HTLV-III. It is more virulent, more infective, and is the cause of the majority of HIV infections globally. The lower infectivity of HIV-2 compared to HIV-1 implies that fewer of those exposed to HIV-2 will be infected per exposure. Because of its relatively poor capacity for transmission, HIV-2 is largely confined to West Africa.

Signs and symptoms

Infection with HIV-1 is associated with a progressive decrease of the CD4⁺ T cell count and an increase in viral load, the level of HIV in the blood. The stage of infection can be determined by measuring the patient's CD4⁺ T cell count and viral load.

The stages of HIV infection are acute infection (also known as primary infection), latency and AIDS. Acute infection lasts for several weeks and may include symptoms such as fever, lymphadenopathy (swollen lymph nodes), pharyngitis (sore throat), rash, myalgia (muscle pain), malaise, and mouth and esophageal sores. The latency stage involves few or no symptoms and can last anywhere from two weeks to twenty years or more, depending on the individual. AIDS, the final stage of HIV infection, is defined by low CD4+ T cell counts (fewer than 200 per microliter), various opportunistic infections, cancers and other conditions.

A small percentage of HIV-1 infected individuals retain high levels of CD4+ T-cells without antiretroviral therapy. However, most have detectable viral load and will eventually progress to AIDS without treatment, albeit more slowly than others. These individuals are classified as HIV controllers or long-term nonprogressors (LTNP). People who maintain CD4+ T cell counts and also have low or clinically undetectable viral load without anti-retroviral treatment are known as elite controllers or elite suppressors (ES).

Acute infection

Infection with HIV generally occurs by introduction of bodily fluids from an infected person into the body of an uninfected person. A period of rapid viral replication ensues, leading to an abundance of virus in the peripheral blood. During primary infection, the level of HIV may reach several million virus particles per milliliter of blood.

This response is accompanied by a marked drop in the numbers of circulating CD4⁺ T cells. This acute viremia is associated in virtually all patients with the activation of CD8⁺ T cells, which kill HIV-infected cells, and subsequently with antibody production, or seroconversion. The CD8⁺ T cell response is thought to be important in controlling virus levels, which peak and then decline, as the CD4⁺ T cell counts rebound. A good CD8⁺ T cell response has been linked to slower disease progression and a better prognosis, though it does not eliminate the virus.

During this period (usually 2–4 weeks post-exposure) most individuals (80 to 90%) develop an influenza or mononucleosis-like illness called acute HIV infection, the most common symptoms of which may include fever, lymphadenopathy, pharyngitis, rash, myalgia, malaise, mouth and esophageal sores, and may also include, but less commonly, headache, nausea and vomiting, enlarged liver/spleen, weight loss, thrush, and neurological symptoms. Infected individuals may experience all, some, or none of these symptoms. The duration of symptoms varies, averaging 28 days and usually lasting at least a week.

Because of the nonspecific nature of these symptoms, they are often not recognized as signs of HIV infection. Even if patients go to their doctors or a hospital, they will often be misdiagnosed as having one of the more common infectious diseases with the same symptoms. As a consequence, these primary symptoms are not used to diagnose HIV infection, as they do not develop in all cases and because many are caused by other more common diseases. However, recognizing the syndrome can be important because the patient is much more infectious during this period.

Chronic infection

A strong immune defense reduces the number of viral particles in the blood stream, marking the start of secondary or chronic HIV infection. The secondary stage of HIV infection can vary between two weeks and 20 years. During this phase of infection, HIV is active within lymph nodes, which typically become persistently swollen, in response to large amounts of virus that become trapped in the follicular dendritic cells (FDC) network. The surrounding tissues that are rich in CD4⁺ T cells may also become infected, and viral particles accumulate both in infected cells and as free virus. Individuals who are in this phase are still infectious. During this time, CD4⁺ CD45RO⁺ T cells carry most of the proviral load.

During this stage of infection early initiation of antiretroviral therapy significantly improves survival, as compared with deferred therapy.

AIDS

:''For more details on this topic, see AIDS Diagnosis, AIDS Symptoms and WHO Disease Staging System for HIV Infection and Disease'' When CD4⁺ T cell numbers decline below a critical level of 200 cells per µL, cell-mediated immunity is lost, and infections with a variety of opportunistic microbes appear. The first symptoms often include moderate and unexplained weight loss, recurring respiratory tract infections (such as sinusitis, bronchitis, otitis media, pharyngitis), prostatitis, skin rashes, and oral ulcerations.

Common opportunistic infections and tumors, most of which are normally controlled by robust CD4⁺ T cell-mediated immunity then start to affect the patient. Typically, resistance is lost early on to oral Candida species and to ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'', which leads to an increased susceptibility to oral candidiasis (thrush) and tuberculosis. Later, reactivation of latent herpes viruses may cause worsening recurrences of herpes simplex eruptions, shingles, Epstein-Barr virus-induced B-cell lymphomas, or Kaposi's sarcoma.

Pneumonia caused by the fungus ''Pneumocystis jirovecii'' is common and often fatal. In the final stages of AIDS, infection with cytomegalovirus (another herpes virus) or Mycobacterium avium complex is more prominent. Not all patients with AIDS get all these infections or tumors, and there are other tumors and infections that are less prominent but still significant.

Transmission

+ Estimated per-act risk for acquisition of HIV by exposure route
Exposure Route	Estimated infections per 10,000 exposures to an infected source
	9,000 (90%)
	2,500 (25%)
	100-200 (1%-2%)
	67 (.67%)
	30 (.30%)
	170 (1.7%)‡ [30–890] / 143 [48-285]
	50 (.5%)
	62 (.62%)a [7-168]
	11 (.11%)a [2–24]
	6.5(.065%)
	38 (.38%)‡ [13–110]
	30 (.3%)‡ [14–63]
	10 (.1%)
	5 (.05%)
style="text-align:left"	1 (.01%)†b
	0.5 (.005%)†b
	The data shown represents transmission without the use of condoms. Risk increases substantially in the presence of genital ulcers, mucosal lacerations, concurrent sexually transmitted infections, or a partner with a high viral load of HIV. Commercial sex exposure and national income levels may also impact risk.

Three main transmission routes for HIV have been identified. HIV-2 is transmitted much less frequently by the mother-to-child and sexual route than HIV-1.

Sexual

The majority of HIV infections are acquired through unprotected sexual relations. Complacency about HIV plays a key role in HIV risk. Sexual transmission can occur when infected sexual secretions of one partner come into contact with the genital, oral, or rectal mucous membranes of another. In high-income countries, the risk of female-to-male transmission is 0.04% per act and male-to-female transmission is 0.08% per act. For various reasons, these rates are 4 to 10 times higher in low-income countries. The rate for receptive anal intercourse is much higher, 1.7% per act.

A 1999 meta-analysis of studies of condom use showed that the consistent use of latex condoms reduces the risk of sexual transmission of HIV by about 85%. However, spermicide may actually increase the transmission rate.

Randomized, controlled trials in which uncircumcised men were randomly assigned to be medically circumcised in sterile conditions and given counseling and other men were not circumcised have been conducted in South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda showing reductions in female-to-male sexual HIV transmission of 60%, 53%, and 51%, respectively. As a result, a panel of experts convened by WHO and the UNAIDS Secretariat has "recommended that male circumcision now be recognized as an additional important intervention to reduce the risk of heterosexually acquired HIV infection in men." Among men who have sex with men, there is insufficient evidence that male circumcision protects against HIV infection or other Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Studies of HIV among women having undergone female genital cutting (FGC) have reported mixed results, but with some evidence of increased risk of transmission. Programmes that aim to encourage sexual abstinence while also encouraging and teaching safer sex strategies for those who are sexually active can reduce short- and long-term HIV risk behaviour among young people in high-income countries, according to a 2007 Cochrane Review of studies.

Blood products

In general, if infected blood comes into contact with any open wound, HIV may be transmitted. This transmission route can account for infections in intravenous drug users, hemophiliacs, and recipients of blood transfusions (though most transfusions are checked for HIV in the developed world) and blood products. It is also of concern for persons receiving medical care in regions where there is prevalent substandard hygiene in the use of injection equipment, such as the reuse of needles in Third World countries. Health care workers such as nurses, laboratory workers, and doctors have also been infected, although this occurs more rarely. Since transmission of HIV by blood became known medical personnel are required to protect themselves from contact with blood by the use of universal precautions. People giving and receiving tattoos, piercings, and scarification procedures can also be at risk of infection.

HIV has been found at low concentrations in the saliva, tears, and urine of infected individuals, but there are no recorded cases of infection by these secretions and the potential risk of transmission is negligible. It is not possible for mosquitoes to transmit HIV.

Mother-to-child

The transmission of the virus from the mother to the child can occur ''in utero'' (during pregnancy), ''intrapartum'' (at childbirth), or via breast feeding. In the absence of treatment, the transmission rate up to birth between the mother and child is around 25%. However, where combination antiretroviral drug treatment and Cesarian section are available, this risk can be reduced to as low as one percent. Postnatal mother-to-child transmission may be largely prevented by complete avoidance of breast feeding; however, this has significant associated morbidity. Exclusive breast feeding and the provision of extended antiretroviral prophylaxis to the infant are also efficacious in avoiding transmission. UNAIDS estimate that 430,000 children were infected worldwide in 2008 (19% of all new infections), primarily by this route, and that a further 65,000 infections were averted through the provision of antiretroviral prophylaxis to HIV-positive women.

Multiple infection

Unlike some other viruses, infection with HIV does not provide immunity against additional infections, in particular, in the case of more genetically distant viruses. Both inter- and intra-clade multiple infections have been reported, and even associated with more rapid disease progression. Multiple infections are divided into two categories depending on the timing of the acquisition of the second strain. ''Coinfection'' refers to two strains that appear to have been acquired at the same time (or too close to distinguish). Reinfection (or superinfection) is infection with a second strain at a measurable time after the first. Both forms of dual infection have been reported for HIV in both acute and chronic infection around the world.

Prevention

There is currently no publicly available vaccine for HIV or AIDS. However, a vaccine that is a combination of two previously unsuccessful vaccine candidates (ALVAC-HIV and AIDSVAX) was reported in September 2009 to have resulted in a 30% reduction in infections in a trial conducted in Thailand. Further trials of the vaccine are ongoing. Additionally, a course of antiretroviral treatment administered immediately after exposure, referred to as post-exposure prophylaxis, is believed to reduce the risk of infection if begun as quickly as possible. In July 2010, a vaginal gel containing tenofovir, a reverse transcriptase inhibitor, was shown to reduce HIV infection rates by 39 percent in a trial conducted in South Africa.

Early treatment of HIV-infected people with antiretrovirals protected 96% of partners from infection.

Virology

Structure and genome

HIV is different in structure from other retroviruses. It is roughly spherical with a diameter of about 120 nm, around 60 times smaller than a red blood cell, yet large for a virus. It is composed of two copies of positive single-stranded RNA that codes for the virus's nine genes enclosed by a conical capsid composed of 2,000 copies of the viral protein p24. The single-stranded RNA is tightly bound to nucleocapsid proteins, p7, and enzymes needed for the development of the virion such as reverse transcriptase, proteases, ribonuclease and integrase. A matrix composed of the viral protein p17 surrounds the capsid ensuring the integrity of the virion particle.

This is, in turn, surrounded by the viral envelope that is composed of two layers of fatty molecules called phospholipids taken from the membrane of a human cell when a newly formed virus particle buds from the cell. Embedded in the viral envelope are proteins from the host cell and about 70 copies of a complex HIV protein that protrudes through the surface of the virus particle. This protein, known as Env, consists of a cap made of three molecules called glycoprotein (gp) 120, and a stem consisting of three gp41 molecules that anchor the structure into the viral envelope. This glycoprotein complex enables the virus to attach to and fuse with target cells to initiate the infectious cycle. Both these surface proteins, especially gp120, have been considered as targets of future treatments or vaccines against HIV.

The RNA genome consists of at least seven structural landmarks (LTR, TAR, RRE, PE, SLIP, CRS, and INS), and nine genes (''gag'', ''pol'', and ''env'', ''tat'', ''rev'', ''nef'', ''vif'', ''vpr'', ''vpu'', and sometimes a tenth ''tev'', which is a fusion of tat env and rev), encoding 19 proteins. Three of these genes, ''gag'', ''pol'', and ''env'', contain information needed to make the structural proteins for new virus particles. For example, ''env'' codes for a protein called gp160 that is broken down by a viral enzyme to form gp120 and gp41. The six remaining genes, ''tat'', ''rev'', ''nef'', ''vif'', ''vpr'', and ''vpu'' (or ''vpx'' in the case of HIV-2), are regulatory genes for proteins that control the ability of HIV to infect cells, produce new copies of virus (replicate), or cause disease.

The two Tat proteins (p16 and p14) are transcriptional transactivators for the LTR promoter acting by binding the TAR RNA element. The TAR may also be processed into microRNAs that regulate the apoptosis genes ERCC1 and IER3. The Rev protein (p19) is involved in shuttling RNAs from the nucleus and the cytoplasm by binding to the RRE RNA element. The Vif protein (p23) prevents the action of APOBEC3G (a cell protein that deaminates DNA:RNA hybrids and/or interferes with the Pol protein). The Vpr protein (p14) arrests cell division at G2/M. The Nef protein (p27) down-regulates CD4 (the major viral receptor), as well as the MHC class I and class II molecules.

Nef also interacts with SH3 domains. The Vpu protein (p16) influences the release of new virus particles from infected cells. The ends of each strand of HIV RNA contain an RNA sequence called the long terminal repeat (LTR). Regions in the LTR act as switches to control production of new viruses and can be triggered by proteins from either HIV or the host cell. The Psi element is involved in viral genome packaging and recognized by Gag and Rev proteins. The SLIP element (TTTTTT) is involved in the frameshift in the Gag-Pol reading frame required to make functional Pol.

Tropism

The term viral tropism refers to which cell types HIV infects. HIV can infect a variety of immune cells such as CD4⁺ T cells, macrophages, and microglial cells. HIV-1 entry to macrophages and CD4⁺ T cells is mediated through interaction of the virion envelope glycoproteins (gp120) with the CD4 molecule on the target cells and also with chemokine coreceptors.

Macrophage (M-tropic) strains of HIV-1, or non-syncitia-inducing strains (NSI) use the ''β''-chemokine receptor CCR5 for entry and are, thus, able to replicate in macrophages and CD4⁺ T cells. This CCR5 coreceptor is used by almost all primary HIV-1 isolates regardless of viral genetic subtype. Indeed, macrophages play a key role in several critical aspects of HIV infection. They appear to be the first cells infected by HIV and perhaps the source of HIV production when CD4⁺ cells become depleted in the patient. Macrophages and microglial cells are the cells infected by HIV in the central nervous system. In tonsils and adenoids of HIV-infected patients, macrophages fuse into multinucleated giant cells that produce huge amounts of virus.

T-tropic isolates, or syncitia-inducing (SI) strains replicate in primary CD4⁺ T cells as well as in macrophages and use the ''α''-chemokine receptor, CXCR4, for entry. Dual-tropic HIV-1 strains are thought to be transitional strains of HIV-1 and thus are able to use both CCR5 and CXCR4 as co-receptors for viral entry.

The ''α''-chemokine SDF-1, a ligand for CXCR4, suppresses replication of T-tropic HIV-1 isolates. It does this by down-regulating the expression of CXCR4 on the surface of these cells. HIV that use only the CCR5 receptor are termed R5; those that use only CXCR4 are termed X4, and those that use both, X4R5. However, the use of coreceptor alone does not explain viral tropism, as not all R5 viruses are able to use CCR5 on macrophages for a productive infection and HIV can also infect a subtype of myeloid dendritic cells, which probably constitute a reservoir that maintains infection when CD4⁺ T cell numbers have declined to extremely low levels.

Some people are resistant to certain strains of HIV. For example, people with the CCR5-Δ32 mutation are resistant to infection with R5 virus, as the mutation stops HIV from binding to this coreceptor, reducing its ability to infect target cells.

Sexual intercourse is the major mode of HIV transmission. Both X4 and R5 HIV are present in the seminal fluid, which is passed from a male to his sexual partner. The virions can then infect numerous cellular targets and disseminate into the whole organism. However, a selection process leads to a predominant transmission of the R5 virus through this pathway. How this selective process works is still under investigation, but one model is that spermatozoa may selectively carry R5 HIV as they possess both CCR3 and CCR5 but not CXCR4 on their surface and that genital epithelial cells preferentially sequester X4 virus. In patients infected with subtype B HIV-1, there is often a co-receptor switch in late-stage disease and T-tropic variants appear that can infect a variety of T cells through CXCR4. These variants then replicate more aggressively with heightened virulence that causes rapid T cell depletion, immune system collapse, and opportunistic infections that mark the advent of AIDS. Thus, during the course of infection, viral adaptation to the use of CXCR4 instead of CCR5 may be a key step in the progression to AIDS. A number of studies with subtype B-infected individuals have determined that between 40 and 50% of AIDS patients can harbour viruses of the SI and, it is presumed, the X4 phenotypes.

HIV-2 is much less pathogenic than HIV-1 and is restricted in its worldwide distribution. The adoption of "accessory genes" by HIV-2 and its more promiscuous pattern of coreceptor usage (including CD4-independence) may assist the virus in its adaptation to avoid innate restriction factors present in host cells. Adaptation to use normal cellular machinery to enable transmission and productive infection has also aided the establishment of HIV-2 replication in humans. A survival strategy for any infectious agent is not to kill its host but ultimately become a commensal organism. Having achieved a low pathogenicity, over time, variants more successful at transmission will be selected.

Replication cycle

Entry to the cell

HIV enters macrophages and CD4⁺ T cells by the adsorption of glycoproteins on its surface to receptors on the target cell followed by fusion of the viral envelope with the cell membrane and the release of the HIV capsid into the cell.

Entry to the cell begins through interaction of the trimeric envelope complex (gp160 spike) and both CD4 and a chemokine receptor (generally either CCR5 or CXCR4, but others are known to interact) on the cell surface. gp120 binds to integrin α₄β₇ activating LFA-1 the central integrin involved in the establishment of virological synapses, which facilitate efficient cell-to-cell spreading of HIV-1. The gp160 spike contains binding domains for both CD4 and chemokine receptors.

The first step in fusion involves the high-affinity attachment of the CD4 binding domains of gp120 to CD4. Once gp120 is bound with the CD4 protein, the envelope complex undergoes a structural change, exposing the chemokine binding domains of gp120 and allowing them to interact with the target chemokine receptor. This allows for a more stable two-pronged attachment, which allows the N-terminal fusion peptide gp41 to penetrate the cell membrane. Repeat sequences in gp41, HR1, and HR2 then interact, causing the collapse of the extracellular portion of gp41 into a hairpin. This loop structure brings the virus and cell membranes close together, allowing fusion of the membranes and subsequent entry of the viral capsid.

After HIV has bound to the target cell, the HIV RNA and various enzymes, including reverse transcriptase, integrase, ribonuclease, and protease, are injected into the cell. During the microtubule-based transport to the nucleus, the viral single-strand RNA genome is transcribed into double-strand DNA, which is then integrated into a host chromosome.

HIV can infect dendritic cells (DCs) by this CD4-CCR5 route, but another route using mannose-specific C-type lectin receptors such as DC-SIGN can also be used. DCs are one of the first cells encountered by the virus during sexual transmission. They are currently thought to play an important role by transmitting HIV to T-cells when the virus is captured in the mucosa by DCs. The presence of FEZ-1, which occurs naturally in neurons, is believed to prevent the infection of cells by HIV.

Replication and transcription

Shortly after the viral capsid enters the cell, an enzyme called ''reverse transcriptase'' liberates the single-stranded (+)RNA genome from the attached viral proteins and copies it into a complementary DNA (cDNA) molecule. The process of reverse transcription is extremely error-prone, and the resulting mutations may cause drug resistance or allow the virus to evade the body's immune system. The reverse transcriptase also has ribonuclease activity that degrades the viral RNA during the synthesis of cDNA, as well as DNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity that creates a sense DNA from the ''antisense'' cDNA. Together, the cDNA and its complement form a double-stranded viral DNA that is then transported into the cell nucleus. The integration of the viral DNA into the host cell's genome is carried out by another viral enzyme called ''integrase''. This integrated viral DNA may then lie dormant, in the latent stage of HIV infection. To actively produce the virus, certain cellular transcription factors need to be present, the most important of which is NF-''κ''B (NF kappa B), which is upregulated when T-cells become activated. This means that those cells most likely to be killed by HIV are those currently fighting infection.

During viral replication, the integrated DNA provirus is transcribed into mRNA, which is then spliced into smaller pieces. These small pieces are exported from the nucleus into the cytoplasm, where they are translated into the regulatory proteins Tat (which encourages new virus production) and Rev. As the newly produced Rev protein accumulates in the nucleus, it binds to viral mRNAs and allows unspliced RNAs to leave the nucleus, where they are otherwise retained until spliced. At this stage, the structural proteins Gag and Env are produced from the full-length mRNA. The full-length RNA is actually the virus genome; it binds to the Gag protein and is packaged into new virus particles.

HIV-1 and HIV-2 appear to package their RNA differently; HIV-1 will bind to any appropriate RNA, whereas HIV-2 will preferentially bind to the mRNA that was used to create the Gag protein itself. This may mean that HIV-1 is better able to mutate (HIV-1 infection progresses to AIDS faster than HIV-2 infection and is responsible for the majority of global infections).

Assembly and release

The final step of the viral cycle, assembly of new HIV-1 virons, begins at the plasma membrane of the host cell. The Env polyprotein (gp160) goes through the endoplasmic reticulum and is transported to the Golgi complex where it is cleaved by protease and processed into the two HIV envelope glycoproteins gp41 and gp120. These are transported to the plasma membrane of the host cell where gp41 anchors the gp120 to the membrane of the infected cell. The Gag (p55) and Gag-Pol (p160) polyproteins also associate with the inner surface of the plasma membrane along with the HIV genomic RNA as the forming virion begins to bud from the host cell. Maturation occurs either in the forming bud or in the immature virion after it buds from the host cell. During maturation, HIV proteases cleave the polyproteins into individual functional HIV proteins and enzymes. The various structural components then assemble to produce a mature HIV virion. This cleavage step can be inhibited by protease inhibitors. The mature virus is then able to infect another cell.

Genetic variability

HIV differs from many viruses in that it has very high genetic variability. This diversity is a result of its fast replication cycle, with the generation of about 10¹⁰ virions every day, coupled with a high mutation rate of approximately 3 x 10⁻⁵ per nucleotide base per cycle of replication and recombinogenic properties of reverse transcriptase.

This complex scenario leads to the generation of many variants of HIV in a single infected patient in the course of one day. This variability is compounded when a single cell is simultaneously infected by two or more different strains of HIV. When simultaneous infection occurs, the genome of progeny virions may be composed of RNA strands from two different strains. This hybrid virion then infects a new cell where it undergoes replication. As this happens, the reverse transcriptase, by jumping back and forth between the two different RNA templates, will generate a newly synthesized retroviral DNA sequence that is a recombinant between the two parental genomes. This recombination is most obvious when it occurs between subtypes.

The closely related simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) has evolved into many strains, classified by the natural host species. SIV strains of the African green monkey (SIVagm) and sooty mangabey (SIVsmm) are thought to have a long evolutionary history with their hosts. These hosts have adapted to the presence of the virus, which is present at high levels in the host's blood but evokes only a mild immune response, does not cause the development of simian AIDS, and does not undergo the extensive mutation and recombination typical of HIV infection in humans.

In contrast, when these strains infect species that have not adapted to SIV ("heterologous" hosts such as rhesus or cynomologus macaques), the animals develop AIDS and the virus generates genetic diversity similar to what is seen in human HIV infection. Chimpanzee SIV (SIVcpz), the closest genetic relative of HIV-1, is associated with increased mortality and AIDS-like symptoms in its natural host. SIVcpz appears to have been transmitted relatively recently to chimpanzee and human populations, so their hosts have not yet adapted to the virus. This virus has also lost a function of the Nef gene that is present in most SIVs; without this function, T cell depletion is more likely, leading to immunodeficiency.

Three groups of HIV-1 have been identified on the basis of differences in the envelope (''env'') region: M, N, and O. Group M is the most prevalent and is subdivided into eight subtypes (or clades), based on the whole genome, which are geographically distinct. The most prevalent are subtypes B (found mainly in North America and Europe), A and D (found mainly in Africa), and C (found mainly in Africa and Asia); these subtypes form branches in the phylogenetic tree representing the lineage of the M group of HIV-1. Coinfection with distinct subtypes gives rise to circulating recombinant forms (CRFs). In 2000, the last year in which an analysis of global subtype prevalence was made, 47.2% of infections worldwide were of subtype C, 26.7% were of subtype A/CRF02_AG, 12.3% were of subtype B, 5.3% were of subtype D, 3.2% were of CRF_AE, and the remaining 5.3% were composed of other subtypes and CRFs. Most HIV-1 research is focused on subtype B; few laboratories focus on the other subtypes. The existence of a fourth group, "P", has been hypothesised based on a virus isolated in 2009. The strain is apparently derived from gorilla SIV (SIVgor), first isolated from western lowland gorillas in 2006.

The genetic sequence of HIV-2 is only partially homologous to HIV-1 and more closely resembles that of SIVsmm.

Diagnosis

Many HIV-positive people are unaware that they are infected with the virus. For example, less than 1% of the sexually active urban population in Africa have been tested and this proportion is even lower in rural populations. Furthermore, only 0.5% of pregnant women attending urban health facilities are counselled, tested or receive their test results. Again, this proportion is even lower in rural health facilities. Since donors may therefore be unaware of their infection, donor blood and blood products used in medicine and medical research are routinely screened for HIV.

HIV-1 testing consists of initial screening with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies to HIV-1. Specimens with a nonreactive result from the initial ELISA are considered HIV-negative unless new exposure to an infected partner or partner of unknown HIV status has occurred. Specimens with a reactive ELISA result are retested in duplicate. If the result of either duplicate test is reactive, the specimen is reported as repeatedly reactive and undergoes confirmatory testing with a more specific supplemental test (e.g., Western blot or, less commonly, an immunofluorescence assay (IFA)). Only specimens that are repeatedly reactive by ELISA and positive by IFA or reactive by Western blot are considered HIV-positive and indicative of HIV infection. Specimens that are repeatedly ELISA-reactive occasionally provide an indeterminate Western blot result, which may be either an incomplete antibody response to HIV in an infected person or nonspecific reactions in an uninfected person.

Although IFA can be used to confirm infection in these ambiguous cases, this assay is not widely used. In general, a second specimen should be collected more than a month later and retested for persons with indeterminate Western blot results. Although much less commonly available, nucleic acid testing (e.g., viral RNA or proviral DNA amplification method) can also help diagnosis in certain situations. In addition, a few tested specimens might provide inconclusive results because of a low quantity specimen. In these situations, a second specimen is collected and tested for HIV infection.

Modern HIV testing is extremely accurate. The chance of a false-positive result in the two-step testing protocol is estimated to be 0.0004% to 0.0007% in the general U.S. population.

Screening at schools

The South African government announced a plan to start HIV testing in secondary schools by March 2011 but this plan was eventually scrapped because doing so would invade pupil's privacy at schools, schools typicaly don't have the facilities to securely store such information, and schools generally do not have the capacity to provide counselling for HIV positive pupils. In South Africa, anyone over the age of 12 may request an HIV test without parental knowledge or consent. Some 80 000 pupils in three provinces were tested under this programme before it was cancelled.

Treatment

There is currently no cure for HIV infection. Treatment consists of highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART. This has been highly beneficial to many HIV-infected individuals since its introduction in 1996, when the protease inhibitor-based HAART initially became available. Current HAART options are combinations (or "cocktails") consisting of at least three drugs belonging to at least two types, or "classes," of antiretroviral agents. Typically, these classes are two nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NARTIs or NRTIs) plus either a protease inhibitor or a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI).

There is no empirical evidence for withholding treatment at any stage of HIV infection, and death rates are almost twice as high when therapy is deferred (until the CD4 count falls below 500) compared to starting therapy when the CD4 count is above 500. However, the timing for starting HIV treatment is still subject to debate.

The United States Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents in 2009 recommended that antiretroviral therapy should be initiated in all patients with a CD4 count less than 350, with treatment also recommended for patients with CD4 counts between 350 and 500. However, for patients with CD4 counts over 500, the expert Panel was evenly divided, with 50% in favor of starting antiretroviral therapy at this stage of HIV disease, and 50% viewing initiating therapy at this stage as optional. They noted that "Patients initiating antiretroviral therapy should be willing and able to commit to lifelong treatment and should understand the benefits and risks of therapy and the importance of adherence".

New classes of drugs such as entry inhibitors provide treatment options for patients infected with viruses already resistant to common therapies, although they are not widely available and not typically accessible in resource-limited settings. Because AIDS progression in children is more rapid and less predictable than in adults, in particular, in young infants, more aggressive treatment is recommended for children than adults. In developed countries where HAART is available, doctors assess their patients thoroughly: measuring the viral load, how fast CD4 declines, and patient readiness. They then decide when to recommend starting treatment.

HAART neither cures the patient nor uniformly removes all symptoms; high levels of HIV-1, often HAART-resistant, return if treatment is stopped. Moreover, it would take more than a lifetime for HIV infection to be cleared using HAART. Despite this, many HIV-infected individuals have experienced remarkable improvements in their general health and quality of life, which has led to a large reduction in HIV-associated morbidity and mortality in the developed world. One study suggests the average life expectancy of an HIV infected individual is 32 years from the time of infection if treatment is started when the CD4 count is 350/µL. Life expectancy is further enhanced if antiretroviral therapy is initiated before the CD4 count falls below 500/µL.

In the absence of HAART, progression from HIV infection to AIDS has been observed to occur at a median of between nine to ten years and the median survival time after developing AIDS is only 9.2 months. However, HAART sometimes achieves far less than optimal results, in some circumstances being effective in less than fifty percent of patients. This is due to a variety of reasons such as medication intolerance/side effects, prior ineffective antiretroviral therapy and infection with a drug-resistant strain of HIV. However, non-adherence and non-persistence with antiretroviral therapy is the major reason most individuals fail to benefit from HAART.

The reasons for non-adherence and non-persistence with HAART are varied and overlapping. Major psychosocial issues, such as poor access to medical care, inadequate social supports, psychiatric disease and drug abuse contribute to non-adherence. The complexity of these HAART regimens, whether due to pill number, dosing frequency, meal restrictions or other issues along with side effects that create intentional non-adherence also contribute to this problem. The side effects include lipodystrophy, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, an increase in cardiovascular risks, and birth defects.

Anti-retroviral drugs are expensive, and the majority of the world's infected individuals do not have access to medications and treatments for HIV and AIDS. Research to improve current treatments includes decreasing side effects of current drugs, further simplifying drug regimens to improve adherence, and determining the best sequence of regimens to manage drug resistance. Unfortunately, only a vaccine is thought to be able to halt the pandemic. This is because a vaccine would cost less, thus being affordable for developing countries, and would not require daily treatment. However, after over 20 years of research, HIV-1 remains a difficult target for a vaccine.

HIV latent reservoir

Despite the success of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in controlling HIV infection and reducing HIV-associated mortality, current drug regimens are unable to completely eradicate HIV infection. Many people on HAART achieve suppression of HIV to levels below the limit of detection of standard clinical assays for many years. However, upon withdrawal of HAART, HIV viral loads rebound quickly with a concomitant decline in CD4+ T-Cells, which, in most cases, without a resumption of treatment, leads to AIDS.

To successfully reproduce itself, HIV must convert its RNA genome to DNA, which is then imported into the host cell's nucleus and inserted into the host genome through the action of HIV integrase. Because HIV's primary cellular target, CD4+ T-Cells, function as the memory cells of the immune system, integrated HIV can remain dormant for the duration of these cells' lifetime. Memory T-Cells may survive for many years and possibly for decades. The latent HIV reservoir can be measured by co-culturing CD4+ T-Cells from infected patients with CD4+ T-Cells from uninfected donors and measuring HIV protein or RNA.

The failure of vaccine candidates to protect against HIV infection and progression to AIDS has led to a renewed focus on the biological mechanisms responsible for HIV latency. A limited period of therapy combining anti-retrovirals with drugs targeting the latent reservoir may one day allow for total eradication of HIV infection.

Prognosis

Without treatment, the net median survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype, and the median survival rate after diagnosis of AIDS in resource-limited settings where treatment is not available ranges between 6 and 19 months, depending on the study. In areas where it is widely available, the development of HAART as effective therapy for HIV infection and AIDS reduced the death rate from this disease by 80%, and raised the life expectancy for a newly diagnosed HIV-infected person to 20–50 years.

As new treatments continue to be developed and because HIV continues to evolve resistance to treatments, estimates of survival time are likely to continue to change. Without antiretroviral therapy, death normally occurs within a year after the individual progresses to AIDS. Most patients die from opportunistic infections or malignancies associated with the progressive failure of the immune system. The rate of clinical disease progression varies widely between individuals and has been shown to be affected by many factors such as host susceptibility and immune function health care and co-infections, as well as which particular strain of the virus is involved.

Epidemiology

thumb|Numbers of people living with, newly infected with, and killed by HIV (1990–2008)

UNAIDS and the WHO estimated that AIDS killed more than 25 million people between 1981, when it was first recognized, and 2005, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in recorded history. Despite improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS pandemic claimed an estimated 2.8 million (between 2.4 and 3.3 million) lives in 2005 of which more than half a million (570,000) were children.

UNAIDS estimated that 33.3 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2009, up from 26.2 million people in 1999. They also estimated AIDS-related deaths in 2009 at 1.8 million people, down from a peak of 2.1 million in 2004, new infections at 2.6 million, down from a peak of 3.2 million in 1997, and the number of people in low- or middle-income countries receiving antiretroviral therapy in 2009 at 5.2 million, up from 4.0 million in 2008.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains by far the worst-affected region, with an estimated 22.5  million people currently living with HIV (67% of the global total), 1.3 million deaths (72% of the global total) and 1.8 million new infections (69% of the global total). However, the number of new infections declined by 19% across the region between 2001 and 2009, and by more than 25% in 22 sub-Saharan African countries during this period. Asia is the second-worst affected region, with 4.9 million people living with HIV (15% of the global total).

The latest evaluation report of the World Bank's Operations Evaluation Department assesses the development effectiveness of the World Bank's country-level HIV/AIDS assistance defined as policy dialogue, analytic work, and lending with the explicit objective of reducing the scope or impact of the AIDS epidemic. This is the first comprehensive evaluation of the World Bank's HIV/AIDS support to countries, from the beginning of the epidemic through mid-2004. Because the Bank aims to assist in implementation of national government programmes, their experience provides important insights on how national AIDS programmes can be made more effective.

The development of HAART as effective therapy for HIV infection has substantially reduced the death rate from this disease in those areas where these drugs are widely available. As the life expectancy of persons with HIV has increased in countries where HAART is widely used, the continuing spread of the disease has caused the number of persons living with HIV to increase substantially.

In Africa, the number of mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) cases and the prevalence of AIDS is beginning to reverse decades of steady progress in child survival. Countries such as Uganda are attempting to curb the MTCT epidemic by offering VCT (voluntary counselling and testing), PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child transmission) and ANC (ante-natal care) services, which include the distribution of antiretroviral therapy.

History

Origins

:''See History of known cases and spread for early cases of HIV / AIDS'' HIV is thought to have originated in non-human primates in sub-Saharan Africa and was transferred to humans late in the 19th or early in the 20th century. The first paper recognizing a pattern of opportunistic infections characteristic of AIDS was published in 1981.

Both HIV-1 and HIV-2 are believed to have originated in West-Central Africa and to have jumped species (a process known as zoonosis) from non-human primates to humans. HIV-1 appears to have originated in southern Cameroon through the evolution of SIV(cpz), a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) that infects wild chimpanzees (HIV-1 descends from the SIVcpz endemic in the chimpanzee subspecies ''Pan troglodytes troglodytes''). The closest relative of HIV-2 is SIV(smm), a virus of the sooty mangabey (''Cercocebus atys atys''), an Old World monkey living in litoral West Africa (from southern Senegal to western Ivory Coast. New World monkeys such as the owl monkey are resistant to HIV-1 infection, possibly because of a genomic fusion of two viral resistance genes. HIV-1 is thought to have jumped the species barrier on at least three separate occasions, giving rise to the three groups of the virus, M, N, and O.

There is evidence that humans who participate in bushmeat activities, either as hunters or as bushmeat vendors, commonly acquire SIV. However, SIV is a weak virus, it is typically suppressed by the human immune system within weeks of infection. It is thought that several transmissions of the virus from individual to individual in quick succession are necessary to allow it enough time to mutate into HIV. Furthermore, due to its relatively low person-to-person transmission rate, it can only spread throughout the population in the presence of one or more of high-risk transmission channels, which are thought to have been absent in Africa prior to the 20h century.

Specific proposed high-risk transmission channels, allowing the virus to adapt to humans and spread throughout the society, depend on the proposed timing of the animal-to-human crossing. Genetic studies of the virus suggest that the most recent common ancestor of the HIV-1 M group dates back to circa 1910. Proponents of this dating link the HIV epidemic with the emergence of colonialism and growth of large colonial African cities, leading to social changes, including a higher degree of sexual promiscuity, the spread of prostitution, and the concomitant high frequency of genital ulcer diseases (such as syphilis) in nascent colonial cities. There is evidence that transmission rates of HIV during vaginal intercourse, while quite low under regular circumstances, may be increased tens, if not hundreds of times, if one of the partners suffers from a STD resulting in genital ulcers. Early 1900's colonial cities were notable due to their high prevalence of prostitution and genital ulcer STD's, to the degree that, as of 1928, as many as 45% of female residents of eastern Kinshasa were thought to have been prostitutes, and, as of 1933, around 15% of all residents of the same city were infected by one of the forms of syphilis.

An alternative view holds that unsafe medical practices in Africa during years following World War II, such as unsterile reuse of single use syringes during mass vaccination, antibiotic and anti-malaria treatment campaigns, were the initial vector that allowed the virus to adapt to humans and spread.

The earliest well documented case of HIV in a human dates back to 1959. The virus may have been present in the United States as early as 1966, but the vast majority of infections occurring outside sub-Saharan Africa (including the U.S.) can be traced back to a single unknown individual who got infected with HIV in Haiti and then brought the infection to the United States some time around 1969. The epidemic then rapidly spread among high-risk groups (initially, sexually promiscuous gay men). By 1978, the prevalence of HIV-1 among gay male residents of New York and San Francisco was estimated at 5%, suggesting that several thousand individuals in the country had been infected by then.

Discovery

AIDS was first clinically observed between late 1980 and early 1981. Injection drug users and gay men with no known cause of impaired immunity showed symptoms of ''Pneumocystis carinii'' pneumonia (PCP), a rare opportunistic infection that was known to present itself in people with very compromised immune systems. Soon thereafter, additional gay men developed a previously-rare skin cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS). Many more cases of PCP and KS quickly emerged, alerting U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A CDC task force was formed to monitor the outbreak. After recognizing a pattern of anomalous symptoms presenting themselves in patients, the task force named the condition acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

In 1983, two separate research groups led by Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier independently declared that a novel retrovirus may have been infecting AIDS patients, and published their findings in the same issue of the journal ''Science''. Gallo claimed that a virus his group had isolated from an AIDS patient was strikingly similar in shape to other human T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLVs) his group had been the first to isolate. Gallo's group called their newly isolated virus HTLV-III. At the same time, Montagnier's group isolated a virus from a patient presenting lymphadenopathy (swelling of the lymph nodes) of the neck and physical weakness, two classic symptoms of AIDS. Contradicting the report from Gallo's group, Montagnier and his colleagues showed that core proteins of this virus were immunologically different from those of HTLV-I. Montagnier's group named their isolated virus lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV). HIV was chosen as a compromise between the two claims (LAV and HTLV-III).

Whether Gallo or Montagnier deserve more credit for the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS has been a matter of considerable controversy. Together with his colleague Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Montagnier was awarded one half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his "discovery of human immunodeficiency virus". Harald zur Hausen also shared the Prize for his discovery that human papilloma virus leads to cervical cancer, but Gallo was left out. Gallo said that it was "a disappointment" that he was not named a co-recipient. Montagnier said he was "surprised" Gallo was not recognized by the Nobel Committee: "It was important to prove that HIV was the cause of AIDS, and Gallo had a very important role in that. I'm very sorry for Robert Gallo."

AIDS denialism

A small group of individuals continue to dispute the connection between HIV and AIDS, the existence of HIV itself, or the validity of HIV testing and treatment methods. These claims, known as AIDS denialism, have been examined and rejected by the scientific community. However, they have had a significant political impact, particularly in South Africa, where the government's official embrace of AIDS denialism was responsible for its ineffective response to that country's AIDS epidemic, and has been blamed for hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths and HIV infections.

Research

Stem cell transplantation

In 2007, a 40-year-old HIV-positive man was given a stem cell transplant as part of his treatment for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). A second transplant was made a year later after a relapse. The donor was chosen not only for genetic compatibility but also for being homozygous for a CCR5-Δ32 mutation that confers resistance to HIV infection. After 20 months without antiretroviral drug treatment, it was reported that HIV levels in the recipient's blood, bone marrow, and bowel were below the limit of detection. Virus remained undetectable over three years after the first transplant. Although the researchers and some commentators have characterized this result as a cure, others suggest that the virus may remain hidden in tissues such as the brain (a viral reservoir). Stem cell treatment remains investigational because of its anecdotal nature, the disease and mortality risk associated with stem cell transplants, and the difficulty of finding suitable donors.

Immunomodulatory agents

Complementing efforts to control viral replication, immunotherapies that may assist in the recovery of the immune system have been explored in past and ongoing trials, including IL-2 and IL-7.

References

External links

Category:HIV/AIDS Category:Lentiviruses Category:Sexually transmitted diseases and infections Category:Discovery and invention controversies Category:Initialisms Category:Causes of death

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non-profit name	International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
non-profit logo	200pxThe Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems, the symbols from which the movement derives its name.
founded date	1863
founders	Henry Dunant
location	Geneva, Switzerland
area served	Worldwide
focus	Humanitarian
method	Aid
homepage	redcross.int
footnotes	}}

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any discrimination based on nationality, race, sex, religious beliefs, class or political opinions.

The movement consists of several distinct organizations that are legally independent from each other, but are united within the movement through common basic principles, objectives, symbols, statutes and governing organs. The movement's parts are:

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a private humanitarian institution founded in 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland, by Henry Dunant. Its 25-member committee has a unique authority under international humanitarian law to protect the life and dignity of the victims of international and internal armed conflicts. The ICRC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on three occasions (in 1917, 1944 and 1963). The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was founded in 1919 and today it coordinates activities between the 186 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies within the Movement. On an international level, the Federation leads and organizes, in close cooperation with the National Societies, relief assistance missions responding to large-scale emergencies. The International Federation Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1963, the Federation (then known as the League of Red Cross Societies) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the ICRC.

National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies exist in nearly every country in the world. Currently 186 National Societies are recognized by the ICRC and admitted as full members of the Federation. Each entity works in its home country according to the principles of international humanitarian law and the statutes of the international Movement. Depending on their specific circumstances and capacities, National Societies can take on additional humanitarian tasks that are not directly defined by international humanitarian law or the mandates of the international Movement. In many countries, they are tightly linked to the respective national health care system by providing emergency medical services.

History of Movement

The International Committee of the Red Cross

Solferino, Jean-Henri Dunant and the foundation of the ICRC

Until the middle of the 19th century, there were no organized and/or well-established army nursing systems for casualties and no safe and protected institutions to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. In June 1859, the Swiss businessman Jean-Henri Dunant traveled to Italy to meet French emperor Napoléon III with the intention of discussing difficulties in conducting business in Algeria, at that time occupied by France. When he arrived in the small town of Solferino on the evening of June 24, he witnessed the Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Austro-Sardinian War. In a single day, about 40,000 soldiers on both sides died or were left wounded on the field. Jean-Henri Dunant was shocked by the terrible aftermath of the battle, the suffering of the wounded soldiers, and the near-total lack of medical attendance and basic care. He completely abandoned the original intent of his trip and for several days he devoted himself to helping with the treatment and care for the wounded. He succeeded in organizing an overwhelming level of relief assistance by motivating the local population to aid without discrimination.

Back in his home in Geneva, he decided to write a book entitled ''A Memory of Solferino'' which he published with his own money in 1862. He sent copies of the book to leading political and military figures throughout Europe. In addition to penning a vivid description of his experiences in Solferino in 1859, he explicitly advocated the formation of national voluntary relief organizations to help nurse wounded soldiers in the case of war. In addition, he called for the development of international treaties to guarantee the protection of neutral medics and field hospitals for soldiers wounded on the battlefield.

On February 9, 1863, in Geneva, Jean-Henri Dunant founded the "Committee of the Five" (together with four other leading figures from well-known Geneva families) as an investigatory commission of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare. Their aim was to examine the feasibility of Dunant's ideas and to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. The members of this committee, aside from Dunant himself, were Gustave Moynier, lawyer and chairman of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare; physician Louis Appia, who had significant experience working as a field surgeon; Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir, from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission; and Guillaume-Henri Dufour, a Swiss Army general of great renown. Eight days later, the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded". In October (26–29) 1863, the international conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on the battlefield. The conference was attended by 36 individuals: eighteen official delegates from national governments, six delegates from other non-governmental organizations, seven non-official foreign delegates, and the five members of the International Committee. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were:

France Hesse-Kassel Sweden-Norway

Among the proposals written in the final resolutions of the conference, adopted on October 29, 1863, were:

The foundation of national relief societies for wounded soldiers;

Neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers;

The utilization of volunteer forces for relief assistance on the battlefield;

The organization of additional conferences to enact these concepts in legally binding international treaties;

The introduction of a common distinctive protection symbol for medical personnel in the field, namely a white armlet bearing a red cross.

Only one year later, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil, and Mexico, to attend an official diplomatic conference. Sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva. On August 22, 1864, the conference adopted the first Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field". Representatives of 12 states and kingdoms signed the convention: Baden, Belgium, Denmark, France, Hesse, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Switzerland, Spain, and Württemberg. The convention contained ten articles, establishing for the first time legally binding rules guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field medical personnel, and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict. Furthermore, the convention defined two specific requirements for recognition of a national relief society by the International Committee:

The national society must be recognized by its own national government as a relief society according to the convention,

The national government of the respective country must be a state party to the Geneva Convention.

Directly following the establishment of the Geneva Convention, the first national societies were founded in Belgium, Denmark, France, Oldenburg, Prussia, Spain, and Württemberg. Also in 1864, Louis Appia and Charles van de Velde, a captain of the Dutch Army, became the first independent and neutral delegates to work under the symbol of the Red Cross in an armed conflict. Three years later in 1867, the first International Conference of National Aid Societies for the Nursing of the War Wounded was convened.

Also in 1867, Jean-Henri Dunant was forced to declare bankruptcy due to business failures in Algeria, partly because he had neglected his business interests during his tireless activities for the International Committee. Controversy surrounding Dunant's business dealings and the resulting negative public opinion, combined with an ongoing conflict with Gustave Moynier, led to Dunant's expulsion from his position as a member and secretary. He was charged with fraudulent bankruptcy and a warrant for his arrest was issued. Thus, he was forced to leave Geneva and never returned to his home city. In the following years, national societies were founded in nearly every country in Europe. In 1876, the committee adopted the name "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC), which is still its official designation today. Five years later, the American Red Cross was founded through the efforts of Clara Barton. More and more countries signed the Geneva Convention and began to respect it in practice during armed conflicts. In a rather short period of time, the Red Cross gained huge momentum as an internationally respected movement, and the national societies became increasingly popular as a venue for volunteer work.

When the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee opted to give it jointly to Jean-Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist. More significant than the honor of the prize itself, the official congratulation from the International Committee of the Red Cross marked the overdue rehabilitation of Jean-Henri Dunant and represented a tribute to his key role in the formation of the Red Cross. Dunant died nine years later in the small Swiss health resort of Heiden. Only two months earlier his long-standing adversary Gustave Moynier had also died, leaving a mark in the history of the Committee as its longest-serving president ever.

In 1906, the 1864 Geneva Convention was revised for the first time. One year later, the Hague Convention X, adopted at the Second International Peace Conference in The Hague, extended the scope of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare. Shortly before the beginning of the First World War in 1914, 50 years after the foundation of the ICRC and the adoption of the first Geneva Convention, there were already 45 national relief societies throughout the world. The movement had extended itself beyond Europe and North America to Central and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela), Asia (the Republic of China, Japan, Korea, Siam), and Africa (Union of South Africa).

The ICRC during World War I

With the outbreak of World War I, the ICRC found itself confronted with enormous challenges that it could handle only by working closely with the national Red Cross societies. Red Cross nurses from around the world, including the United States and Japan, came to support the medical services of the armed forces of the European countries involved in the war. On October 15, 1914, immediately after the start of the war, the ICRC set up its International Prisoners-of-War (POW) Agency, which had about 1,200 mostly volunteer staff members by the end of 1914. By the end of the war, the Agency had transferred about 20 million letters and messages, 1.9 million parcels, and about 18 million Swiss francs in monetary donations to POWs of all affected countries. Furthermore, due to the intervention of the Agency, about 200,000 prisoners were exchanged between the warring parties, released from captivity and returned to their home country. The organizational card index of the Agency accumulated about 7 million records from 1914 to 1923, each card representing an individual prisoner or missing person. The card index led to the identification of about 2 million POWs and the ability to contact their families. The complete index is on loan today from the ICRC to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. The right to access the index is still strictly restricted to the ICRC. During the entire war, the ICRC monitored warring parties’ compliance with the Geneva Conventions of the 1907 revision and forwarded complaints about violations to the respective country. When chemical weapons were used in this war for the first time in history, the ICRC vigorously protested against this new type of warfare. Even without having a mandate from the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC tried to ameliorate the suffering of civil populations. In territories that were officially designated as "occupied territories," the ICRC could assist the civilian population on the basis of the Hague Convention's "Laws and Customs of War on Land" of 1907. This convention was also the legal basis for the ICRC's work for prisoners of war. In addition to the work of the International Prisoner-of-War Agency as described above this included inspection visits to POW camps. A total of 524 camps throughout Europe were visited by 41 delegates from the ICRC until the end of the war.

Between 1916 and 1918, the ICRC published a number of postcards with scenes from the POW camps. The pictures showed the prisoners in day-to-day activities such as the distribution of letters from home. The intention of the ICRC was to provide the families of the prisoners with some hope and solace and to alleviate their uncertainties about the fate of their loved ones. After the end of the war, the ICRC organized the return of about 420,000 prisoners to their home countries. In 1920, the task of repatriation was handed over to the newly founded League of Nations, which appointed the Norwegian diplomat and scientist Fridtjof Nansen as its "High Commissioner for Repatriation of the War Prisoners." His legal mandate was later extended to support and care for war refugees and displaced persons when his office became that of the League of Nations "High Commissioner for Refugees." Nansen, who invented the ''Nansen passport'' for stateless refugees and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922, appointed two delegates from the ICRC as his deputies.

A year before the end of the war, the ICRC received the 1917 Nobel Peace Prize for its outstanding wartime work. It was the only Nobel Peace Prize awarded in the period from 1914 to 1918. In 1923, the International Committee of the Red Cross adopted a change in its policy regarding the selection of new members. Until then, only citizens from the city of Geneva could serve in the Committee. This limitation was expanded to include Swiss citizens. As a direct consequence of World War I, an additional protocol to the Geneva Convention was adopted in 1925 which outlawed the use of suffocating or poisonous gases and biological agents as weapons. Four years later, the original Convention was revised and the second Geneva Convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" was established. The events of World War I and the respective activities of the ICRC significantly increased the reputation and authority of the Committee among the international community and led to an extension of its competencies.

As early as in 1934, a draft proposal for an additional convention for the protection of the civil population during an armed conflict was adopted by the International Red Cross Conference. Unfortunately, most governments had little interest in implementing this convention, and it was thus prevented from entering into force before the beginning of World War II.

The ICRC and World War II

The legal basis of the work of the ICRC during World War II were the Geneva Conventions in their 1929 revision. The activities of the Committee were similar to those during World War I: visiting and monitoring POW camps, organizing relief assistance for civilian populations, and administering the exchange of messages regarding prisoners and missing persons. By the end of the war, 179 delegates had conducted 12,750 visits to POW camps in 41 countries. The Central Information Agency on Prisoners-of-War (''Zentralauskunftsstelle für Kriegsgefangene'') had a staff of 3,000, the card index tracking prisoners contained 45 million cards, and 120 million messages were exchanged by the Agency. One major obstacle was that the Nazi-controlled German Red Cross refused to cooperate with the Geneva statutes including blatant violations such as the deportation of Jews from Germany and the mass murders conducted in the Nazi concentration camps. Moreover, two other main parties to the conflict, the Soviet Union and Japan, were not party to the 1929 Geneva Conventions and were not legally required to follow the rules of the conventions.

During the war, the ICRC was unable to obtain an agreement with Nazi Germany about the treatment of detainees in concentration camps, and it eventually abandoned applying pressure in order to avoid disrupting its work with POWs. The ICRC was also unable to obtain a response to reliable information about the extermination camps and the mass killing of European Jews, Roma, et al. After November 1943, the ICRC achieved permission to send parcels to concentration camp detainees with known names and locations. Because the notices of receipt for these parcels were often signed by other inmates, the ICRC managed to register the identities of about 105,000 detainees in the concentration camps and delivered about 1.1 million parcels, primarily to the camps Dachau, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück, and Sachsenhausen.

It is known that Swiss army officer Maurice Rossel during World War II had been sent to Berlin as a delegate of the International Red Cross, as such he visited Auschwitz 1943 and Theresienstadt 1944. Claude Lanzmann recorded his experiences in 1979, producing a documentary entitled ''Visitor from the living''.

thumb|left|Marcel Junod, delegate of the ICRC, visiting [[Prisoner of War|POWs in Germany.>(© Benoit Junod, Switzerland)]]

On March 12, 1945, ICRC president Jacob Burckhardt received a message from SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner accepting the ICRC's demand to allow delegates to visit the concentration camps. This agreement was bound by the condition that these delegates would have to stay in the camps until the end of the war. Ten delegates, among them Louis Haefliger (Camp Mauthausen), Paul Dunant (Camp Theresienstadt) and Victor Maurer (Camp Dachau), accepted the assignment and visited the camps. Louis Haefliger prevented the forceful eviction or blasting of Mauthausen-Gusen by alerting American troops, thereby saving the lives of about 60,000 inmates. His actions were condemned by the ICRC because they were deemed as acting unduly on his own authority and risking the ICRC's neutrality. Only in 1990, his reputation was finally rehabilitated by ICRC president Cornelio Sommaruga.

Another example of great humanitarian spirit was Friedrich Born (1903–1963), an ICRC delegate in Budapest who saved the lives of about 11,000 to 15,000 Jewish people in Hungary. Marcel Junod (1904–1961), a physician from Geneva, was another famous delegate during the Second World War. An account of his experiences, which included being one of the first foreigners to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped, can be found in the book ''Warrior without Weapons''.

In 1944, the ICRC received its second Nobel Peace Prize. As in World War I, it received the only Peace Prize awarded during the main period of war, 1939 to 1945. At the end of the war, the ICRC worked with national Red Cross societies to organize relief assistance to those countries most severely affected. In 1948, the Committee published a report reviewing its war-era activities from September 1, 1939 to June 30, 1947. Since January 1996, the ICRC archive for this period has been open to academic and public research.

The ICRC after the Second World War

On August 12, 1949, further revisions to the existing two Geneva Conventions were adopted. An additional convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea", now called the second Geneva Convention, was brought under the Geneva Convention umbrella as a successor to the 1907 Hague Convention X. The 1929 Geneva convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" may have been the second Geneva Convention from a historical point of view (because it was actually formulated in Geneva), but after 1949 it came to be called the third Convention because it came later chronologically than the Hague Convention. Reacting to the experience of World War II, the Fourth Geneva Convention, a new Convention "relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War," was established. Also, the additional protocols of June 8, 1977 were intended to make the conventions apply to internal conflicts such as civil wars. Today, the four conventions and their added protocols contain more than 600 articles, a remarkable expansion when compared to the mere 10 articles in the first 1864 convention.

In celebration of its centennial in 1963, the ICRC, together with the League of Red Cross Societies, received its third Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1993, non-Swiss individuals have been allowed to serve as Committee delegates abroad, a task which was previously restricted to Swiss citizens. Indeed, since then, the share of staff without Swiss citizenship has increased to about 35%.

On October 16, 1990, the UN General Assembly decided to grant the ICRC observer status for its assembly sessions and sub-committee meetings, the first observer status given to a private organization. The resolution was jointly proposed by 138 member states and introduced by the Italian ambassador, Vieri Traxler, in memory of the organization's origins in the Battle of Solferino. An agreement with the Swiss government signed on March 19, 1993, affirmed the already long-standing policy of full independence of the Committee from any possible interference by Switzerland. The agreement protects the full sanctity of all ICRC property in Switzerland including its headquarters and archive, grants members and staff legal immunity, exempts the ICRC from all taxes and fees, guarantees the protected and duty-free transfer of goods, services, and money, provides the ICRC with secure communication privileges at the same level as foreign embassies, and simplifies Committee travel in and out of Switzerland.

At the end of the Cold War, the ICRC's work actually became more dangerous. In the 1990s, more delegates lost their lives than at any point in its history, especially when working in local and internal armed conflicts. These incidents often demonstrated a lack of respect for the rules of the Geneva Conventions and their protection symbols. Among the slain delegates were:

Frédéric Maurice. He died on May 19, 1992 at the age of 39, one day after a Red Cross transport he was escorting was attacked in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo.

Fernanda Calado (Spain), Ingeborg Foss (Norway), Nancy Malloy (Canada), Gunnhild Myklebust (Norway), Sheryl Thayer (New Zealand), and Hans Elkerbout (Netherlands). They were murdered at point-blank range while sleeping in the early hours of December 17, 1996 in the ICRC field hospital in the Chechen city of Nowije Atagi near Grozny. Their murderers have never been caught and there was no apparent motive for the killings.

Rita Fox (Switzerland), Véronique Saro (Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire), Julio Delgado (Colombia), Unen Ufoirworth (DR Congo), Aduwe Boboli (DR Congo), and Jean Molokabonge (DR Congo). On April 26, 2001, they were en route with two cars on a relief mission in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo when they came under fatal fire from unknown attackers.

Ricardo Munguia (El Salvador). He was working as a water engineer in Afghanistan and travelling with local colleagues when their car on March 27, 2003 was stopped by unknown armed men. He was killed execution-style at point-blank range while his colleagues were allowed to escape. He died at the age of 39.

Vatche Arslanian (Canada). Since 2001, he worked as a logistics coordinator for the ICRC mission in Iraq. He died when he was travelling through Baghdad together with members of the Iraqi Red Crescent. On April 8, 2003 their car accidentally came into the cross fire of fighting in the city.

Nadisha Yasassri Ranmuthu (Sri Lanka). He was killed by unknown attackers on July 22, 2003 when his car was fired upon near the city of Hilla in the south of Baghdad.

Afghanistan

ICRC is active in the Afghanistan conflict areas and has set up six physical rehabilitation centers to help landmine victims. Their support extends to the national and international armed forces, civilians and the armed opposition. They regularly visit detainees under the custody of the Afghan government and the international armed forces, but have also occasionally had access since 2009 to people detained by the Taliban. They have provided basic first aid training and aid kits to both the Afghan security forces and Taliban members because, according to an ICRC spokesperson, "ICRC's constitution stipulates that all parties harmed by warfare will be treated as fairly as possible".

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

History

In 1919, representatives from the national Red Cross societies of Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the US came together in Paris to found the "League of Red Cross Societies". The original idea was Henry Davison's, then president of the American Red Cross. This move, led by the American Red Cross, expanded the international activities of the Red Cross movement beyond the strict mission of the ICRC to include relief assistance in response to emergency situations which were not caused by war (such as man-made or natural disasters). The ARC already had great disaster relief mission experience extending back to its foundation.

The formation of the League, as an additional international Red Cross organization alongside the ICRC, was not without controversy for a number of reasons. The ICRC had, to some extent, valid concerns about a possible rivalry between both organizations. The foundation of the League was seen as an attempt to undermine the leadership position of the ICRC within the movement and to gradually transfer most of its tasks and competencies to a multilateral institution. In addition to that, all founding members of the League were national societies from countries of the Entente or from associated partners of the Entente. The original statutes of the League from May 1919 contained further regulations which gave the five founding societies a privileged status and, due to the efforts of Henry P. Davison, the right to permanently exclude the national Red Cross societies from the countries of the Central Powers, namely Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, and in addition to that the national Red Cross society of Russia. These rules were contrary to the Red Cross principles of universality and equality among all national societies, a situation which furthered the concerns of the ICRC.

The first relief assistance mission organized by the League was an aid mission for the victims of a famine and subsequent typhus epidemic in Poland. Only five years after its foundation, the League had already issued 47 donation appeals for missions in 34 countries, an impressive indication of the need for this type of Red Cross work. The total sum raised by these appeals reached 685 million Swiss Francs, which were used to bring emergency supplies to the victims of famines in Russia, Germany, and Albania; earthquakes in Chile, Persia, Japan, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Turkey; and refugee flows in Greece and Turkey. The first large-scale disaster mission of the League came after the 1923 earthquake in Japan which killed about 200,000 people and left countless more wounded and without shelter. Due to the League's coordination, the Red Cross society of Japan received goods from its sister societies reaching a total worth of about $100 million. Another important new field initiated by the League was the creation of youth Red Cross organizations within the national societies.

A joint mission of the ICRC and the League in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1922 marked the first time the movement was involved in an internal conflict, although still without an explicit mandate from the Geneva Conventions. The League, with support from more than 25 national societies, organized assistance missions and the distribution of food and other aid goods for civil populations affected by hunger and disease. The ICRC worked with the Russian Red Cross society and later the society of the Soviet Union, constantly emphasizing the ICRC's neutrality. In 1928, the "International Council" was founded to coordinate cooperation between the ICRC and the League, a task which was later taken over by the "Standing Commission". In the same year, a common statute for the movement was adopted for the first time, defining the respective roles of the ICRC and the League within the movement.

During the Abyssinian war between Ethiopia and Italy from 1935 to 1936, the League contributed aid supplies worth about 1.7 million Swiss Francs. Because the Italian fascist regime under Benito Mussolini refused any cooperation with the Red Cross, these goods were delivered solely to Ethiopia. During the war, an estimated 29 people lost their lives while being under explicit protection of the Red Cross symbol, most of them due to attacks by the Italian Army. During the Civil War in Spain from 1936 to 1939 the League once again joined forces with the ICRC with the support of 41 national societies. In 1939 on the brink of the Second World War, the League relocated its headquarters from Paris to Geneva to take advantage of Swiss neutrality.

In 1952, the 1928 common statute of the movement was revised for the first time. Also, the period of decolonization from 1960 to 1970 was marked by a huge jump in the number of recognized national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. By the end of the 1960s, there were more than 100 societies around the world. On December 10, 1963, the Federation and the ICRC received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1983, the League was renamed to the "League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies" to reflect the growing number of national societies operating under the Red Crescent symbol. Three years later, the seven basic principles of the movement as adopted in 1965 were incorporated into its statutes. The name of the League was changed again in 1991 to its current official designation the "International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies". In 1997, the ICRC and the Federation signed the Seville Agreement which further defined the responsibilities of both organizations within the movement. In 2004, the Federation began its largest mission to date after the tsunami disaster in South Asia. More than 40 national societies have worked with more than 22,000 volunteers to bring relief to the countless victims left without food and shelter and endangered by the risk of epidemics.

Presidents of the Federation

As of November 2009, the president of the IFRC is Tadateru Konoe (Japanese Red Cross). The vice presidents are Paul Bierch (Kenya), Jaslin Uriah Salmon (Jamaica), Mohamed El Maadid (Qatar) and Bengt Westerberg (Sweden).

Former presidents (until 1977 titled "Chairman") have been:

1919–1922: Henry Davison (United States)

1922–1935: John Barton Payne (U.S.)

1935–1938: Cary Travers Grayson (U.S.)

1938–1944: Norman Davis (U.S.)

1944–1945: Jean de Muralt (Switzerland)

1945–1950: Basil O'Connor (U.S.)

1950–1959: Emil Sandström (Sweden)

1959–1965: John MacAulay (Canada)

1965–1977: José Barroso Chávez (Mexico)

1977–1981: Adetunji Adefarasin (Nigeria)

1981–1987: Enrique de la Mata (Spain)

1987–1997: Mario Enrique Villarroel Lander (Venezuela)

1997–2000: Astrid Nøklebye Heiberg (Norway)

2001 - 2009: Juan Manuel del Toro y Rivera (Spain)

2009 - : Tadateru Konoé (Japan)

World Red Cross Red Crescent Day – 8 May

May 8, birthday of Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, is celebrated as the World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day.

World Red Cross Red Crescent Day 2010

On the occasion of the World Red Cross Red Crescent Day 2010, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement focused its attention on both the challenges and opportunities presented by urbanization. Around the world, National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are working with city leaders and civil society to address urban challenges by aiming at their root causes. They focus on promoting diversity, opposing discrimination, and joining in efforts to provide decent social services and to ensure that adequate protection, preventive health-care, education and disaster risk reduction measures are taken.

Activities

Organization of the Movement

Altogether, there are about 97 million people worldwide who serve with the ICRC, the International Federation, and the National Societies.

The 1965 International Conference in Vienna adopted seven basic principles which should be shared by all parts of the Movement, and they were added to the official statutes of the Movement in 1986.

Humanity

Impartiality

Neutrality

Independence

Voluntary Service

Unity

Universality

The International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which occurs once every four years, is the highest institutional body of the Movement. It gathers delegations from all of the national societies as well as from the ICRC, the Federation and the signatory states to the Geneva Conventions. In between the conferences, the Standing Commission acts as the supreme body and supervises implementation of and compliance with the resolutions of the conference. In addition, the Standing Commission coordinates the cooperation between the ICRC and the Federation. It consists of two representatives from the ICRC (including its president), two from the Federation (including its president), and five individuals who are elected by the International Conference. The Standing Commission convenes every six months on average. Moreover, a convention of the Council of Delegates of the Movement takes place every two years in the course of the conferences of the General Assemblies of the Federation. The Council of Delegates plans and coordinates joint activities for the Movement.

Activities and Organization of the ICRC

The mission of the ICRC and its responsibilities within the Movement

The official mission of the ICRC as an impartial, neutral, and independent organization is to stand for the protection of the life and dignity of victims of international and internal armed conflicts. According to the 1997 Seville Agreement, it is the "Lead Agency" of the Movement in conflicts. The core tasks of the Committee, which are derived from the Geneva Conventions and its own statutes, are the following:

to monitor compliance of warring parties with the Geneva Conventions

to organize nursing and care for those who are wounded on the battlefield

to supervise the treatment of prisoners of war

to help with the search for missing persons in an armed conflict (tracing service)

to organize protection and care for civil populations

to arbitrate between warring parties in an armed conflict

Legal status and organization

The ICRC is headquartered in the Swiss city of Geneva and has external offices in about 80 countries. It has about 12,000 staff members worldwide, about 800 of them working in its Geneva headquarters, 1,200 expatriates with about half of them serving as delegates managing its international missions and the other half being specialists like doctors, agronomists, engineers or interpreters, and about 10,000 members of individual national societies working on site. Contrary to popular belief, the ICRC is not a non-governmental organization in the most common sense of the term, nor is it an international organization. As it limits its members (a process called cooptation) to Swiss nationals only, it does not have a policy of open and unrestricted membership for individuals like other legally defined NGOs. The word "international" in its name does not refer to its membership but to the worldwide scope of its activities as defined by the Geneva Conventions. The ICRC has special privileges and legal immunities in many countries, based on national law in these countries or through agreements between the Committee and respective national governments. According to Swiss law, the ICRC is defined as a private association. According to its statutes it consists of 15 to 25 Swiss-citizen members, which it coopts for a period of four years. There is no limit to the number of terms an individual member can have although a three-quarters majority of all members is required for re-election after the third term.

The leading organs of the ICRC are the Directorate and the Assembly. The Directorate is the executive body of the Committee. It consists of a General Director and five directors in the areas of "Operations", "Human Resources", "Resources and Operational Support", "Communication", and "International Law and Cooperation within the Movement". The members of the Directorate are appointed by the Assembly to serve for four years. The Assembly, consisting of all of the members of the Committee, convenes on a regular basis and is responsible for defining aims, guidelines, and strategies and for supervising the financial matters of the Committee. The president of the Assembly is also the president of the Committee as a whole. Furthermore, the Assembly elects a five member Assembly Council which has the authority to decide on behalf of the full Assembly in some matters. The Council is also responsible for organizing the Assembly meetings and for facilitating communication between the Assembly and the Directorate.

Due to Geneva's location in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the ICRC usually acts under its French name ''Comité international de la Croix-Rouge'' (CICR). The official symbol of the ICRC is the Red Cross on white background with the words "COMITE INTERNATIONAL GENEVE" circling the cross.

Funding and financial matters

The 2009 budget of the ICRC amounts more than 1 billon Swiss Francs. Most of that money comes from the States, including Switzerland in its capacity as the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, from national Red Cross societies, the signatory states of the Geneva Conventions, and from international organizations like the European Union. All payments to the ICRC are voluntary and are received as donations based on two types of appeals issued by the Committee: an annual ''Headquarters Appeal'' to cover its internal costs and ''Emergency Appeals'' for its individual missions.

The ICRC is asking donors for more than 1.1 billion Swiss francs to fund its work in 2010. Afghanistan is projected to become the ICRC’s biggest humanitarian operation (at 86 million Swiss francs, an 18% increase over the initial 2009 budget), followed by Iraq (85 million francs) and Sudan (76 million francs). The initial 2010 field budget for medical activities of 132 million francs represents an increase of 12 million francs over 2009.

Activities and organization of the Federation

The Mission of the Federation and its responsibilities within the Movement

The Federation coordinates cooperation between national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies throughout the world and supports the foundation of new national societies in countries where no official society exists. On the international stage, the Federation organizes and leads relief assistance missions after emergencies such as natural disasters, manmade disasters, epidemics, mass refugee flights, and other emergencies. According to the 1997 Seville Agreement, the Federation is the Lead Agency of the Movement in any emergency situation which does not take place as part of an armed conflict. The Federation cooperates with the national societies of those countries affected – each called the ''Operating National Society'' (ONS) – as well as the national societies of other countries willing to offer assistance – called ''Participating National Societies'' (PNS). Among the 187 national societies admitted to the General Assembly of the Federation as full members or observers, about 25–30 regularly work as PNS in other countries. The most active of those are the American Red Cross, the British Red Cross, the German Red Cross, and the Red Cross societies of Sweden and Norway. Another major mission of the Federation which has gained attention in recent years is its commitment to work towards a codified, worldwide ban on the use of land mines and to bring medical, psychological, and social support for people injured by land mines.

The tasks of the Federation can therefore be summarized as follows:

to promote humanitarian principles and values

to provide relief assistance in emergency situations of large magnitude

to support the national societies with disaster preparedness through the education of voluntary members and the provision of equipment and relief supplies

to support local health care projects

to support the national societies with youth-related activities

Legal status and organization

Like the ICRC, the Federation has its headquarters in Geneva. It also runs 14 permanent regional offices and has about 350 delegates in more than 60 delegations around the world. The legal basis for the work of the Federation is its constitution. The executive body of the Federation is a secretariat, led by a Secretary General. The secretariat is supported by four divisions labeled "Support Services", "National Society and Field Support", "Policy and Relations" and "Movement Cooperation". The Movement Cooperation division organizes interaction and cooperation with the ICRC. The highest body of the Federation is the General Assembly which convenes every two years with delegates from all of the national societies. Among other tasks, the General Assembly elects the Secretary General. Between the convening of General Assemblies, the Governing Board is the leading body of the Federation. It has the authority to make decisions for the Federation in a number of areas. The Governing Board consists of the president and the vice presidents of the Federation, the chairman of the Finance Commission, and twenty elected representatives from national societies. It is supported by four additional commissions: "Disaster Relief", "Youth", "Health & Community Services", and "Development".

The symbol of the Federation is the combination of the Red Cross (left) and Red Crescent (right) on a white background (surrounded by a red rectangular frame) without any additional text.

Funding and financial matters

The main parts of the budget of the Federation are funded by contributions from the national societies which are members of the Federation and through revenues from its investments. The exact amount of contributions from each member society is established by the Finance Commission and approved by the General Assembly. Any additional funding, especially for unforeseen expenses for relief assistance missions, is raised by appeals published by the Federation and comes for voluntary donations by national societies, governments, other organizations, corporations, and individuals.

National societies within the Movement

Official Recognition of a national society

National Red Cross and Red Crescent societies exist in nearly every country in the world. Within their home country, they take on the duties and responsibilities of a national relief society as defined by International Humanitarian Law. Within the Movement, the ICRC is responsible for legally recognizing a relief society as an official national Red Cross or Red Crescent society. The exact rules for recognition are defined in the statutes of the Movement. Article 4 of these statutes contains the ''"Conditions for recognition of National Societies."''

: ''In order to be recognized in terms of Article 5, paragraph 2 b) as a National Society, the Society shall meet the following conditions:''

:#''Be constituted on the territory of an independent State where the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field is in force.'' :#''Be the only National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society of the said State and be directed by a central body which shall alone be competent to represent it in its dealings with other components of the Movement.'' :#''Be duly recognized by the legal government of its country on the basis of the Geneva Conventions and of the national legislation as a voluntary aid society, auxiliary to the public authorities in the humanitarian field.'' :#''Have an autonomous status which allows it to operate in conformity with the Fundamental Principles of the Movement.'' :#''Use the name and emblem of the Red Cross or Red Crescent in conformity with the Geneva Conventions.'' :#''Be so organized as to be able to fulfill the tasks defined in its own statutes, including the preparation in peace time for its statutory tasks in case of armed conflict.'' :#''Extend its activities to the entire territory of the State.'' :#''Recruit its voluntary members and its staff without consideration of race, sex, class, religion or political opinions.'' :#''Adhere to the present Statutes, share in the fellowship which unites the components of the Movement and co-operate with them.'' :#''Respect the Fundamental Principles of the Movement and be guided in its work by the principles of international humanitarian law.''

After recognition by the ICRC, a national society is admitted as a member to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.However some National Societies have severely objected to the recognition and admission process by claiming its unfair execution by ICRC and IFRC.

Activities of national societies on a national and international stage

Despite formal independence regarding its organizational structure and work, each national society is still bound by the laws of its home country. In many countries, national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies enjoy exceptional privileges due to agreements with their governments or specific "Red Cross Laws" granting full independence as required by the International Movement. The duties and responsibilities of a national society as defined by International Humanitarian Law and the statutes of the Movement include humanitarian aid in armed conflicts and emergency crises such as natural disasters. Depending on their respective human, technical, financial, and organizational resources, many national societies take on additional humanitarian tasks within their home countries such as Blood donation services or acting as civilian Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers. The ICRC and the International Federation cooperate with the national societies in their international missions, especially with human, material, and financial resources and organizing on-site logistics.

History of the emblems

Emblems in use

The Red Cross

The Red Cross emblem was officially approved in Geneva in 1863.

The Red Cross flag is not to be confused with the St George's Cross which is on the flag of England, Barcelona, Freiburg, and several other places. In order to avoid this confusion the protected symbol is sometimes referred to as the "Greek Red Cross"; that term is also used in United States law to describe the Red Cross. The red cross of the St George cross extends to the edge of the flag, whereas the red cross on the Red Cross flag does not.

The Red Cross flag is often confused with the Flag of Switzerland which is the opposite of it. In 1906, to put an end to the argument of Turkey that the flag took its roots from Christianity, it was decided to promote officially the idea that the Red Cross flag had been formed by reversing the federal colours of Switzerland, although no clear evidence of this origin had ever been found.

The Red Crescent

The Red Crescent emblem was first used by ICRC volunteers during the armed conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Russia (1877–1878). The symbol was officially adopted in 1929, and so far 33 Islamic states have recognized it.

The Red Crystal

On December 8, 2005, partly in response to growing pressure to accommodate Magen David Adom as a full member of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, a new emblem (officially the Third Protocol Emblem, but more commonly known as the Red Crystal) was adopted by an amendment of the Geneva Conventions known as Protocol III.

Recognized emblems in disuse

The Red Lion and Sun

The Red Lion and Sun Society of Iran was established in 1922 and admitted to the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement in 1923. However, some report the symbol was introduced at Geneva in 1864 as a counter example to the crescent and cross used by two of Iran's rivals, the Ottoman and the Russian empires. Though that claim is inconsistent with the Red Crescent's history, that history also suggests that the Red Lion and Sun, like the Red Crescent, may have been conceived during the 1877-1878 war between Russia and Turkey.

In 1980, because of the association of the emblem with the Shah, the newly proclaimed Islamic Republic of Iran replaced the Red Lion and Sun with the Red Crescent, consistent with most other Muslim nations. Though the Red Lion and Sun has now fallen into disuse, Iran has in the past reserved the right to take it up again at any time; the Geneva Conventions continue to recognize it as an official emblem, and that status was confirmed by Protocol III in 2005 even as it added the Red Crystal.

Unrecognized emblems

The Red Star of David (Magen David Adom)

For over 50 years, Israel requested the addition of a red Star of David, arguing that since Christian and Muslim emblems were recognized, the corresponding Jewish emblem should be as well. This emblem has been used since 1935 by Magen David Adom (MDA), or Red Star of David, the national first-aid society of Israel, but it is still not recognized by the Geneva Conventions as a protected symbol.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent movement repeatedly rejected Israel's request over the years, stating that the Red Cross emblem was not meant to represent Christianity but was a color reversal of the Swiss flag, and also that if Jews (or another group) were to be given another emblem, there would be no end to the number of religious or other groups claiming an emblem for themselves, although the movement recognised the Muslim Red Crescent. They reasoned that a proliferation of red symbols would detract from the original intention of the Red Cross emblem, which was to be a single emblem to mark vehicles and buildings protected on humanitarian grounds.

Certain Arab nations, such as Syria, also protested the entry of MDA into the Red Cross movement, making consensus impossible for a time. However, from 2000 to 2006 the American Red Cross withheld its dues (a total of $42 million) to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) because of IFRC's refusal to admit MDA; this ultimately led to the creation of the Red Crystal emblem and the admission of MDA on June 22, 2006.

The Red Star of David is not recognized as a protected symbol outside Israel; instead the MDA uses the Red Crystal emblem during international operations in order to ensure protection. Depending on the circumstances, it may place the Red Star of David inside the Red Crystal, or use the Red Crystal alone.

Criticism

The Australian TV network ABC and the indigenous rights group Friends of Peoples Close to Nature released a documentary called ''Blood on the Cross'' that alleges the involvement of the Red Cross with the British military in conducting a massacre in the Southern Highlands of West Papua in connection with the WWF hostage crisis of May 1996. Following the broadcast of the documentary, the Red Cross announced publicly that it would appoint an individual outside the organization to investigate the allegations made in the film and any responsibility on its part. The report categorically states that the Red Cross personnel accused of involvement were proven not to have been present; that a white helicopter was probably used in a military operation, but the helicopter was not a Red Cross helicopter, and must have been painted by one of several military organizations operating in the region at the time, possibly including the British military, although no hard evidence was found for this; and that the Red Cross should have responded more quickly and thoroughly to investigate the allegations than it did.

Allegations of poor governance and concern over accountability and transparency within certain national societies have led to high profile resignations.

See also

Accountable Fundraising

Algerian Red Crescent Society

Crveni Krst concentration camp, logor Crveni Krst (Red Cross Camp)

Emblems of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

First Aid Convention Europe

International Committee of the Red Cross

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

List of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Red Swastika Society

Roerich Pact

References

Further reading

Books

David P. Forsythe: ''Humanitarian Politics: The International Committee of the Red Cross.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1978, ISBN 0-8018-1983-0

Henry Dunant: ''A Memory of Solferino.'' ICRC, Geneva 1986, ISBN 2-88145-006-7

Jean-Claude Favez, ''The Red Cross and the Holocaust'', Cambridge University Press 1999

Hans Haug: ''Humanity for all: the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.'' Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva in association with Paul Haupt Publishers, Bern 1993, ISBN 3-258-04719-7

Georges Willemin, Roger Heacock: ''International Organization and the Evolution of World Society. Volume 2: The International Committee of the Red Cross.'' Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Boston 1984, ISBN 90-247-3064-3

Pierre Boissier: ''History of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Volume I: From Solferino to Tsushima.'' Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva 1985, ISBN 2-88044-012-2

André Durand: ''History of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Volume II: From Sarajevo to Hiroshima.'' Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva 1984, ISBN 2-88044-009-2

International Committee of the Red Cross: ''Handbook of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.'' 13th edition, ICRC, Geneva 1994, ISBN 2-88145-074-1

John F. Hutchinson: ''Champions of Charity: War and the Rise of the Red Cross.'' Westview Press, Boulder 1997, ISBN 0-8133-3367-9

Caroline Moorehead: ''Dunant's dream: War, Switzerland and the history of the Red Cross.'' HarperCollins, London 1998, ISBN 0-00-255141-1 (Hardcover edition); HarperCollins, London 1999, ISBN 0-00-638883-3 (Paperback edition)

François Bugnion: ''The International Committee of the Red Cross and the protection of war victims.'' ICRC & Macmillan (ref. 0503), Geneva 2003, ISBN 0-333-74771-2

Angela Bennett: ''The Geneva Convention: The Hidden Origins of the Red Cross.'' Sutton Publishing, Gloucestershire 2005, ISBN 0-7509-4147-2

David P. Forsythe: ''The Humanitarians. The International Committee of the Red Cross.'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 0-521-61281-0

Florence Farmborough: ''With the Armies of the Tsar: A Nurse at the Russian Front 1914-1918.'' Stein and Day., New York. 1975. ISBN 0-8128-1793-1

Journal articles

François Bugnion: ''The emblem of the Red Cross: a brief history.'' ICRC (ref. 0316), Geneva 1977

Jean-Philippe Lavoyer, Louis Maresca: ''The Role of the ICRC in the Development of International Humanitarian Law.'' In: ''International Negotiation.'' 4(3)/1999. Brill Academic Publishers, p. 503–527, ISSN 1382-340X

Neville Wylie: ''The Sound of Silence: The History of the International Committee of the Red Cross as Past and Present.'' In: ''Diplomacy and Statecraft.'' 13(4)/2002. Routledge/ Taylor & Francis, p. 186–204, ISSN 0959-2296

David P. Forsythe: "The International Committee of the Red Cross and International Humanitarian Law." In: ''Humanitäres Völkerrecht - Informationsschriften. The Journal of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict.'' 2/2003, German Red Cross and Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, p. 64–77, ISSN 0937-5414

François Bugnion: ''Towards a comprehensive Solution to the Question of the Emblem.'' Revised 4th edition. ICRC (ref. 0778), Geneva 2006

External links

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (magazine)

Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent

Our world. Your move. (ICRC-IFRC)

Red Crescent and Red Cross Club

Category:1863 establishments Category:International organizations Category:Red Cross Category:International volunteer organizations Category:Missing people organizations

ab:Аџьар Ҟаҧшь ar:جمعية الصليب والهلال الأحمر an:Cruz Roya az:Beynəlxalq Qırmızı Xaç və Qırmızı Aypara Hərəkatı bn:আন্তর্জাতিক রেড ক্রস ও রেড ক্রিসেন্ট আন্দোলন be:Міжнародны рух Чырвонага Крыжа і Чырвонага Паўмесяца be-x-old:Міжнародны рух Чырвонага Крыжа і Чырвонага Паўмесяца bs:Međunarodni pokret Crveni krst i Crveni polumjesec br:Luskad Etrebroadel ar Groaz Ruz hag ar C'hreskloar Ruz bg:Червен кръст ca:Creu Roja cs:Mezinárodní červený kříž cy:Mudiad Rhyngwladol y Groes Goch a'r Cilgant Coch da:Røde Kors de:Internationale Rotkreuz- und Rothalbmond-Bewegung et:Rahvusvaheline Punane Rist el:Διεθνές Κίνημα Ερυθρού Σταυρού και Ερυθράς Ημισελήνου es:Cruz Roja eo:Ruĝa Kruco ext:Crus Colorá eu:Gurutze Gorria fa:نهضت بین‌المللی صلیب سرخ و هلال احمر hif:International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement fr:Mouvement international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge gl:Movemento Internacional da Cruz Vermella e da Media Lúa Vermella ko:국제 적십자·적신월 운동 hi:इंटरनेशनल रेड क्रॉस एवं रेड क्रेसेन्ट मोवमेंट hr:Međunarodni Crveni križ id:Gerakan Internasional Palang Merah dan Bulan Sabit Merah is:Rauði krossinn it:Croce Rossa e Mezzaluna Rossa Internazionale he:הצלב האדום ka:წითელი ჯვრისა და წითელი ნახევარმთვარის საერთაშორისო მოძრაობა sw:Shirika za msalaba mwekundu na hilali nyekundu la:Internationalis Crucis Rubrae Falcisque Rubrae Motus lv:Starptautiskā Sarkanā Krusta un Sarkanā Pusmēness kustība lt:Tarptautinis Raudonojo Kryžiaus ir Raudonojo Pusmėnulio Judėjimas hu:Nemzetközi Vöröskereszt mk:Црвен Крст и Црвена Полумесечина ml:റെഡ്ക്രോസ് mr:आंतरराष्ट्रीय रेड क्रॉस व रेड क्रिसेंट चळवळ arz:الحركه الدوليه للصليب الاحمر و الهلال الاحمر ms:Persatuan Palang Merah dan Bulan Sabit Merah Antarabangsa my:ကမ္ဘာ့ကြက်ခြေနီနေ့ nl:Rode Kruis new:अन्तरराष्ट्रीय रेडक्रस् व रेड क्रेसेन्ट मुभमेन्ट ja:赤十字社 no:Røde Kors nn:Raudekrossen nrm:Rouoge Crouaix oc:Crotz Roja pnb:رتہ کراس pl:Międzynarodowy Ruch Czerwonego Krzyża i Czerwonego Półksiężyca pt:Movimento Internacional da Cruz Vermelha e do Crescente Vermelho ro:Mișcarea Internațională de Cruce Roșie și Semilună Roșie rue:Міджінародный рух Червеного Хреста і Червеного Півмісяця ru:Международное движение Красного Креста и Красного Полумесяца simple:International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement sk:Červený kríž sl:Rdeči križ sr:Црвени крст sh:Crveni križ fi:Punaisen Ristin ja Punaisen Puolikuun kansainvälinen liike sv:Röda Korset ta:பன்னாட்டு செஞ்சிலுவை மற்றும் செம்பிறை இயக்கம் te:రెడ్‌క్రాస్ th:กาชาด tr:Uluslararası Kızılhaç ve Kızılay Hareketi uk:Міжнародний рух Червоного Хреста і Червоного Півмісяця ur:ریڈ کراس vi:Phong trào Chữ thập đỏ và Trăng lưỡi liềm đỏ quốc tế fiu-vro:Riikevaihõlinõ Verevä Risti ja Verevä Puulkuu Liikminõ wa:Federåcion des soces del Rodje Croes et do Rodje Crexhant war:Gios Kanasoran han Pula nga Krus ngan Pula nga Bulan yi:רויטער קרייץ bat-smg:Tarptautėnis Rauduonuoje Krīžiaus ė Rauduonuoje Posmienole Jodiejėms zh:国际红十字与红新月运动

Firdaus Kharas is a Canadian director and producer of animation, film and television media. Kharas worked as a bureaucrat with the United Nations and as assistant deputy chairman of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, before becoming involved with media. Kharas directed and produced "The Three Amigos", a series of twenty animated public service announcements in multiple languages designed to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. The series was been awarded the George Foster Peabody Award as well as other awards. He also produced the series "Buzz and Bite", a series of malaria prevention videos, as well as "No Excuses" an animated series about domestic violence. Kharas has received United Nations Peace Medal and the medal of the World Federation of United Nations Associations. Kharas was the executive Producer and the Director of "Magic Cellar", which was broadcast on HBO and many other countries throught the world.

References

Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Canadian television producers Category:Canadian television directors

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe, Larry, and Shemp," among other lineups. They first started as "Ted Healy and his Stooges" which contained Moe, Larry and Shemp. "The Three Stooges" film trio was originally composed of Moe Howard, brother Curly Howard and Larry Fine. Shemp Howard replaced brother Curly, when Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in May 1946.

After Shemp's death from a heart attack in November 1955, he was replaced by comedian Joe Besser, after the use of film actor Joe Palma to film four Shemp-era shorts. Ultimately, Joe DeRita (nicknamed "Curly Joe") replaced Joe Besser by 1958. The act regained momentum throughout the 1960s as popular kiddie fare until Larry Fine's paralyzing stroke in January 1970 effectively marked the end of the act proper. Moe tried unsuccessfully one final time to revive the Stooges with longtime supporting actor Emil Sitka filling in for Larry. Larry ultimately succumbed to a series of additional strokes in January 1975, followed by Moe, who died of lung cancer in May 1975.

History

Ted Healy and his stooges

The Three Stooges started in 1925 as part of a raucous vaudeville act called 'Ted Healy and His Stooges' (a.k.a. 'Ted Healy and His Southern Gentlemen', 'Ted Healy and His Three Lost Souls' and 'Ted Healy and His Racketeers'—the moniker 'Three Stooges' was never used during their tenure with Healy). In the act, lead comedian Healy would attempt to sing or tell jokes while his noisy assistants would keep "interrupting" him. Healy would respond by verbally and physically abusing his stooges. Brothers Moe and Shemp were joined later that year by violinist-comedian Larry Fine, and Fred Sanborn joined the group as well.

In 1930, Ted Healy and His Stooges (including Sanborn) appeared in their first Hollywood feature film, ''Soup to Nuts'', released by Fox Film Corporation. The film was not a critical success, but the Stooges' performances were singled out as memorable, leading Fox to offer the trio a contract minus Healy. This enraged the prickly Healy, who told studio executives that the Stooges were his employees. The offer was withdrawn, and after Howard, Fine and Howard learned of the reason, they left Healy to form their own act, which quickly took off with a tour of the theatre circuit. Healy attempted to stop the new act with legal action, claiming they were using his copyrighted material. There are accounts of Healy threatening to bomb theaters if Howard, Fine and Howard ever performed there, which worried Shemp so much that he almost left the act; reportedly, only a pay raise kept him on board. Healy tried to save his act by hiring replacement stooges, but they were inexperienced and not as well-received as their predecessors. In 1932, with Moe now acting as business manager, Healy reached a new agreement with his former Stooges, and they were booked in a production of Jacob J. Shubert's ''The Passing Show of 1932''. During rehearsals, Healy received a more lucrative offer and found a loophole in his contract allowing him to leave the production. Shemp, fed up with Healy's abrasiveness, decided to quit the act and found work almost immediately, in Vitaphone movie comedies produced in Brooklyn, New York.

With Shemp gone, Healy and the two remaining stooges (Moe and Larry) needed a replacement, so Moe suggested his younger brother Jerry Howard. Healy reportedly took one look at Jerry, who had long chestnut red locks and a handlebar mustache, and remarked that he did not look like he was funny. Jerry left the room and returned a few moments later with his head shaved (though his mustache remained for a time), and then quipped "Boy, do I look girly." Healy heard "Curly," and the name stuck. (There are varying accounts as to how the Curly character actually came about.)

In 1933, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) signed Healy and his Stooges to a movie contract. They appeared in feature films and short subjects, either together, individually, or with various combinations of actors. The trio was featured in a series of musical comedy shorts, beginning with ''Nertsery Rhymes''. The short was one of a few shorts to be made with an early two-strip Technicolor process, including one featuring Curly without Healy or the other Stooges, ''Roast Beef and Movies'' (1934). The shorts themselves were built around recycled film footage of production numbers cut from MGM musicals, such as ''Children of Pleasure'', ''Lord Byron of Broadway'', and the unfinished ''March of Time'' (all 1930), which had been filmed in early Technicolor. Soon, additional shorts followed (sans the experimental Technicolor), including ''Beer and Pretzels'' (1933), ''Plane Nuts'' (1933), and ''The Big Idea'' (1934).

Healy and company also appeared in several MGM feature films as comic relief, such as ''Turn Back the Clock'' (1933), ''Meet the Baron'' (1933), ''Dancing Lady'' (1933), ''Fugitive Lovers'' (1934), and ''Hollywood Party'' (1934). Healy and the Stooges also appeared together in ''Myrt and Marge'' for Universal Pictures.

In 1934, the team's contract with MGM expired, and the Stooges parted professional company with Healy. According to Moe Howard's autobiography, the Stooges split with Ted Healy in 1934 once and for all because of Healy's alcoholism and abrasiveness. Their final film with Healy was MGM’s 1934 film, ''Hollywood Party''. Both Healy and the Stooges went on to separate successes, with Healy dying under mysterious circumstances in 1937.

The Columbia years: Moe, Larry and Curly

In 1934, the trio – now officially christened "The Three Stooges" – signed on to appear in two-reel comedy short subjects for Columbia Pictures. In Moe's autobiography, he said they each got $600 per week on a one-year contract with a renewable option; in the Ted Okuda–Edward Watz book ''The Columbia Comedy Shorts'', the Stooges are said to have received $1,000 between them for their first Columbia effort, ''Woman Haters'', and then signed a term contract for $7,500 per film, to be divided among the trio.

Within their first year at Columbia, the Stooges became wildly popular. Realizing this, Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn used the Stooges as leverage, as the demand for their films was so great that Columbia eventually refused to supply exhibitors with the trio's shorts unless they also agreed to book some of the studio's mediocre B movies. Cohn also saw to it that the Stooges remain ignorant of their popularity. During their 23 years spent at Columbia, the Stooges were never completely aware of their amazing drawing power at the box office. As their contracts with the studio included an open option that had to be renewed every year, Cohn would tell the boys that the short subjects were in decline, which was not a complete fabrication (Cohn's yearly mantra was "the market for comedy shorts is dying out, fellahs.") Thinking their days were numbered, the Stooges would sweat it out each and every year, with Cohn signing the trio up for another year at the last minute. This cruel deception kept the insecure Stooges unaware of their true value, resulting in them having second thoughts about asking for a better contract without a yearly option. Cohn's scare tactics worked for all 23 years the Stooges were at Columbia; the team never once asked for—nor were they ever given—a salary increase. It was not until after they stopped making the shorts in December 1957 did Moe learn of the game Cohn was playing, what a valuable commodity the Stooges had been for the ailing studio, and how many millions more the act could have earned.

The Stooges were required to churn out up to eight short films per year within a 40-week period; for the remaining 12 or so weeks, they were free to pursue other employment. Usually, the Stooges would either spend this time with their families or tour the country promoting their live act. The Stooges appeared in 190 film shorts and five features while at Columbia. Del Lord directed more than three dozen Stooge films; Jules White directed dozens more, and his brother Jack White directed several under the pseudonym "Preston Black".

According to a published report, Moe, Larry, and director Jules White considered their best film to be ''You Nazty Spy!''. This 18-minute short subject starred Moe as "Moe Hailstone", an Adolf Hitler-like character, and satirized the Nazis in a period when America was still neutral and resolutely isolationist. Curly played a Hermann Goering character, replete with medals, and Larry a Ribbentrop-type ambassador. ''You Nazty Spy!'' was the first Hollywood film to spoof Hitler, as it was released in January, 1940, nine months before Charlie Chaplin's ''The Great Dictator''. Reportedly this film caused the Stooges to be placed on Hitler's so-called "death list" because of its anti-Nazi stance. Chaplin, along with Jack Benny, would also be on this list due to their later anti-Nazi films. The Stooges made occasional guest appearances in feature films, though generally they stuck to short subjects. Columbia offered theater owners an entire program of two-reel comedies (15 to 25 titles annually) featuring such stars as Buster Keaton, Andy Clyde, Charley Chase, and Hugh Herbert, but the Three Stooges shorts were the most popular of all.

Curly was easily the most popular member of the team. His childlike mannerisms and natural comedic charm (he had no previous acting experience) made him a hit with audiences. The fact that Curly had to shave his head for the act led him to feel unappealing to women. To mask his insecurities, Curly ate and drank excessively and caroused whenever the Stooges made personal appearances, which was approximately seven months out of the year. His weight ballooned in the 1940s, and his blood pressure was dangerously high. His wild lifestyle and constant drinking eventually caught up with him in 1945, and his performances suffered. In his last dozen shorts (ranging from 1945's ''If a Body Meets a Body'' through 1947's ''Half-Wits Holiday''), he was seriously ill, struggling to get through even the most basic scenes.

It was during the final day of filming ''Half-Wits Holiday'' on May 6, 1946 that Curly suffered a debilitating stroke on the set, ending his 14-year career. Curly's health necessitated a temporary retirement from the act, and while the Stooges hoped for a full recovery, Curly never starred in a film again, except for one brief cameo appearance in the third film after Shemp returned to the trio, ''Hold That Lion!'' It was the only film that contained all ''four'' of the original Stooges (the three Howard brothers and Larry) on screen simultaneously; Jules White recalled Curly visiting the set one day, and White had him do this bit for fun. (Curly's cameo appearance was recycled in the 1953 remake ''Booty and the Beast''.) In 1949, Curly was supposed to play a cameo role in the Stooge comedy ''Malice in the Palace'', but he was physically unable to perform. His chef role was played by Larry.

Shemp returns

Moe Howard turned to his older brother Shemp Howard to take Curly's place. Shemp, however, was hesitant to rejoin the Stooges, as he had a successful solo career at the time of Curly's untimely illness. However, he realized that Moe and Larry's careers would be finished without the Stooge act. Shemp wanted some kind of assurance that his rejoining was indeed temporary, and that he could leave the Stooges once Curly recovered. Unfortunately, Curly remained gravely ill after 1950, dying of a cerebral hemorrhage caused by additional strokes on January 18, 1952.

Shemp appeared with the Stooges in 76 more shorts and a quickie Western comedy feature titled ''Gold Raiders''. Upon Shemp's return, the quality of the films picked up; the last few Curly efforts had been marred by his sluggish performances. Entries like ''Out West'', ''Squareheads of the Round Table'', and ''Punchy Cowpunchers'' proved that there was life after Curly, and that Shemp could easily hold his own. Though some say he lacked his younger brother's childlike charisma, Shemp was a gifted, professional comedian. More often than not, his astute gift of comedic timing buoys weak material. In fact, one the finest entries in the series, ''Brideless Groom'', was made during this period.

Another interesting plus from the Shemp era was that Larry was given more time on screen. Throughout most of the Curly era, Larry was relegated to a background role, only being called upon to break up a potential scuffle between Moe and Curly. By the time Shemp rejoined the Stooges, Larry was allotted equal footage, even becoming the focus of several films (''Fuelin' Around'', ''He Cooked His Goose'').

During this period, Moe, Larry, and Shemp made a pilot for a ''Three Stooges'' television show called ''Jerks of All Trades'' in 1949. The series was never picked up, although the pilot is currently in the public domain and is available on home video, as is an early television appearance from around the same time on a vaudeville-style comedy series, ''Camel Comedy Caravan'', originally broadcast live on CBS-TV on March 11, 1950 and starring Ed Wynn. Also available commercially is a kinescope of Moe, Larry, and Shemp's appearance on ''The Frank Sinatra Show'', broadcast live over CBS-TV on January 1, 1952. Frank Sinatra was reportedly a big fan of the Stooges and slapstick comedy in general. On this broadcast, the Stooges are joined by one of their longtime stock-company members, Vernon Dent, who plays "Mr. Mortimer", a party-goer who requests a drink. The Stooges oblige with disastrous results.

Columbia's short-subject division downsized in 1952. Producer Hugh McCollum was discharged and director Edward Bernds resigned out of loyalty to McCollum, leaving only Jules White to both produce and direct the Stooges' remaining Columbia comedies. Production was significantly faster, with the former four-day filming schedules now tightened to two or three days. In another cost-cutting measure, White would create a "new" Stooge short by borrowing footage from old ones, setting it in a slightly different storyline, and filming a few new scenes often with the same actors in the same costumes. White was initially very subtle when recycling older footage: he would reuse only a single sequence of old film, re-edited so cleverly that it was not easy to detect. The later shorts were cheaper and the recycling more obvious, with as much as 75% of the running time consisting of old footage. White came to rely so much on older material that he could film the "new" shorts in a single day.

Three years after Curly's death, Shemp Howard died of a sudden heart attack at age 60 on November 22, 1955. Archived footage of Shemp, combined with new footage of Joe Palma, were used to complete the last four films originally planned with Shemp: ''Rumpus in the Harem'', ''Hot Stuff'', ''Scheming Schemers'', and ''Commotion on the Ocean''.

Joe Besser replaces Shemp

Joe Besser replaced Shemp in 1956, appearing in 16 shorts. Besser, noting how one side of Larry Fine's face seemed "calloused", had a clause in his contract specifically prohibiting him from being hit too hard (though this restriction was later lifted). Besser was the only "third" Stooge that dared to hit Moe back in retaliation and get away with it; Larry Fine was also known to hit Moe on occasion, but always with serious repercussions. "I usually played the kind of character who would hit others back," Besser recalled.

With Besser on board, the Stooge films began to resemble sitcoms. Sitcoms, though, were now available for free. Television was the new popular medium, and by the time Besser joined the act, the Stooges were generally considered throwbacks to an obsolete era. In addition, Moe and Larry were growing older, and could not perform pratfalls and physical comedy as they once had. The inevitable occurred soon enough. Columbia was the last studio still producing shorts, and the market for such films had all but dried up. As a result, the studio opted not to renew the Stooges' contract when it expired in late December 1957. The final comedy produced was ''Flying Saucer Daffy'', filmed on December 19–20, 1957. Several days later, the Stooges were unceremoniously fired from Columbia Pictures after 24 years of making low-budget shorts. Joan Howard Maurer, daughter of Moe, wrote the following in 1982:

{{bquote|The boys' careers had suddenly come to an end. They were at Columbia one day and gone the next—no 'Thank yous,' no farewell party for their 24 years of dedication and service and the dollars their comedies had reaped for the studio.

Moe Howard recalled that a few weeks after their exit from Columbia, he drove to the studio to say goodbye to several studio executives when he was stopped by a guard at the gate (obviously, not a Stooges fan) and, since he did not have the current year's studio pass, was refused entry. For the moment, it was a crushing blow.}} Although the Stooges were no longer working for Columbia, the studio had enough completed films on the shelf to keep releasing new comedies for another 18 months, and not in the order they were produced. The final Stooge release, ''Sappy Bull Fighters'', did not reach theaters until June 4, 1959. With no active contract in place, Moe and Larry discussed plans for a personal appearance tour; meanwhile, Besser's wife had a minor heart attack, and he preferred to stay local, leading him to withdraw from the act. For the first time in nearly 30 years, the Stooges hit a dead end.

The comeback: Larry, Moe and Curly Joe

Seeing the success of how television, in its early years, allowed movie studios to unload a backlog of short films thought unmarketable, the Stooge films seemed perfect for the burgeoning genre. ABC television had even expressed interest as far back as 1949, purchasing exclusive rights to 30 of the trio's shorts. However, the success of television revivals for such names as Laurel and Hardy, Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry and the ''Our Gang'' series in the late 1950s led Columbia to cash in again on the Stooges. In January 1958, Columbia's television subsidiary Screen Gems offered a package consisting of 78 Stooge shorts (mainly from the Curly era), which were well received. Almost immediately, an additional 40 shorts hit the market, and by 1959, all 190 Stooge shorts were airing regularly. Due to the massive quantity of Stooge product available for broadcast, the films were broadcast Monday through Friday, leading to heavy exposure aimed squarely at children. This led parents to watch alongside of their offspring, and before long, Howard and Fine found themselves in high demand. Moe quickly signed movie and burlesque comic Joe DeRita for the "third Stooge" role; DeRita adopted first a crew cut and then a completely shaven hairstyle and became "Curly Joe" because of his resemblance to the original Curly Howard (also to make it easier to distinguish him from Joe Besser, the earlier Stooge called Joe).

This Three Stooges lineup went on to make a series of popular full-length films from 1959 to 1965, most notably ''Have Rocket, Will Travel'', ''The Three Stooges Meet Hercules'' and ''The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze''. The films were aimed at the kiddie-matinee market, and most were Farce outings in the Stooge tradition, with the exception of ''Snow White and the Three Stooges'', a children's fantasy in Technicolor. They also appeared as firemen (the role that helped make them famous in ''Soup to Nuts'') in the film ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World''. Throughout the 1960s, The Three Stooges were one of the most popular and highest-paid live acts in America. The trio also filmed 41 short comedy skits for ''The New Three Stooges'', which features a series of 156 animated cartoons produced for television. The Stooges appeared in live-action color footage, which preceded and followed each animated adventure in which they voiced their respective characters.

Final years

In 1969, the Three Stooges filmed a pilot episode for a new TV series entitled ''Kook's Tour'', a combination travelogue-sitcom that had the "retired" Stooges traveling around the world, with the episodes filmed on location.

On January 9, 1970, during production of the pilot, Larry suffered a paralyzing stroke, ending his acting career, as well as plans for the television series. thumb|150px|lefgt|A proposed incarnation of the Three Stooges. A promotional picture taken after Larry Fine's death in 1975 features a very ill Moe Howard (who died shortly thereafter) flanked by Curly Joe DeRita to the left and Emil Sitka to the right.Plans were in the works for longtime foil Emil Sitka to replace Larry as the "Middle Stooge" in 1971, but nothing ever came of that idea other than the proposed publicity still reproduced here. Three years later, just before Christmas of 1974, Larry Fine suffered yet another stroke at the age of 72 and four weeks later, suffered a more massive one. Slipping into a coma, he died a week later of a stroke-induced cerebral hemorrhage on January 24, 1975.

Devastated by his friend's death, Moe nevertheless decided that the Three Stooges should continue. Several movie ideas were considered, one of which according to critic and movie historian Leonard Maltin, (who also uncovered a pre-production photo) was entitled ''Blazing Stewardesses''. Unfortunately, before pre-production could begin, after a lifetime of smoking, Moe fell ill from lung cancer, and died three months later on May 4, 1975, finally putting to rest the last original surviving member of one of the most famous comedy troupes of the 20th Century.

However, ''Blazing Stewardesses'', the last film idea that the Three Stooges had ever seriously considered, was eventually made, starring the last of the surviving Ritz Brothers comedy troupe and released to moderate acclaim later that year.

Curly Joe continued to perform live into the mid-1970s with Mousie Garner and Frank Mitchell as "The New 3 Stooges" enjoying recognition well into old age, before retiring by 1979.

Of the remaining “original-replacement” Stooges, Joe Besser died of heart failure on March 1, 1988, followed by Curly Joe DeRita of pneumonia on July 3, 1993.

Legacy and perspective

Some 50 years after their last short film was released, the Three Stooges remain wildly popular with audiences. Their films have never left the television airwaves since first appearing in 1958, and they continue to delight old fans while attracting a new legion of fervent admirers. A hard-working group of working-class comedians who were never the critic's darlings, the team endured several personnel changes in their careers that would have permanently sidelined a less persistent act. Despite watching two of his brothers die in a brief span of time, the Stooges would not have lasted as long as they did as a unit without Moe Howard's guiding hand. However, despite their massive popularity, they never received a raise during their entire employment at Columbia nor were they ever allowed to make a full-length feature film during the height of their popularity. Columbia Studios chief Harry Cohn preferred to use the popular Stooges shorts in packages with his weaker features so that exhibitors would have to accept the movies in order to show the shorts, which would bring in the public.

The Ted Okuda/Edward Watz-penned book ''The Columbia Comedy Shorts'' puts the Stooges legacy in critical perspective:

Beginning in the 1980s, the Stooges finally began to receive long-overdue critical recognition. More often than not, the praise was directed at Curly, usually at the expense of his castmates, most especially Shemp. With the advent of cable television and the burgeoning home video market, the praise was eventually spread more evenly throughout the team. Critics began to realize that Moe and Larry were gifted performers; though less flamboyant than Curly, they were by no means less talented. Curly was indeed brilliant and a one-of-a-kind, but taken for long periods of time, he could also be irritating and exhausting without Moe and Larry present to provide a counterbalance. This balance would be handled better after Shemp returned to the act, with Larry in particular receiving more screen time. The release of nearly all their films on DVD by 2010 has allowed critics of Joe Besser and Joe DeRita—often the recipients of significant fan backlash—to appreciate the unique style of comedy both comedians brought to the Stooges. In addition, the DVD market in particular has allowed fans to view the entire Stooge film corpus as distinct periods in their long, distinguished career instead of comparing one Stooge to the other (the Curly vs. Shemp debate continues to this day).

The team appeared in 220 films. In the end, it is the durability of the 190 timeless short films the Stooges made at Columbia Pictures that acts as an enduring tribute to the comedy team. Their continued popularity worldwide has proven to even the most skeptical critics that their films—quite simply—are funny. American television personality Steve Allen went on record in the mid-1980s saying "though they never achieved widespread critical acclaim, they achieved exactly what they had always intended to do: they made people laugh."

Line-ups

!	! Ted	! Moe	! Shemp	! Larry	! Curly	! Joe	! Curly Joe	! Emil Sitka
1.									1922–1924
2.									1925–1932
3.									1932–1934
4.									1934–1946
5.									1946–1955
6.									1956–1958
7.									1958–1971
8.									1971–1975

Ted Healy Real Name: Clarence Ernst Lee Nash Born: October 01, 1896 Died: December 21, 1937 Stooge Years: 1922–1931, 1932–1934

Moe Howard Real Name: Moses Harry Horwitz Born: June 19, 1897 Died: May 04, 1975 Stooge years: 1922–1927, 1928–1975

Larry Fine Real Name: Louis Feinberg Born: October 05, 1902 Died: January 24, 1975 Stooge years: 1925–1927, 1928–1971

Curly Howard Real Name: Jerome Lester Horwitz Born: October 22, 1903 Died: January 18, 1952 Stooge years: 1932–1946

Shemp Howard Real Name: Samuel Horwitz Born: March 04, 1895 Died: November 22, 1955 Stooge years: 1922–1927, 1928–1932, 1946–1955

Joe Besser Born: August 12, 1907 Died: March 01, 1988 Stooge years: 1956–1958

Joe DeRita Real Name: Joseph Wardell Born: July 12, 1909 Died: July 03, 1993 Stooge years: 1958–1975

Emil Sitka Born: December 22, 1915 Died: January 16, 1998 Stooge years: n/a

Shorts

The Three Stooges appeared in 220 films throughout their career. Of those 220, 190 short films were made for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959, for which the trio are best known. Their contract was extended each year from 1934 until the final one expired on December 31, 1957. The last 8 of the 16 shorts with Joe Besser were released soon afterward.

C3 Entertainment, Inc.

Throughout their career, Moe acted as both their main creative force and business manager. Comedy III was formed by Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe in 1959 to manage all business and merchandise transactions for the team. Comedy III was basically in the background, with Moe's son-in-law Norman Maurer managing the comedy teams' film interests under Normandy Productions, and merchandising affairs under Norman Maurer Productions (NMP). Norman Maurer died in 1986.

In 1994 the heirs of Larry Fine and Joe DeRita filed a lawsuit against Moe's family, particularly Joan Howard Maurer and her son Jeffrey, who had inherited the NMP/Normandy business. The result reestablished Comedy III as a three-way interest of Fine/[Moe]Howard/DeRita. The DeRita heirs received the proxy to the Howard share, giving them majority control on the company's management. Curly-Joe's stepsons, Robert and Earl Benjamin, became the senior management of Comedy III. The Benjamins later incorporated the company, and C3 Entertainment, Inc. is currently the owner of all Three Stooges trademarks and merchandising. Larry's grandson Eric Lamond is the representative of the Fines' one-third interest in the company.

C3 has also, since 1995, authorized and provided the services of veteran actors Jim Skousen, Alan Semok, and Dave Knight (as Moe, Larry, and Curly respectively) for numerous "personal appearances" by the Stooge characters for a variety of merchandising and promotional events. This latter day trio has also provided voices for the characters in a variety of radio spots, merchandising tie-ins, and most recently for the first new Three Stooges short in fifty years. A CGI animation by Famous Frames Mobile Interactive, a first-wave "new media" company, entitled ''The Grate Debate'', has Moe, Larry and Curly running for President.

Television broadcasts and rights issues

A handful of Three Stooges shorts first aired on television in 1949, on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network. It was not until 1958 that Screen Gems packaged 78 shorts for national syndication; the package was gradually enlarged to encompass the entire library of 190 shorts. In 1959, KTTV in Los Angeles purchased the Three Stooges films for air, but by the early 1970s, rival station KTLA began airing the Stooges films, keeping them in the schedule until early 1994. The Family Channel (now ABC Family) ran the shorts as part of their ''Stooge TV'' block from February 19, 1996 to January 2, 1998. In the late 1990s, AMC had held the rights to the Three Stooges shorts, originally airing them under the ''Stooges Playhouse'' block, but replacing it in 1999 with ''N.Y.U.K.'' (New Yuk University of Knuckleheads). Featuring host Leslie Nielsen in the form of a college instructor, the block aired several shorts often grouped by a theme, such as similar schtick used in different films. Although the block was discontinued after AMC revamped their format in 2002, the network still ran Stooges shorts occasionally. The AMC run ended when Spike TV picked them up in 2004, airing them in their ''Stooges Slap-Happy Hour''. By 2007, the network had discontinued the block. Although Spike did air Stooges shorts for a brief period of time after the block was canceled, as of late April 2008, Three Stooges has disappeared from the network's schedule entirely. The Three Stooges returned on December 31, 2009 on AMC, starting with the "Countdown with the Stooges" New Year's Eve marathon. AMC planned to put several episodes on their website in 2010.

Since the 1990s Columbia and its television division's successor, Sony Pictures Television, has preferred to license the Stooges shorts to cable networks, precluding the films from being shown on local broadcast TV. Two stations in Chicago and Boston, however, signed long-term syndication contracts with Columbia years ago and have declined to terminate them. Thus, WMEU-CA in Chicago currently airs all 190 Three Stooges shorts on ''Stooge-a-Palooza'', hosted by Rich Koz, and WSBK-TV in Boston airs Stooge shorts and feature films. KTLA in Los Angeles dropped the shorts in 1994, but brought them back in 2007 as part of a special retro-marathon commemorating the station's 60th anniversary. Since that time, the station's original 16mm Stooges film prints have aired occasionally as part of mini-marathons on holidays. Antenna TV, a network broadcasting on the digital subchannels of local broadcast stations (owned by Tribune Broadcasting, who also owns KTLA), began airing the Stooges shorts upon the network's January 1, 2011 launch, which run in multi-hour blocks on weekends; most of the Three Stooges feature films are also broadcast on the network, through Antenna TV's distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment (whose Columbia Pictures subsidiary released most of the films).

Some of the Stooge films have been colorized by two separate companies. The first colorized DVD releases, distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, were prepared by West Wing Studios in 2004. The following year, Legend Films colorized the public domain shorts ''Malice in the Palace'', ''Sing a Song of Six Pants'', ''Disorder in the Court'' and ''Brideless Groom''. ''Disorder in the Court'' and ''Brideless Groom'' also appear on two of West Wing's colorized releases. In any event, the Columbia-produced shorts (aside from the public domain films) are handled by Sony Pictures Entertainment, while the MGM Stooges shorts are owned by Warner Bros. via their Turner Entertainment division. Sony offers 21 of the shorts on their web platform Crackle, along with eleven Minisodes. Meanwhile, the rights to the Stooges' feature films rests with the studios that originally produced them (Columbia/Sony for the Columbia films, and 20th Century Fox for the Fox films).

Home video release and public reception

Between 1984 and 1985, RCA Columbia Pictures Home Video released a total of thirteen Three Stooges volumes on VHS, Beta and Laserdisc, each containing three shorts. These titles were later reissued on VHS by its successor, Sony Pictures Entertainment, between 1995 and 1997, with a DVD reissue between 2000 and 2004.

On October 30, 2007, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released a two-disc DVD set entitled The Three Stooges Collection, Volume One: 1934–1936. The set contains shorts from the first three years the Stooges worked at Columbia Pictures, marking the first time ever that all 19 shorts were released in their original theatrical order to DVD. Additionally, every short was remastered in high definition, a first for the Stooge films. Previous DVD releases were based on themes (wartime, history, work, etc.), and sold poorly. Fans and critics alike praised Sony for finally giving the Stooges the proper DVD treatment. One critic states "the Three Stooges on DVD has been a real mix'n match hodgepodge of un-restored titles and illogical entries. This new...boxset...seems to be the first concerted effort to categorize their huge body of work chronologically with many shorts seeing the digital light for the first time." Videolibrarian.com critic added "finally, the studio knuckleheads got it right! The way that the Three Stooges have been presented on home video has been a real slap in the face and poke in the eye to fans. They’ve been anthologized, colorized, and public domain-ed, as their shorts have been released and re-released in varying degrees of quality. Highly recommended." Critic James Plath of DVDtown.com added, "Thank you, Sony, for finally giving these Columbia Pictures icons the kind of DVD retrospective that they deserve. Remastered in High Definition and presented in chronological order, these short films now give fans the chance to appreciate the development of one of the most successful comedy teams in history."

The chronological series proved very successful and wildly popular, and Sony wasted little time preparing the next set for release. Volume Two: 1937–1939 was released on May 27, 2008, followed by Volume Three: 1940–1942 three months later on August 26, 2008. Demand exceeded supply, proving to Sony that they had a hit on their hands. In response, Volume Four: 1943–1945 was released on October 7, 2008, a mere two months after its predecessor. The global economic crisis slowed down the release schedule after Volume Four, and Volume Five: 1946–1948 was belatedly released on March 17, 2009. Volume Five is the first in the series to feature Shemp Howard with the Stooges. Volume Six: 1949–1951 was released June 16, 2009. and Volume Seven: 1952–1954 was released on November 10, 2009.

The eighth and final volume was released on June 1, 2010, bringing the series to a close. For the first time in history, all 190 ''Three Stooges'' short subjects became available to the public.

Music

Several instrumental tunes were played over the opening credits at different times in the production of the short features. The most commonly used themes were:

* The verse portion of the Civil War era song "Listen to the Mockingbird", played in a comical way, complete with sounds of birds and such. This was first used in ''Pardon My Scotch'', their ninth short film, in 1935. (Prior to that comedic short, the opening theme varied and was typically connected to the storyline in some fashion.)

* "Three Blind Mice", beginning in 1939 as a slow but straightforward presentation (dubbed the "sliding strings" version), often breaking into a "jazzy" style before ending. In mid-1942, another more driving version, complete with accordion was played fast all the way through.

The Columbia short subject ''Woman Haters'' was done completely in rhyme, mostly recited (not sung), in rhythm with a Jazz-Age underscore running throughout the film, but with some key lines sung. It was sixth in a ''Musical Novelties'' short subject series, and appropriated its musical score from the first five films. The memorable “My Life, My Love, My All,” was originally “At Last!” from the film ''Um-Pa''.

"Swinging the Alphabet" (a.k.a. B-A-bay, B-E-be, B-I-bicky-bi…) from ''Violent Is the Word for Curly'' is perhaps the best-known song performed by the Stooges on film.

The “Lucia Sextet” (''Chi mi frena in tal memento?''), from the opera ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' by Gaetano Donizetti (announced by Larry as “the Sextet from Lucy”), is played on a record player and lip-synched by the Stooges in ''Micro-Phonies''. The same melody re-appears in ''Squareheads of the Round Table'' as the tune of “Oh, Elaine, can you come out tonight?”. ''Micro-Phonies'' also includes the Johann Strauss II waltz “Voices of Spring” ("Frühlingsstimmen") Op. 410. Another Strauss waltz, "The Blue Danube", is featured in ''Ants in the Pantry'' and ''Punch Drunks''.

The song “Fredric March” (named after the actor) was a favorite of director Jules White; it appeared in at least six different Columbia shorts:

* ''Termites of 1938'' - the Stooges "play" this song on a violin, flute, and string bass at a dinner party in an attempt to attract mice.

* ''Dutiful But Dumb'' - Curly is hidden inside a floor-standing radio, and plays the song on a modified harmonica.

* ''Three Little Twirps'' - heard as background music at the circus while Moe and Curly sell tickets.

* ''Idle Roomers'' - Curly plays the song on a trombone to calm a wolf man.

* ''Gents Without Cents'' - three girls perform acrobatics on stage while this song is playing

* ''Gents in a Jam'' - Shemp and Moe have a problem with a radio that will not stop playing this song

* ''Pardon My Backfire'' - the song plays on a car radio

The Moe–Larry–Curly Joe lineup of the Stooges recorded several musical record albums in the early 1960s. Most of their songs were adaptations of nursery rhymes. Among their more popular recordings were "Making a Record" (a surreal trip to a recording studio built around the song "Go Tell Aunt Mary"), "Three Little Fishes", "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth", "Wreck the Halls with Boughs of Holly", "Mairzy Doats" and "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas".

In 1983, a group called the Jump 'N the Saddle Band recorded a track called "The Curly Shuffle", which featured the narrator singing about his love of the Stooges mixed with a chorus of many of Curly's catchphrases and sound effects. In the mid-1980s, the song became a popular mid-game hit for New York Mets fans in the Shea Stadium bleachers, who would dance in small groups to the tune whenever the song was played between innings. The music video, which featured clips of the classic Stooges shorts, was also included as a bonus feature on one of the 1984 VHS releases.

Feature motion pictures

The Three Stooges also made appearances in many feature length movies in the course of their careers:

{|class="wikitable" |- ! Film || Year || Moe || Larry || Curly || Shemp || Joe || Curly Joe |- |''Soup to Nuts'' || 1930 || Moe || Larry || || Shemp || || |- |''Turn Back the Clock'' || 1933 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''Meet the Baron'' || 1933 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''Dancing Lady'' || 1933 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''Broadway to Hollywood'' || 1933 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''Myrt and Marge'' || 1933 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''Fugitive Lovers'' || 1934 || Moe || Larry ||Curly || || || |- |''Hollywood Party'' (cameos) || 1934 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''The Captain Hates the Sea'' (cameos)|| 1934 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''Start Cheering'' || 1938 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''Time Out for Rhythm'' || 1941 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''My Sister Eileen'' (cameos) || 1942 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''Rockin' in the Rockies'' || 1945 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''Swing Parade of 1946'' || 1946 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''Gold Raiders'' || 1951 || Moe || Larry || || Shemp || || |- |''Have Rocket, Will Travel'' || 1959 || Moe || Larry || || || || Curly Joe |- |''Stop! Look! and Laugh!'' (compilation)|| 1960 || Moe || Larry || Curly || || || |- |''Snow White and the Three Stooges'' || 1961 || Moe || Larry || || || || Curly Joe |- |''The Three Stooges Meet Hercules'' || 1962 || Moe || Larry || || || || Curly Joe |- |''The Three Stooges in Orbit'' || 1962 || Moe || Larry || || || || Curly Joe |- |''The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze'' || 1963 || Moe || Larry || || || || Curly Joe |- |''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' (cameos)|| 1963 || Moe || Larry || || || || Curly Joe |- |''4 for Texas'' || 1963 || Moe || Larry || || || || Curly Joe |- |''The Outlaws Is Coming'' || 1965 || Moe || Larry || || || || Curly Joe |- |''Kook's Tour'' (TV pilot) || 1970 || Moe || Larry || || || || Curly Joe |} Joe Besser never appeared with the Stooges in a feature film.

Three feature-length Columbia releases were actually packages of older Columbia shorts. ''Columbia Laff Hour'' (introduced in 1956) was a random assortment that included the Stooges among other Columbia comedians like Andy Clyde, Hugh Herbert, and Vera Vague; the content and length varied from one theater to the next. ''Three Stooges Fun-o-Rama'' (introduced in 1959) was an all-Stooges show capitalizing on their TV fame, again with shorts chosen at random for individual theaters. ''The Three Stooges Follies'' (1974) was similar to ''Laff Hour'', with a trio of Stooge comedies augmented by Buster Keaton and Vera Vague shorts, a Batman serial chapter, and a Kate Smith musical.

Museum

Gary Lassin opened the Stoogeum in 2004 in a renovated architect's office in Spring House, Pennsylvania, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Philadelphia. The museum-quality exhibits fill three stories (10,000 square feet or 929 square meters), including an 85-seat theater. Peter Seely, editor of the book ''Stoogeology: Essays on the Three Stooges'' said that the Stoogeum has "''more stuff than I even imagined existed''." 2,500 people visit it yearly, many during the annual Three Stooges Fan Club gathering in April.

In other media

Comic books

Over the years, several Three Stooges comics were produced.

St. John Publications published the first Three Stooges comics in 1949 with 2 issues, then again in 1953–54 with 7 issues.

Dell Comics published a Three Stooges series first as one-shots in their ''Four Color Comics'' line for five issues, then gave them a numbered series for four more issues (#6–9). With #10, the title would be published by Gold Key Comics. Under Gold Key, the series lasted through issue #55 in 1972.

Gold Key Comics then published the ''Little Stooges'' series (7 issues, 1972–74) with story and art by Norman Maurer, Moe's son-in-law. This series featured the adventures of three fictional sons of the Three Stooges, as sort of modern-day teen-age versions of the characters.

Eclipse Comics published the ''Three-D Three Stooges'' series (3 issues, 1986–1987) which reprinted stories from the St. John Publications series.

Malibu Comics did a couple of one-shot comics, reprinting stories from the Gold Key Comics in 1989 and 1991.

Music

Beginning in 1959, the Three Stooges began to appear in a series of novelty records. Their first recording was a 45 rpm single of the title song from ''Have Rocket, Will Travel.'' The trio released additional singles and LPs on the Golden and Coral labels, mixing comedy adventure albums and off-beat renditions of children's songs. Their final recording was the 1966 ''Yogi Bear and the Three Stooges Meet the Mad, Mad, Mad Dr. No-No'', which incorporated the Three Stooges into the cast of the Yogi Bear cartoons.

The Stooges are referenced in the video for Weird Al Yankovic's Like a Surgeon with a hospital PA system asked for "Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard."

Radio

Sirius XM Radio aired a special about the Stooges hosted by Tom Bergeron on Friday, July 31, 2009, at 2:00PM on the Sirius Howard 101 channel. Bergeron had conducted the interviews at the age of 17 back when he was still in high school in 1971. The television host had the tapes in storage for many years and was convinced on air during a Howard Stern Radio interview to bring them in and turn it into a special show by Howard Stern himself, upon learning how much of a fan Bergeron was of the Three Stooges, as is he. Bergeron agreed.

After finding "the lost tapes," Bergeron brought them into Howard Stern's production studio. He stated that the tapes were so old that the tapes with the Larry Fine interviews began to shred as Howard Stern's radio engineers ran them through their cart players. They only really had the one shot, and fortunately for Three Stooges fans, the tapes were saved.

"The Lost Stooges Tapes" were hosted by Tom Bergeron with modern commentary on the almost 40 year old interviews that he had conducted with Larry Fine and Moe Howard. At the times of these interviews, Moe was still living at home and Larry had suffered a stroke and was living in a Senior Citizen's home.

Television

In addition to the unsuccessful television series pilot ''Jerks of All Trades'' (see "History", above) and the incomplete ''Kook's Tour'', the Stooges appeared in a show called ''The New Three Stooges'' which ran from 1965 to 1966. This series featured a mix of thirty-nine live-action segments which were used as wraparounds to 156 animated Stooges shorts. That cartoon program became the only regularly scheduled television show in history for the Stooges. Unlike other films shorts that aired on TV like the ''Looney Tunes'', ''Tom and Jerry'', and ''Popeye'', the film shorts of the Stooges never had a regularly scheduled national television program to air in, neither on network nor syndicated. When Columbia/Screen Gems licensed the film library to television, the shorts aired in any fashion the local stations chose (examples: late-night "filler" material between the end of the late movie and the channel's sign-off time; in "marathon" sessions running shorts back-to-back for one, one-and-a-half, or two hours; etc.)

Two episodes of Hanna-Barbera's ''The New Scooby-Doo Movies'' aired on CBS featuring animated Stooges as guest stars: the premiere, "Ghastly Ghost Town" (September 9, 1972) and "The Ghost of the Red Baron" (November 18, 1972). There also was a short-lived animated series, also produced by Hanna-Barbera, titled ''The Robonic Stooges'', originally seen as a featured segment on ''The Skatebirds'' (CBS, 1977–1978), featuring Moe, Larry, and Curly (voiced by Paul Winchell, Joe Baker and Frank Welker, respectively) as bionic cartoon superheroes with extendable limbs, similar to the later ''Inspector Gadget''. ''The Robonic Stooges'' later aired as a separate half-hour series, retitled ''The Three Robonic Stooges'' (each half-hour featured two segments of ''The Three Robonic Stooges'' and one segment of ''Woofer And Whimper, Dog Detectives'', the latter re-edited from episodes of ''Clue Club'', an earlier Hanna-Barbera cartoon series). There are also many ''Stooges'' references in the sitcom ''ALF''.

In the episode "Beware The Creeper" of ''The New Batman Adventures''. the Joker retreats to his hide-out after a quick fight with Batman. He yells out for his three henchmen "Moe? Larr? Cur?" only to find that they are not there. Shortly after that, Batman comes across these three goons in a pool hall; they have distinctive accents and hair styles similar to those of Moe, Larry, and Curly. These henchmen are briefly seen throughout the rest of the season.

2000 television film

In spring of 2000, longtime Stooge fan Mel Gibson executive-produced a TV movie (''The Three Stooges'') about the lives and careers of the comedians. Playing Moe was Paul Ben-Victor; Evan Handler was Larry; John Kassir was Shemp; and Michael Chiklis was Curly. It was filmed in Sydney, Australia and was produced for and broadcast on ABC. It was based on Michael Fleming's authorized biography of the Stooges, ''The Three Stooges: From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons''. Its unflattering portrayal of Ted Healy led Healy's son to give media interviews calling the film inaccurate. Additional errors of fact included the hints that Moe Howard was down on his luck later in life, and worked as a gofer at the studio where he and his brothers had formerly worked as actors, and that he never owned his own house. In reality, Moe was the most careful with his money, which he invested well. He and his wife Helen owned the comfortable house in Toluca Lake in which they raised their children.

The film regularly runs on the American Movie Classics (AMC) channel.

Feature film revival

A film about the Three Stooges, simply titled ''The Three Stooges'', is currently in development with 20th Century Fox and will be directed by the Farrelly Brothers. The film has been in what one critic has dubbed "development hell". The Farrellys, who have wanted to make this film since 1996, have said that they were not going to do a biopic or remake, but instead new Three Stooges episodes set in the present day. The plot of the episodes is said to be an adventure that revolves around the Stooges characters.

The studio has had a difficult time putting together a cast to play the Three Stooges. Originally slated were Sean Penn to play Larry, Benicio del Toro to play Moe and Jim Carrey to play Curly. Both Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro left the project but returned while no official confirmation has been made about Jim Carrey. When del Toro was interviewed on MTV News for ''The Wolfman'', he spoke about playing Moe. He was later asked who was going to play Larry and Curly in the film and commented that he still thought that Sean Penn and Jim Carrey were going to play them, though he added "Nothing is for sure yet." A story in the Hollywood Reporter stated that Will Sasso will play Curly in the upcoming comedy and that Hank Azaria is the front runner to play Moe. Sean Hayes of ''Will & Grace'' fame has officially been cast as Larry Fine, while Chris Diamantopoulos was cast as Moe. On April 27, Jane Lynch joined the cast; she will be playing a nun.

Video games

In 1984 Gottlieb released an arcade game featuring the Stooges trying to find three kidnapped brides. Later in 1987, game developers Cinemaware released a successful Three Stooges computer game, available for Apple IIGS, Amiga, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Based on the Stooges earning money by doing odd jobs to prevent the foreclosure of an orphanage, it incorporated audio from the original films and was popular enough to be reissued for the Game Boy Advance in 2002, as well as for PlayStation in 2004.

In foreign languages

In most other languages, the Three Stooges are known by their English name. However, in Chinese, the trio is known as ''Sānge Chòu Píjiàng'' (三個臭皮匠) or ''Huóbǎo Sānrénzǔ'' (活寶三人組). ''Sānge Chòu Píjiàng'', literally "Three Smelly Shoemakers", derives from a saying in the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'': ''Sāngè chòu píjiàng shèngguò yīgè Zhūgě Liàng'' (三個臭皮匠，勝過一個諸葛亮) or "Three smelly shoemakers (are enough to) overcome one Zhuge Liang [a hero of the story]", i.e. three inferior people can overpower a superior person when they combine their strength. ''Huóbǎo Sānrénzǔ'' translates as "Trio of Buffoons".

In Japanese they are known as ''San Baka Taishō'' (三馬鹿大将) meaning "Three Idiot Generals" or "Three ''Baka'' Generals". The Japanese term ''baka'' (馬鹿, "fool" or "idiot", lit. "horse deer") is associated with the Chinese idiom ''zhǐlù wéimǎ'' (指鹿為馬; lit. "point at a deer and call it a horse", in Japanese ''shika o sashite uma to nasu'' [鹿を指して馬と為す]) meaning "deliberate misrepresentation for ulterior purposes". In Spanish they are known as ''Los tres chiflados'' or, roughly, "The Three Crackpots". In French and German usage, the name of the trio is partially translated as ''Les Trois Stooges'' and ''Die drei Stooges'' respectively. In Thai, the trio is known as 3 สมุนจอมป่วน (''3 Samunčhǭmpūan''; ) or 3 พี่น้องจอมยุ่ง (''Phīnǭngčhǭmyung''; ). In Portuguese, they are known as ''Os Três Patetas'' in Brazil, and ''Os Três Estarolas'' in Portugal, being "estarola" a direct translation to "stooge", while "pateta" being more related to "goofy".

See also

The Three Stooges in popular culture

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

Besser, Joe (with Lenburg, Jeff, and Lenburg, Greg), ''Not Just a Stooge'' (1984) Excelsior Books, Inc. (reissued 1987 as ''Once a Stooge, Always a Stooge'') Roundtable Publications (Autobiography of Joe Besser, including anecdotes about Abbott and Costello and Olsen and Johnson)

Bruskin, David N., ''Behind the Three Stooges: The White Brothers: Conversations with David N. Bruskin'' (1993) Directors Guild of America (In-depth interviews with producer-directors Jules White, Jack White, and Sam White)

Comedy III Productions, Inc., ''Pop, You’re "Poifect!": A Three Stooges Salute to Dad'' (2002) Andrews McMeel

Cox, Steve and Terry, Jim, ''One Fine Stooge: Larry Fine's Frizzy Life in Pictures'' (2005) Cumberland House Publishing

Davis, Lon and Davis, Debra (eds.), ''Stooges Among Us'' (2008) BearManor Media ISBN 1-59393-300-2

Feinberg, Morris, ''Larry: The Stooge in the Middle'' (1984) Last Gasp of San Francisco (Biography of Larry Fine, attributed to his brother but actually ghostwritten by Bob Davis)

Fericano, Paul, ''Stoogism Anthology'' (1977) Poor Souls Printing

Fine, Larry (with Carone, James), ''Stroke of Luck'' (1973) Siena Publishing Co. (Larry Fine's autobiography, transcribed from interviews toward the end of his life)

Flanagan, Bill, ''Last of the Moe Haircuts'' (1986) McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books, Inc.

Fleming, Michael, ''The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, from Amalgamated Morons to American Icons'' (2002) Broadway Publishing

Forrester, Jeffrey, ''The Stoogephile Trivia Book'' (1982) Contemporary Books, Inc.

Forrester, Jeffrey, ''The Stooges Chronicles'' (1981) Contemporary Books, Inc. (Comprehensive overview of the team's career; also discusses the various Ted Healy stooges)

Forrester, Jeffrey, and Forrester, Tom, ''The Stooges' Lost Episodes'' (1988) Contemporary Books, Inc. (Discussion of obscure Stooges appearances, including solo films by individual Stooges)

Forrester, Jeff, with Forrester, Tom, and Wallison, Joe, ''The Three Stooges: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Most Popular Comedy Team of All Time'' (2004) Donaldson Books (Revised, updated edition of ''The Stooges Chronicles'')

Garner, Paul, ''Mousie Garner: Autobiography of a Vaudeville Stooge'' (1999) McFarland & Co.

Hansen, Tom and Forrester, Jeffrey, ''Stoogemania: An Extravaganza of Stooge Photos, Puzzles, Trivia, Collectibles and More'' (1984) Contemporary Books, Inc. (Overview of Three Stooges memorabilia)

Howard, Moe, ''Moe Howard and the Three Stooges'' (1977) Citadel Press (Moe Howard's autobiography, completed and released posthumously by his daughter)

Koceimba, Bill, with Kaufman, Eric A., and Sack, Steve, ''The Three Stooges Golf Spoof and Trivia Book'' (1999) Gazelle, Inc.

Kurson, Robert, ''The Official Three Stooges Encyclopedia: The Ultimate Knucklehead's Guide to Stoogedom, from Amalgamated Association of Morons to Ziller, Zeller, and Zoller'' (1999) McGraw-Hill

Kurson, Robert, ''The Official Three Stooges Cookbook'' (1998) Contemporary Books, Inc.

Lenburg, Jeff, with Maurer, Joan Howard, and Lenburg, Greg, ''The Three Stooges Scrapbook'' (1982, revised 1994, 2000) Citadel Press

Longley, Maximillian, ''The Conservative In Spite of Himself: A Reluctant Right-Winger's Thoughts on Life, Law and the Three Stooges'' (2007) Monograph Publishers

Maltin, Leonard, ''The Great Movie Comedians'' (1978) Crown Books

Maltin, Leonard, ''Movie Comedy Teams'' (1970, revised 1985) New American Library

Maltin, Leonard, ''Selected Short Subjects'' (first published as ''The Great Movie Shorts'', 1972) Crown Books, (revised 1983) Da Capo Press

McGarry, Annie, ''The Wacky World of the Three Stooges'' (1992) Crescent Books

Maurer, Joan Howard, ''Curly: An Illustrated Biography of the Superstooge'' (1985, revised 1988) Citadel Press

Maurer, Joan Howard (ed.), ''The Three Stooges Book of Scripts'' (1984) Citadel Press

Maurer, Joan Howard and Maurer, Norman (eds.), ''The Three Stooges Book of Scripts, Volume II'' (1987) Citadel Press

Okuda, Ted and Watz, Edward, ''The Columbia Comedy Shorts'' (1998) McFarland & Co. (Comprehensive history of the Columbia short subject department; Stooge colleagues Edward Bernds and Emil Sitka are quoted extensively)

Seely, Peter and Pieper, Gail W., ''Stoogeology: Essays on the Three Stooges'' (2007) McFarland & Co.

Smith, Ronald L., ''The Stooge Fans' I.Q. Test'' (1988) Contemporary Books, Inc.

Solomon, Jon, ''The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion'’ (2000) Comedy III Productions

External links

Three Stooges Online Filmography at threestooges.net

The Three Stooges Official Website (sanctioned by C3 Entertainment, Inc. - threestooges.com)

The Stoogeum (Three Stooges Museum) – stoogeum.com

Portrait (2009) of The Three Stooges (with Shemp) by noted illustrator Drew Friedman

Interview with Moe Howard on new success with the younger generation from the Ocala Star-Banner – Feb 22, 1959 accessed via Google News

Category:Television series by Sony Pictures Television Category:1925 introductions Category:Jewish comedy and humor Category:The Three Stooges films Category:Pie throwing Category:Slapstick comedians Category:Gold Key Comics titles Category:Dell Comics titles Category:Jewish comedians

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