1981    The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that five people in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.

1981    A disease cluster, which will later be known as AIDS, is recognized by medical professionals in San Francisco, California.

1981    First mention in the ''New York Times'' of a disease that would later be called AIDS

1981    The National Centers for Disease Control announce a high incidence of pneumocystis and Kaposi's sarcoma in gay men. These will soon be recognized as symptoms of an immune disorder, which will be called AIDS.

1981    The AIDS virus is officially recognized.

1983    First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal ''Science'' by Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo individually.

1985    The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States.

1987    The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT.

1992    Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.