Timeline of AIDS
Encyclopedia
Pre-1980s
1930s- Researchers believe that sometime in the 1930s a form of simian immunodeficiency virusSimian immunodeficiency virusSimian immunodeficiency virus , also known as African Green Monkey virus and also as Monkey AIDS is a retrovirus able to infect at least 33 species of African primates...
jumped to humans in central Africa. The mutated virus becomes HIV-1.
1959
- The first known case of HIVHIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
in a human occurs in a person who died in the CongoBelgian CongoThe Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
, later confirmed as having HIV infection from his preserved blood samples. The authors of the study did not sequence a full virus from his samples, writing that "attempts to amplify HIV-1 fragments of >300 base pairs (bp) were unsuccessful, . . . However, after numerous attempts, four shorter sequences were obtained" that represented small portions of two of the six genes of the complete AIDS virus. - In New York City, on June 28, 1959, Ardouin Antonio, a 49-year-old Jamaican-AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
shipping clerk dies of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, a disease closely associated with AIDS. Dr. Gordon Hennigar, who performed the postmortem examination of the man's body, found "the first reported instance of unassociated Pneumocystis carinii disease in an adult" to be so unusual that he pickled Ardouin's lungs for later study. The case was written up in two medical journals at the time, and Hennigar has been quoted in numerous publications saying that he believes Ardouin probably had AIDS.
1960s
- HIV-2, a viral variant found in West Africa, is thought to have transferred to people from sooty mangabeySooty MangabeyThe sooty mangabey is an Old World monkey found in forests from Senegal east to Ghana. It is famous for being believed to be the monkey that HIV-2 might have originated in before jumping species...
monkeys in Guinea-BissauGuinea-BissauThe Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
during this period.
1964
- Jerome Horwitz of Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine synthesized AZTZidovudineZidovudine or azidothymidine is a nucleoside analog reverse-transcriptase inhibitor , a type of antiretroviral drug used for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. It is an analog of thymidine....
, under a US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant. AZT was originally intended as an anticancer drug.
1966
- Genetic studies of the virus indicate that, in or about 1966, HIV first arrived in the Americas, infecting a single person in Haiti. At this time, many Haitians were working in Congo, providing the opportunity for infection.
1968
- A 2003 analysis of HIV types found in the United States, compared to known mutation rates, suggests that the virus may have first arrived in the United States in this year. The disease spread from the 1966 American strand, but remained unrecognized for another 12 years.
1969
- A St. Louis teenager, identified as Robert Rayford, dies of an illness that baffles his doctors. Eighteen years later, molecular biologists at Tulane University in New Orleans test samples of his remains and find evidence of HIV present.
1975
- The first reports of wasting and other symptoms, later determined to be AIDS, are reported in residents of Africa.
1976
- Norwegian sailor Arvid NoeArvid NoeArvid Noe is the alias of a Norwegian sailor who is the first person known to have contracted HIV and died from AIDS outside of the United States. He is the second person confirmed to have died from AIDS, after the teenager known as Robert R., from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1969.-Biography:Noe...
dies; it is later determined that he contracted HIV/AIDS in Africa during the early 1960s.
1977
- Danish physician Grethe RaskGrethe RaskMargrethe P. Rask , better known as Grethe Rask, was a Danish physician and surgeon who practiced medicine in what was then known as Zaïre...
dies of AIDS contracted in Africa. - A San Francisco prostitute gives birth to the first of three children who were later be diagnosed with AIDS, and whose blood, when tested after their deaths, revealed HIV infection. The mother died of AIDS in May 1987. Test results show she was infected by as late as 1977, perhaps earlier.
1978
- A Portuguese man known as Senhor Jose dies; he will later be confirmed as the first known infection of HIV-2. He was believed to have been exposed to the disease in Guinea-Bissau in 1966.
1980s
1980- April 24, San Francisco resident Ken Horne, the first AIDS case in the United States to be recognized at the time, is reported to Center for Disease Control with Kaposi's sarcomaKaposi's sarcomaKaposi's sarcoma is a tumor caused by Human herpesvirus 8 , also known as Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus . It was originally described by Moritz Kaposi , a Hungarian dermatologist practicing at the University of Vienna in 1872. It became more widely known as one of the AIDS defining...
(KS). He was also suffering from CryptococcusCryptococcus neoformansCryptococcus neoformans is an encapsulated yeast that can live in both plants and animals. Its teleomorph is Filobasidiella neoformans, a filamentous fungus belonging to the class Tremellomycetes. It is often found in pigeon excrement....
at the time. - On October 31, French-Canadian flight attendant Gaëtan DugasGaëtan DugasGaëtan Dugas was a Canadian who worked for Air Canada as a flight attendant. Dugas became notorious as the alleged patient zero for AIDS, though he is now more accurately regarded as one of many highly sexually active men who spread AIDS widely before the disease was identified.-Patient Zero...
pays his first known visit to New York City bathhouseGay bathhouseGay bathhouses, also known as gay saunas or steam baths, are commercial bathhouses for men to have sex with other men. In gay slang in some regions these venues are also known colloquially as "the baths" or "the tubs," and should not be confused with public bathing.Not all men who visit gay...
s. He would later be deemed "Patient Zero" for his apparent connection to many early cases of AIDS in the United States. - Rick Wellikoff, a Brooklyn schoolteacher, dies of AIDS in New York City on December 23. He is the 4th American to have died from the new disease.
1981
- January 15, Nick Rock becomes the first known AIDS death in New York City.
- May 18, Dr. Lawrence Mass becomes the first journalist in the world to write about the epidemic, in the "New York Native," a gay newspaper. A gay tipster overheard his physician mention that some gay men were being treated in intensive-care units in New York City for a strange pneumonia. "Disease Rumors Largely Unfounded" was the headline on Mass's article. Mass repeated a New York City public-health official's claims that there was no wave of disease sweeping through the gay community. At this point, however, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had been gathering information for about a month on the outbreak that Mass's source was dismissing.
- June 5, The CDC reports a cluster of Pneumocystis pneumonia in five gayGayGay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
men in Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. - July 4, CDC reports clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and Pneumocystis pneumonia among gay men in CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. - By the end of the year, 121 people are known to have died from the disease.
- First known case in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
1982
- June 18, CDC MMWR 1982 31(23);305-7
- "Exposure to some substance (rather than an infectious agent) may eventually lead to immunodeficiency among a subset of the homosexual male population that shares a particular style of life." For example, Marmor et al. recently reported that exposure to amyl nitrite was associated with an increased risk of KS in New York City. Exposure to inhalant sexual stimulants, central-nervous-system stimulants, and a variety of other "street" drugs was common among males belonging to the cluster of cases of KS and PCP in Los Angeles and Orange counties."
- July 9, CDC reports a cluster of opportunistic infectionOpportunistic infectionAn opportunistic infection is an infection caused by pathogens, particularly opportunistic pathogens—those that take advantage of certain situations—such as bacterial, viral, fungal or protozoan infections that usually do not cause disease in a healthy host, one with a healthy immune system...
s (OI) and Kaposi's sarcoma among HaitiHaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
ans recently entering the United States. - July 27, The term AIDS (for acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is proposed at a meeting in WashingtonWashington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
of gay-community leaders, federal bureaucrats and the CDC to replace GRID (for gay-related immune deficiency) as evidence showed it was not gay specific. - Summer, First known case in ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
- September 24, Current Trends Update on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) - United States
- CDC defines a case of AIDS as a disease, at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell-mediated immunity, occurring in a person with no known cause for diminished resistance to that disease. Such diseases include KS, PCP, and serious OOI. [...] Diagnoses are considered to fit the case definition only if based on sufficiently reliable methods (generally histology or culture). Some patients who are considered AIDS cases on the basis of diseases only moderately predictive of cellular immunodeficiency may not actually be immunodeficient and may not be part of the current epidemic.
- December 10, a baby in California becomes ill in the first known case of AIDS from a blood transfusion.
- First known case in BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. - First known case in CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
- July 9, CDC reports a cluster of opportunistic infection
1983
- In January, Dr. Françoise Barré-SinoussiFrançoise Barré-SinoussiFrançoise Barré-Sinoussi is a French virologist and director of the Unité de Régulation des Infections Rétrovirales at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France. Born in Paris, France, Barré-Sinoussi performed some of the fundamental work in the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus as...
, at the Pasteur InstitutePasteur InstituteThe Pasteur Institute is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who made some of the greatest breakthroughs in modern medicine at the time, including pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax...
in Paris, isolates a retrovirus that kills T-cells from the lymph system of a gay AIDS patient. In the following months, she would find it in additional gay and hemophiliac sufferers. This retrovirus would be called by several names, including LAV and HTLV-III before being named HIVHIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
in 1986. - CDC National AIDS HotlineCDC National AIDS HotlineThe CDC National AIDS Hotline distributes many publications on HIV and AIDS, including guides for teaching HIV prevention and caring for AIDS patients. Many of them are available at no charge. To get copies, to find out what programs are available in your local area, or just to ask questions about...
established. - March, United States Public Heath Service (PHSPHS-General:*Pallister-Hall syndrome, a genetic disorder*Peninsula Humane Society, an animal welfare organization in San Mateo County, California* Pennsylvania Horticultural Society promotes horticulture-related events and community activities, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.*Personal...
) or (USPHS) issues donor screening guidelines. AIDS high-risk groups should not donate blood/plasma products. - Australia has first death from AIDS in MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, the HawkeBob HawkeRobert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
Labor government invests in a significant campaign that ultimately gives HIV/AIDS in AustraliaHIV/AIDS in AustraliaThe history of HIV/AIDS in Australia is distinctive. Australia was a country which recognised and responded to the AIDS pandemic relatively swiftly, with one of the most successful disease prevention and public health education programs in the world...
one of the lowest infection rates in the world. - AIDS is diagnosed in MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
for the first time. HIV can be traced in the country back to 1981. - The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technique is developed by Kary MullisKary MullisKary Banks Mullis is a Nobel Prize winning American biochemist, author, and lecturer. In recognition of his improvement of the polymerase chain reaction technique, he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Michael Smith and earned the Japan Prize in the same year. The process was first...
, improving the researches on microbiologyMicrobiologyMicrobiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
and genetics, also widely used in AIDSAIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
research. - Within a few days of each other, cult musicians JobriathJobriathJobriath , was an American folk and glam rock musician and actor...
and Klaus NomiKlaus NomiKlaus Sperber , better known as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor noted for his wide vocal range and an unusual, otherworldly stage persona....
are the first internationally-known recording artists known to have died from AIDS-related illness.
One of the first reported patients who died of AIDS (presumptive diagnosis) in the US is reported in the Journal Gastroentereology in 1981. Professor Louis Weinstein, his treating physician, commented that "Although no clear-cut evidence of immuno-deficiency could be demonstrated in our patient, this could not be ruled out completely.”
1984
- March 30, Gaëtan DugasGaëtan DugasGaëtan Dugas was a Canadian who worked for Air Canada as a flight attendant. Dugas became notorious as the alleged patient zero for AIDS, though he is now more accurately regarded as one of many highly sexually active men who spread AIDS widely before the disease was identified.-Patient Zero...
died. He was a French Canadian flight attendant linked by the CDC directly or indirectly with 40 of the first 248 reported cases of AIDS in the U.S. - April 23, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret HecklerMargaret HecklerMargaret Mary Heckler is a Republican politician from Massachusetts who served in the United States House of Representatives for eight terms, from 1967 until 1983 and was later the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Ambassador to Ireland under President Ronald Reagan...
announces at a press conference that an American scientist, Dr. Robert GalloRobert GalloRobert Charles Gallo is an American biomedical researcher. He is best known for his role in the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus , the infectious agent responsible for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome , and he has been a major contributor to subsequent HIV research.Gallo is the...
, has discovered the probable cause of AIDS: the retrovirusRetrovirusA retrovirus is an RNA virus that is duplicated in a host cell using the reverse transcriptase enzyme to produce DNA from its RNA genome. The DNA is then incorporated into the host's genome by an integrase enzyme. The virus thereafter replicates as part of the host cell's DNA...
subsequently named human immunodeficiency virus or HIV in 1986. She also declares that a vaccine will be available within two years. - September 6, first performance at Theatre RhinocerosTheatre RhinocerosTheatre Rhinoceros or Theatre Rhino is a gay and lesbian theatre based in San Francisco. It was founded in the spring of 1977 by Lanny Baugniet and his partner Allan B. Estes, Jr....
in San Francisco of The AIDS ShowThe AIDS ShowThe AIDS Show is a collaboratively written theater piece about AIDS, and a documentary video about the making of the stage show.-1984 production:...
which runs for two years and is the subject of a 1986 documentary film of the same name. - December 17, Ryan WhiteRyan WhiteRyan Wayne White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States, after being expelled from middle school because of his infection. A hemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment and, when diagnosed...
was diagnosed with AIDS by a doctor performing a partial lung removal. White became infected with HIV from a blood product, known as Factor VIII, as part of his treatment for hemophilia which was given to him on a regular basis. When the public school that he attended, Western Middle School in Russiaville, Indiana, learned of his disease in 1985 there was enormous pressure from parents and faculty to bar him from school premises. Due to the widespread fear of AIDS and lack of medical knowledge, principal Ron Colby and the schoolboard assented. His family filed a lawsuit, seeking to overturn the ban.
1985
- March 2, FDA approves first AIDS antibody screening tests for use on all donated blood and plasma intended for transfusion.
- October 2, Rock HudsonRock HudsonRoy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
dies of AIDS. On July 25, 1985, he was the first American celebrity to publicly admit having AIDS; he had been diagnosed with it on June 5, 1984. - October 12, Ricky WilsonRicky Wilson (American musician)Ricky Helton Wilson was an American instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and musician. He was best known as the original guitarist and founding member of New Wave rock band the B-52s...
, guitarist of American rock band The B-52'sThe B-52'sThe B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...
dies from an AIDS related illness. The album Bouncing Off The SatellitesBouncing off the Satellites- Personnel :Band* Fred Schneider – lead vocals* Keith Strickland – bass, guitar, harmonica, percussion, keyboards, sitar, vocals, backing vocals* Cindy Wilson – lead vocals* Kate Pierson – lead vocals* Ricky Wilson – lead guitar, bass, backing vocals...
, which he was working on when he died, is dedicated to him when it is released the next year. The band are devastated by their loss and do not tour or promote the album. Wilson is eventually replaced on guitar by his former writing partner Keith StricklandKeith StricklandJulian Keith Strickland is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and one of the founding members of the The B-52s. Originally the band's drummer, Strickland switched to guitar after the death of guitarist Ricky Wilson in 1985...
, formerly their drummer. - October, a conference of public health officials including representatives of the Centers for Disease Control and World Health OrganizationWorld Health OrganizationThe World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
meet in BanguiBangui-Law and government:Bangui is an autonomous commune of the Central African Republic. With an area of 67 km², it is by far the smallest high-level administrative division of the CAR in area but the highest in population...
and define AIDS in Africa as "prolonged fevers for a month or more, weight loss of over 10% and prolonged diarrhea". - First officially reported cases in ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
1986
- HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is adopted as name of the retrovirus that was first proposed as the cause of AIDS by Luc MontagnierLuc MontagnierLuc Antoine Montagnier is a French virologist and joint recipient with Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus...
of France, who named it 'LAV (lymphadenopathy associated virus) and Robert GalloRobert GalloRobert Charles Gallo is an American biomedical researcher. He is best known for his role in the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus , the infectious agent responsible for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome , and he has been a major contributor to subsequent HIV research.Gallo is the...
of the United States, who named it HTLV-III (human T-lymphotropic virus type III) - January 14, "...one million Americans have already been infected with the virus and that this number will jump to at least 2 million or 3 million within 5 to 10 years..." - NIAID Director Anthony FauciAnthony FauciAnthony S. Fauci is an immunologist who has made substantial contributions to research in the areas of AIDS and other immunodeficiencies, both as a scientist and as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases .-Education and career:Anthony Stephen Fauci was born on...
, New York Times. - February, President Reagan instructs his Surgeon General C. Everett KoopC. Everett KoopCharles Everett Koop, MD is an American pediatric surgeon and public health administrator. He was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and served as thirteenth Surgeon General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1989.-Early years:Koop was born...
to prepare a report on AIDS. (Koop was excluded from the Executive Task Force on AIDS established in 1983 by his immediate superior, Assistant Secretary of Health Edward Brandt.) Without allowing Reagan's domestic policy advisers to review the report, Koop released the report at a press conference on October 22, 1986. - Attorney Geoffrey BowersGeoffrey BowersGeoffrey F. Bowers was the plaintiff in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases to go to public hearing.-Early life:Bowers was born in 1954 in Massachusetts. He received his bachelor's degree from Brown University where he studied political science. He worked in a factory and as a television...
is fired from the firm of Baker & McKenzieBaker & McKenzieBaker & McKenzie is an international law firm, founded in Chicago in 1949 by Russell Baker and John McKenzie. It is home to more than 3,800 lawyers spread over 70 offices in 42 different countries....
after AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcomaKaposi's sarcomaKaposi's sarcoma is a tumor caused by Human herpesvirus 8 , also known as Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus . It was originally described by Moritz Kaposi , a Hungarian dermatologist practicing at the University of Vienna in 1872. It became more widely known as one of the AIDS defining...
lesions appeared on his face. The firm maintained that he was fired purely for his performance. He sued the firm, in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases to go to a public hearing. These events were inspiration for the film PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia (film)Philadelphia is a 1993 American drama film that was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia. It was written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Jonathan Demme. The film stars Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington...
. - Model Gia CarangiGia CarangiGia Marie Carangi was an American fashion model during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Carangi is considered by some to be the first supermodel, although that title has been given to others, including Janice Dickinson, Dorian Leigh, and Jean Shrimpton...
dies of AIDS related illness on November 18. - First officially known cases in the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
1987
- AZTZidovudineZidovudine or azidothymidine is a nucleoside analog reverse-transcriptase inhibitor , a type of antiretroviral drug used for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. It is an analog of thymidine....
(zidovudine), the first antiretroviral drug, becomes available to treat HIV. - Charles LudlamCharles LudlamCharles Braun Ludlam was an American actor, director, and playwright.-Early life:Ludlam was born in Floral Park, New York, the son of Marjorie and Joseph William Ludlam. He was raised in Greenlawn, New York, on Long Island, and attended Harborfields High School. The fact that he was gay was not a...
dies of PCP pneumoniaPneumoniaPneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
due to AIDS on May 28, 1987. - Williamson, West Virginia closes its public swimming pool following an incident involving a local resident with HIV/AIDS. The Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
broadcasts a town hall meeting during which local residents express their fears about AIDS and homosexuality. - Randy ShiltsRandy ShiltsRandy Shilts was a pioneering gay American journalist and author. He worked as a freelance reporter for both The Advocate and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as for San Francisco Bay Area television stations....
investigative journalism book And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic published chronicling the 1980-1985 discovery and spread of HIV/AIDS, government indifference, and political infighting in the United States to what was initially perceived as a gay disease.
1988
- May, C. Everett Koop sends an eight-page, condensed version of his Surgeon General's Report on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome report named Understanding AIDS to all 107,000,000 households in the United States, becoming the first federal authority to provide explicit advice to Americans on how to protect themselves from AIDS.
- December 1, the first World AIDS DayWorld AIDS DayWorld AIDS Day, observed December 1 every year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Government and health officials observe the day, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an...
- In ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
take place the deaths of popular and legendary Rock singers Miguel Abuelo (March 26) and Federico Moura (December 21), both from AIDS complications and in Buenos Aires.
1989
- The television movie "The Ryan White Story" aired. It starred Judith LightJudith LightJudith Ellen Light is an American actress. Her television roles include Karen Wolek on the soap opera One Life to Live, Angela Bower on the sitcom Who's the Boss?, Claire Meade on ABC's TV series Ugly Betty and Judge Elizabeth "Liz" Donnelly on Law & Order Special Victims Unit.-Early life:Light...
as Jeanne, Lukas HaasLukas HaasLukas Daniel Haas is an American actor, known for roles both as a child and as an adult. His career has spanned more than 25 years during which time he has appeared in more than 36 feature films, as well as a number of television shows and theater productions.-Early life and career:Haas was born...
as Ryan and Nikki CoxNikki CoxNicole Avery "Nikki" Cox is an American actress known mostly for her roles on the television series Unhappily Ever After, Las Vegas, and Nikki.-Early life:...
as sister Andrea. Ryan WhiteRyan WhiteRyan Wayne White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States, after being expelled from middle school because of his infection. A hemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment and, when diagnosed...
had a small cameo appearance as Chad, a young patient with AIDS. Another AIDS-themed film, The Littlest Victims, debuted in 1989, biopicing James Oleske, the first U.S. physician to discover AIDS in newborns during AIDS' early years, when many thought it was only homosexually-spread.
1990s
1990
- British actor Ian CharlesonIan CharlesonIan Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
dies on January 6, 1990 from AIDS at the age of 40 — the first show-business death in the United Kingdom openly attributed to complications from AIDS. - NYC Artist/Social Activist Keith HaringKeith HaringKeith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.-Early life:...
dies on February 16,1990 from AIDS related illness. - Ryan WhiteRyan WhiteRyan Wayne White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States, after being expelled from middle school because of his infection. A hemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment and, when diagnosed...
- Dies on April 8, 1990 at the age of 18 from pneumonia caused by AIDS complications. - Congress enacted The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act or Ryan White Care ActRyan White Care ActThe Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act was an Act of the U.S. Congress named in honor of Ryan White, an Indiana teenager who contracted AIDS through a tainted hemophilia treatment in 1984, and was expelled from school because of the disease...
, the United States' largest federally funded health related program (excluding MedicaidMedicaidMedicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...
and MedicareMedicare (United States)Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
). - Brazilian singer CazuzaCazuzaAgenor Miranda Araújo Neto, better known as Cazuza was a Brazilian composer and singer, born in Rio de Janeiro. Along with Raul Seixas, Renato Russo and Os Mutantes, Cazuza is considered one of the best exponents of Brazilian rock music....
dies in Rio de Janeiro on July 7, 1990 at the age of 32 from an AIDS related illness.
1991
- A little over 24 hours after issuing the statement confirming that he has been tested HIV positive and had AIDS, Freddie MercuryFreddie MercuryFreddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
(Singer of the British band Queen) dies on November 24, 1991 at the age of 45. The official cause of death was bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS. - NBA star Magic JohnsonMagic JohnsonEarvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers...
publicly announces that he is HIV-positive.
1992
- The first combination drug therapies for HIV are introduced. Such "cocktails" are more effective than AZT alone and slow down the development of drug resistance.
- American actor Anthony PerkinsAnthony PerkinsAnthony Perkins was an American actor, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion and as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , and its three sequels.-Early life:...
, known for his role as Norman Bates in the PsychoPsycho (1960 film)Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
movies, dies from AIDS. - AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n singer Peter AllenPeter AllenPeter Allen was an Australian songwriter and entertainer. His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, Arthur's Theme, winning an Academy Award in 1981...
dies from complications due to AIDS on June 18, 1992 - Popular science fiction writer Isaac AsimovIsaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
dies on April 6. Ten years later, his wife revealed that his death was due to AIDS-related complications. The writer was infected during a blood transfusion in 1983. - At the Royal Free HospitalRoyal Free HospitalThe Royal Free Hospital is a major teaching hospital in Hampstead, London, England and part of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust....
in London, an out-patients' centre for HIV and AIDS is opened by Ian McKellenIan McKellenSir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
, and is named the Ian Charleson Day Centre after actor Ian CharlesonIan CharlesonIan Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
.
1993
- TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
star Arthur AsheArthur AsheArthur Robert Ashe, Jr. was a professional tennis player, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. During his career, he won three Grand Slam titles, putting him among the best ever from the United States...
dies from related complications
1994
- Elizabeth GlaserElizabeth GlaserElizabeth Glaser, born Elizabeth Meyer, , was a major American AIDS activist and child advocate married to actor and director Paul Michael Glaser. She contracted HIV very early in the modern AIDS epidemic after receiving an HIV-contaminated blood transfusion in 1981 while giving birth...
, wife of Starsky & Hutch's Paul Michael GlaserPaul Michael GlaserPaul Michael Glaser is an American actor and director, perhaps best known for his role as Detective David Starsky on the 1970s television series Starsky and Hutch; he also appeared as Captain Jack Steeper on the 1999 to 2005 NBC series Third Watch.-Early life:Glaser, the youngest of three...
, dies from related complications almost ten years after receiving an infected blood transfusion while giving birth and unknowingly passing it on to her daughter, Ariel, and son, Jake. Ariel died in 1988, Jake is living with HIV, with Paul Michael remaining negative.
1995
- SaquinavirSaquinavirSaquinavir is an antiretroviral drug used in HIV therapy. It falls in the protease inhibitor class. Two formulations have been marketed:*a hard-gel capsule formulation of the mesylate, with trade name Invirase, which requires combination with ritonavir to increase the saquinavir bioavailability;*a...
, a new type of protease inhibitorProtease inhibitorProtease inhibitor can refer to:* Protease inhibitor : a class of medication that inhibits viral protease* Protease inhibitor : molecules that inhibit proteases...
drug, becomes available to treat HIV. Highly active antiretroviral therapyAntiretroviral drugAntiretroviral drugs are medications for the treatment of infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV. When several such drugs, typically three or four, are taken in combination, the approach is known as Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, or HAART...
(HAART) becomes possible. Within two years, death rates due to AIDS will have plummeted in the developed world. - Rapper Eazy-EEazy-EEric Lynn Wright , better known by his stage name Eazy-E, was an American rapper who performed solo and in the hip hop group N.W.A. Wright was born to Richard and Kathie Wright in Compton, California...
dies from AIDS-related pneumonia on March 26, 1995. - Legendary British DJ and entertainer Kenny EverettKenny EverettKenny Everett was an English comedian, radio DJ and television entertainer. Born Maurice James Christopher Cole, Everett is best known for his career as a radio DJ and for the Kenny Everett television shows.-Early life:...
dies from AIDSAIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
on 4 April 1995. - OaklandOakland, CaliforniaOakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
resident Jeff Getty becomes the first person to receive a bone marrow transplant from a Baboon, as an experimental procedure to treat his HIV infection. The graft did not take, but Getty experienced some reduction in symptomology, before dying of heart failure after cancer treatment, in 2006.
1996
- Robert Gallo's discovery that some natural compounds known as chemokineChemokineChemokines are a family of small cytokines, or proteins secreted by cells. Their name is derived from their ability to induce directed chemotaxis in nearby responsive cells; they are chemotactic cytokines...
s can block HIV and halt the progression of AIDS is hailed by Science magazine as one of that year's most important scientific breakthroughs.
1997
- September 2, "The most recent estimate of the number of Americans infected (with HIV), 750,000, is only half the total that government officials used to cite over a decade ago, at a time when experts believed that as many as 1.5 million people carried the virus." article in the Washington Post.
- Based on the Bangui definition the WHO's cumulative number of reported AIDS cases from 1980 through 1997 for all of Africa is 620,000. For comparison, the cumulative total of AIDS cases in the USA through 1997 is 641,087.
- December 7, "French President Jacques Chirac addressed Africa's top AIDS conference on Sunday [December 7, 1997] and called on the world's richest nations to create an AIDS therapy support fund to help Africa. According to Chirac, Africa struggles to care for two-thirds of the world's persons with AIDS without the benefit of expensive AIDS therapies. Chirac invited other countries, especially European nations, to create a fund that would help increase the number of AIDS studies and experiments. AIDS workers welcomed Chirac's speech and said they hoped France would promote the idea to the Group of Eight summit of the world's richest nations.”
1998
- December 10, International Human Rights Day, Treatment Action CampaignTreatment Action CampaignThe Treatment Action Campaign is a South African AIDS activist organization which was founded by the HIV-positive activist Zackie Achmat in 1998. TAC is rooted in the experiences, direct action tactics and anti-apartheid background of its founder...
(TAC) is launched to campaign for greater access to HIV treatment for all South Africans, by raising public awareness and understanding about issues surrounding the availability, affordability and use of HIV treatments. TAC campaigns against the view that AIDS is a death sentence.
1999
- January 31, studies suggest that a retrovirus, SIVcpz (simian immunodeficiency virus) from the common chimpanzeeChimpanzeeChimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
Pan troglodytes, may have passed to human populations in west equatorial Africa during the twentieth century and developed into various types of HIV. - Edward HooperEdward HooperEdward Hooper is a British journalist best known for his book, The River, which investigates the origins and early epidemiology of AIDS and makes a case for the OPV AIDS hypothesis, which states that the AIDS virus was accidentally created by scientists testing an experimental polio vaccine...
releases a book called The River, which accuses doctors who developed and administered the oral polio vaccine in 1950s Africa of unintentionally starting the AIDS epidemic. The OPV AIDS hypothesisOPV AIDS hypothesisThe oral polio vaccine AIDS hypothesis argues that the AIDS pandemic originated from live polio vaccines prepared in chimpanzee tissue cultures and then administered to up to one million Africans between 1957 and 1960 in experimental mass vaccination campaigns.Data from molecular biology and...
receives a great deal of publicity. It was later refuted by studies demonstrating the origins of HIV as a mutated variant of a simian immunodeficiency virusSimian immunodeficiency virusSimian immunodeficiency virus , also known as African Green Monkey virus and also as Monkey AIDS is a retrovirus able to infect at least 33 species of African primates...
that is lethal to humans. Hooper's hypothesis should not be confused with the Heart of Darkness origin theory.
2000s
2000- World Health OrganizationWorld Health OrganizationThe World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
estimates between 15% and 20% of new HIV infections worldwide are the result of blood transfusions, where the donors were not screened or inadequately screened for HIV.
2001
- September 21, FDA licenses the first nucleic acid test (NAT) systems intended for screening of blood and plasma donations.
2004
- January 5, "Individual risk of acquiring HIV and experiencing rapid disease progression is not uniform within populations", says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of NIAID.
2005
- January 21, CDC recommends anti-retroviral post-exposure prophylaxisPost-exposure prophylaxisPost-exposure prophylaxis is any prophylactic treatment started immediately after exposure to a pathogen , in order to prevent infection by the pathogen and the development of disease.-Rabies:...
for people exposed to HIV from rapes, accidents or occasional unsafe sex or drug use. This treatment should start no more than 72 hours after a person has been exposed to the virus, and the drugs should be used by patients for 28 days. This emergency drug treatment has been recommended since 1996 for health-care workers accidentally stuck with a needle, splashed in the eye with blood, or exposed in some other way on the job. - A highly resistant strain of HIV linked to rapid progression to AIDS is identified in New York City.
2006
- November 9, SIV found in gorillas.
2007
- The first case of someone being cured of HIV. A San Francisco man, Timothy Ray Brown, coinfected with leukemia and HIV, is cured from HIV due to his bone marrow transplant in Germany. Other similar cases begin being studied to confirm what is believed to be similar results.
2010s
2011- Confirmation of the first patient cured of HIV, Timothy Ray Brown, as having a negative HIV status, 4 years after treatment.
External links
- Important milestones in the U.S. HIV/AIDS epidemic
- Flash Global HIV/AIDS Timeline from the Kaiser Family Foundation