HIV/AIDS History

June 5, 1981

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports five gay men in Los Angeles are suffering from a rare pneumonia found in patients with failing immune systems.

May 1983

Human T-Cell leukemia virus is identified in patients with AIDS. Identified as the virus that causes AIDS, it is later renamed human immunodeficiency virus,

or HIV.

December 1984

Ryan White, a 13-year-old Indiana boy, is diagnosed with AIDS. He contracted it through a blood-clotting agent used to treat his hemophilia. The following year, he is barred from school for fear the disease will spread.

Oct. 2, 1985

Rock Hudson, a Hollywood heartthrob who epitomized the clean-cut American male, dies after a year-long battle with AIDS. It is the first celebrity AIDS death.

May 26, 1988

The government mails "Understanding AIDS," an eight-page educational pamphlet with information on how the disease is transmitted, to 110 million American homes.

Aug. 18, 1989

The number of AIDS cases reported in the United States reaches 100,000.

April 8, 1990

Ryan White dies at an Indiana children's hospital after fighting an AIDS-related lung infection. His death gains worldwide attention, putting an innocent and youthful face on the disease's destruction.

June 1991

By the 10-year anniversary of the appearance of AIDS, more than 250,000 Americans have been diagnosed with AIDS cases and up to 1.5 million more people are infected with HIV.

Nov. 7, 1991

Magic Johnson, after leading the Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA championships, announces he is infected with HIV and says he is retiring from basketball. He encourages Americans to practice safe sex.

March 26, 1992

The government unveils advertising to remind Americans that AIDS reaches beyond urban drug addicts and gays.

April 8, 1992

Arthur Ashe, a pioneering black tennis player, announces he has AIDS, saying he was infected by a blood transfusion during heart surgery.

Feb. 6, 1993

Ashe dies at 49 of AIDS-related pneumonia.

Dec. 7, 1995

The Food and Drug Administration approves the nation's first protease inhibitor, a new class of drugs that cripples an enzyme HIV needs to reproduce. The government calls the treatment some of the most hopeful news in years for AIDS patients.

Dec. 30, 1996

Time magazine names as its Man of the Year researcher Dr. David Ho, one of the doctors who pioneered combinations of protease inhibitors and other drugs to treat AIDS. Almost overnight, the drugs changed AIDS from a death sentence to a manageable chronic illness.

Feb. 27, 1997

The government reports a 13 percent drop in AIDS deaths in the first half of 1996, the first significant drop in the epidemic's history.

Jan. 31, 1999

Researchers report they have convincing proof that the AIDS virus has spread three separate times from chimpanzees to people in Africa. One of these transmissions started the worldwide epidemic.

June 2001

At the 20th anniversary of AIDS, the number of Americans diagnosed with the disease tops 700,000. More than 420,000 have died. Worldwide, more than 36 million people are now infected with the AIDS virus, with more than 16,000 new infections each day.