Timeline of Major Events in the History of HIV and AIDS

Since the AIDS epidemic 'officially' started 25 years ago, more than 500,000 have died of AIDS related illnesses in the U.S. alone, and more than 20 million people have died worldwide. This is a timeline of major events in the history of AIDS and HIV.

1959
- What is believed to have been the first know case of AIDS is reported: A man in Belgian Congo goes to a clinic, suffering from severe joint pain and fatigue. Forty years later scientists find HIV in his saved blood sample.

1978
- A number of cases of Kaposi's sarcoma starts to appear among gay men in the U.S. They first call it The Gay Cancer but the illness will later be known as AIDS.

1981
- Five gay men are treated for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, which is later determined to be AIDS-related.
- Writer Larry Kramer and other concerned gay men gather together and form a group. The group holds a fundraiser on the dock of Fire Island asking for donations to cure "gay cancer."
- Cases appear in United Kingdom and among intravenous drug users.
- The first major stories on AIDS appear in Time, Newsweek, and on ABC's Good Morning America.

1982
- The term AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is coined.
- The Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) is founded.

1983
- Conservative leader Patrick Buchanan demands NYC Mayor Koch cancel Gay Pride Parade as a public health threat.
- The New York Post creates panic and fear with front page headlines "L.I. Grandma Died of AIDS" and "Junkie AIDS Victim was Housekeeper at Bellevue."
- Institut Pasteur (France) finds the virus (HIV).

1985
- The first AIDS-related play - The Normal Heart, by Larry Kramer - opens in New York and is later named one of the 100 greatest plays of the 20th century.
- The TV movie An Early Frost airs, bringing the AIDS crisis into living rooms across the U.S. (and many other countries.)
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the first HIV antibody test.
- FDA also imposes a lifetime ban on blood donations from any man who has had sex with another man since 1977.
- President Ronald Reagan mentions AIDS for the first time in a public speech.
- Actor Rock Hudson becomes the first well-known celebrity to die from AIDS.
- Elizabeth Taylor hosts the first Hollywood fundraiser for AIDS research.
- The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is founded as a response to the New York Post's coverage of HIV and AIDS.

1986
- The first section of AIDS Memorial Quilt is started in San Francisco.
- The "Silence = Death" campaign is launched.
- Cumulative known deaths: 16,301

1987
- AZT becomes the first drug approved for the treatment of HIV.
- ACT UP is founded.

1988
- As The World Turns features gay character who cares for partner with AIDS.
- DC Comics introduces a gay superhero, Extraño, who contracts HIV after he is bitten by the villain Hemo-Goblin.
- US bans discrimination against federal workers with HIV.

1989
- Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe dies of AIDS-related causes.
- Artist Keith Haring announces he has HIV. His art prices soar as collectors anticipate his death, which occurs a year later.

1990
- Hemophiliac Indiana teenager Ryan White dies. Congress passes the Ryan White Care Act, which provides funding for care for people with AIDS.
- President Ronald Reagan apologizes for his neglect of the AIDS crisis during his presidency.

1991
- Basketball player Magic Johnson announces that he has HIV.
- Actor Jeremy Irons introduces the red ribbon at the Tony Awards.
- Queen frontman Freddie Mercury dies from AIDS.


1992
- Actor Robert Reed from TV's The Brady Bunch dies from AIDS.
- FDA starts "accelerated approval" to get promising drugs approved faster.

1993
- Tony Kushner's Angels in America opens on Broadway.
- Philadelphia opens in theaters.
- The Congress and President Bill Clinton impose strict immigration laws to stop HIV-positive people from entering the U.S.
- Rudolf Nureyev, ballet dancer, dies from AIDS.

1994
- Pedro Zamora, a gay HIV-positive Cuban American, joins the third season of MTV's The Real World.
- Poz magazine for people living with HIV and AIDS is founded.
- A Benneton ad depicts US Pres. Ronald Reagan with Kaposi's sarcoma lesions.

1995
- Olympic diver Greg Louganis reveals that he has AIDS.
- A powerful new class of HIV drugs called protease inhibitors is approved by the FDA.

1996
- The number of deaths from AIDS in the U.S. is nearly 35,000.
- Time magazine announces AIDS researcher David Ho as Man of the Year for having pioneered the protease inhibitor studies.
- Rent opens on Broadway.
- ER features continuing character with HIV.

1997
- AIDS-related deaths decline in the U.S. by more than 40% due largely to HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy.)
- Cumulative deaths worldwide - 6,400,000

2000
- Queer As Folk debuts for American audiences, featuring a series regular character who is HIV-positive.

2002
- HIV is the leading cause of death worldwide among those aged 15 to 59.
- The FDA approves OraQuick, the first rapid HIV test.

2003
- Cumulative deaths from AIDS in the U.S. - 524,060.

2004
- Cumulative deaths from AIDS worldwide - 20 million.

2005
- A national scare erupts when one promiscuous crystal-meth user in NYC develops AIDS from HIV far more quickly than ever seen before. This sets off a premature uproar about a 'supervirus' that might be circulating throughout the nation. Ultimately it turns out to be an isolated incident, not a pandemic.
- The media marks the 25th year of AIDS with retrospectives and special reports.
- An estimated 40.3 million people, nearly half of them women, are living with HIV worldwide.

2006
- June 5 marks a quarter century since the first AIDS case was reported.
- There are more than 1 million cases of HIV in the U.S. and one out of 4 individuals who are HIV-positive are not diagnosed.
- The first 'one pill, once a day' HIV treatment regiment, Atripla, is approved by the FDA.

Sources: Glaad.org, Aegis.com, GMHC.org, Instinct Magazine