HIV/AIDS Timeline

December 1 is World’s Aids Day. In honor of World’s Aids Day, this condensed timeline on the reporting and surveillance history of HIV/Aids was put together from a timeline by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supplemented with information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and from HDHHS.

1981 ----- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first reported in 1981. The first article about AIDS in the medical literature is ‘Pneumocystis Pneumonia’ by Dr. Michael Gottlieb and colleagues of University of California at Los Angeles on June 05, 1981, appeared in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR Vol. 30.pp. 250-52), a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publication. In July, a task force on Kaposi’s sarcoma and opportunistic infections was established at the CDC. In August, the CDC reported 108 cases of the new disease in U.S.

1982 ----- The National Cancer Institute (NCI) established an Epidemiology Working Group on Kaposi Sarcoma and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) intramural scientists conducted a study of adenovirus in patients with the new disease. An NIH working group to study the new disease was established with representatives from each institute and liaisons from the CDC and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June. In July, the name of acquired immune deficiency syndrome or AIDS was selected for the new disease at a meeting in Washington, DC, attended by federal officials, university researches, community activists and others. The CDC defined 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. By September, the CDC reported 593 cases of AIDS with 243 deaths in the U.S.

1983 ----- Epidemiological evidence showed that AIDS primarily affected gay men in San Francisco and New York City. In New Jersey, AIDS patients were primarily intravenous drug users and Haitians; 68 percent of cases were in African Americans or Latinos. By September the CDC reported 2,259 cases of AIDS in the U.S with 917 deaths.

1984 ----- Intensive study of the AIDS retrovirus was launched, resulting in finding such as: the CD4 molecule on T4 helper lymphocytes was identified as one receptor by which the AIDS virus entered cells. Genetic sequences of HTLV-III and LAV were determined. AIDS was identified as being caused by a human retrovirus, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). In November, the CDC reported 6,993 cases of AIDS in the U.S. with 3,342 deaths.

1985 ----- FDA approved first enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) test kit to screen for antibodies to HIV and CDC revised the case definition of AIDS to include additional specific disease conditions and to exclude people as AIDS cases if they have negative result on testing for serum antibody to HTLV-III/LAV. In May, the CDC reported 10,000 cases of AIDS in the U.S. with 4,942 deaths.

1987 ----- The World Health Organization (WHO) launched its Global Program on AIDS. The FDA approved first Western blot blood test more specific HIV diagnostic test and AZT as the first antiretroviral drug to be used as a treatment for AIDS. In the same year, the CDC released the results of a study on the prevalence of HIV infection in the U.S., indicating a shifting emphasis toward defining AIDS as infection with HIV rather than by defining particular indicator disease that characterized late-stage AIDS. In August, the CDC reported 40,051 cases of AIDS in the U.S. with 23,165 deaths.

1988 -----On December 1, the WHO Global Program on AIDS instituted the first World AIDS Day as an annual event to help people understand and fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

1993 ----- CDC revised its definition of AIDS to include all HIV-infected people who have CD4 T cells count <200 ul or a CD4 T cells percentage (of total lymphocytes) less than 14. In addition, the definition includes 26 clinical conditions (opportunistic infections) that affect people with advanced HIV disease.

1999 ----- Western Blot positive HIV tests done since 01/01/99 became reportable by Texas State Law.

2000 ----- The CDC expanded the HIV definition to include any detectable viral load assay completed since 01/01/00. The expanded HIV definition was also made reportable in Texas.

The CDC receives reports of AIDS cases from all U.S. states and territories and collects HIV infection reports from the US Virgin Islands and 29 states. Since the beginning of the epidemic, these data have been used to monitor trends of the disease, to enhance local, state and federal efforts to prevent HIV transmission, improve allocation of resources for treatment services and assist in evaluation the impact of public health interventions.

The HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program in the Bureau of Epidemiology of HDHHS collects HIV/AIDS information on the cases residing in Houston/Harris County. To report a case, please call 713.794.9181 or fax the information to 713.794.9182. For the cumulative numbers of HIV/AIDS cases and their distribution in Houston/Harris County and for our HIV/AIDS data request form, please visit the HDHHS web site.