A timeline of HIV/AIDS
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AIDS.gov originally posted this timeline in 2011 to highlight milestones of the 30th anniversary of the first reports of what became known as AIDS.
Updated with entries through 2016, the timeline reflects the history of the domestic epidemic from its origins in illness, fear, and death to our present, hope-filled years. Below are highlights from the first point on the timeline (1981) and the last point (2016).
1981
5 June: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publish a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), describing cases of a rare lung infection, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), in five young, previously healthy, gay men in Los Angeles. All the men have other unusual infections as well, indicating that their immune systems are not working; two have already died by the time the report is published. This edition of the MMWR marks the first official reporting of what will become known as the AIDS epidemic.
5–6 June: The Associated Press, The Los Angele...
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