History of Aids- 1981-1986

We do not know how many people developed AIDS in the 1970s, or indeed in the years before. Neither do we know, and we probably never will know, where the AIDS virus HIV originated (see our origins page for some theories). But what we do know is:

"The dominant feature of this first period was silence, for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was unknown and transmission was not accompanied by signs or symptoms salient enough to be noticed. While rare, sporadic case reports of AIDS and sero-archaeological studies have documented human infections with HIV prior to 1970, available data suggest that the current pandemic started in the mid- to late 1970s. By 1980, HIV had spread to at least five continents (North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia). During this period of silence, spread was unchecked by awareness or any preventive action and approximately 100,000-300,000 persons may have been infected."

- Jonathan Mann -1

1981 History

Kaposi's Sarcoma (KS) was a rare form of relatively benign cancer that tended to occur in older people. But by March 1981 at least eight cases of a more aggressive form of KS had occurred amongst young gay men in New York.2

At about the same time there was an increase, in both California and New York, in the number of cases of a rare lung infection Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP)3. In April this increase in PCP was noticed at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. A drug technician, Sandra Ford, noticed a high number of requests for the drug pentamine, used in the treatment of PCP:

"A doctor was treating a gay man in his 20s who had pneumonia. Two weeks later, he called to ask for a refill of a rare drug that I handled. This was unusual - nobody ever asked for a refill. Patients usually were cured in one 10-day treatment or they died"

- Sandra Ford for Newsweek -4

In June, the CDC published a report about the occurrence, without identifiable cause, of PCP in five men in Los Angeles5. This report is sometimes referred to as the "beginning" of AIDS, but it might be more accurate to describe it as the beginning of the general awareness of AIDS in the USA.

A few days later, following these reports of PCP and other rare life-threatening opportunistic infections, the CDC formed a Task Force on Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (KSOI).6

Dr. Curran

Dr. Conant and Dr Volverg discussing Kaposi's Sarcoma. Circa 1981

Around this time a number of theories were developed about the possible cause of these opportunistic infections and cancers. Early theories included infection with cytomegalovirus, the use of amyl nitrite or butyl nitrate "poppers", and "immune overload".7 8 9

Because there was so little known about the transmission of what seemed to be a new disease, there was concern about contagion, and whether the disease could by passed on by people who had no apparent signs or symptoms.10 Knowledge about the disease was changing so quickly that certain assumptions made at this time were shown to be unfounded just a few months later. For example, in July 1981 Dr Curran of the CDC was reported as follows:

"Dr. Curran said there was no apparent danger to non homosexuals from contagion. 'The best evidence against contagion', he said, 'is that no cases have been reported to date outside the homosexual community or in women'"

- The New York Times -11

Just five months later, in December 1981, it was clear that the disease affected other population groups, when the first cases of PCP were reported in injecting drug users.12 At the same time the first case of AIDS was documented in the UK.13

1982 History

The disease still did not have a name, with different groups referring to it in different ways. The CDC generally referred to it by reference to the diseases that were occurring, for example lymphadenopathy (swollen glands), although on some occasions they referred to it as KSOI, the name already given to the CDC task force.14 15

In contrast some still linked the disease to it's initial occurrence in gay men, with the Lancet calling it the 'gay compromise syndrome', whilst at least one newspaper referred to it as GRID (gay-related immune deficiency),16 17 and another newspaper described it as 'gay cancer'.18 The disease was also called 'community-acquired immune dysfunction'.19

In June a report of a group of cases amongst