History of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic

See also: Origins of HIV

Overviews and Articles

ACT UP Oral History Project Brings Activists' Words to Your Ears (Regularly Updated)
An online collection of more than two dozen (and growing) interviews with many of the people who were at the forefront of the original AIDS activist movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
From ACT UP Oral History Project
The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic: A Timeline of Key Milestones (Regularly Updated)
An interactive timeline designed to serve as a reference tool for many of the political, scientific, cultural and community events that have occurred since the beginning of the epidemic.
From Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Elton John to Write Book on the AIDS Epidemic (January 11, 2012)
From The Body
2011 HIV/AIDS Year in Review (December 1, 2011)
From The Body
A Golden Decade of Antiretroviral Drug Development (Fall 2011)
Success rate for new ARVs entering phases II-III surpassed 32% from 2003-2011; U.S. ADAP prescribing practices closely match recent ARV guidelines.
To read PDF, click here.
In TAGline, from Treatment Action Group
Harvard Chronicles the Early Days of AIDS Activism With Help From the ACT UP Oral History Project (October 27, 2011)
From The Body
Six Major HIV/AIDS Stories You May Have Missed (October 24, 2011)
From The Body
30 Years of AIDS Video: A Look Back From NIH's Dr. Anthony Fauci (August 22, 2011)
From AIDS.gov
Taking Our Place (Summer 2011)
On June 4, 1989, some 300 activists stormed the opening of the 5th International AIDS Conference in Montreal to demand that their voices be heard. Tim McCaskell reflects on a pivotal moment in Canadian AIDS activism.
To read PDF, click here.
In The Positive Side, from Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange
Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr: This Would Be the Epidemic of Our Generation (June 6, 2011)
In Science Speaks, from Center for Global Health Policy
The Smithsonian Chronicles Early Years of AIDS (June 6, 2011)
In The Washington Post
Thirty Years of HIV -- 1981-2011 (June 3, 2011)
To read PDF, click here.
In Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
30 Years of AIDS: Remembering How It Began -- From Those Who Were There (June 3, 2011)
From aidsmap.com
How a Red Ribbon Conquered the World (June 2, 2011)
From BBC News
There When AIDS Began: An Interview With Michael Gottlieb, M.D. (June 2, 2011)
For 30 years, Dr. Gottlieb has been at the forefront of HIV/AIDS research and medicine -- and through it all, he hasn't lost his passion or his empathy. In this interview, he sits down with friend and long-term HIV survivor Nelson Vergel to look back over the past 30 years and ponder those to come.
From The Body
CDC Organizes "HIV/AIDS: 30 Years of Leadership and Lessons" Lecture Series (May 24, 2011)
From U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The History of AIDS Exceptionalism (December 3, 2010)
From International AIDS Society
The Man That AIDS Forgot: Safe Sex Architect Richard Berkowitz (July 3, 2010)
From MyFabulousDisease.com
How the Denver Principles Changed AIDS (and Health Care) Forever (May 4, 2010)
From MyFabulousDisease.com
The Shrine of St. Vincent's (April 11, 2010)
The doomed hospital was ground zero for the AIDS epidemic. And now it'll be condos?
In New York Magazine
Twenty-Nine Years of Women Living With HIV: Past, Present and Future (March 2010)
In Twenty-Nine Years of Women Living With HIV: Past, Present and Future, from Terri Wilder
HIV/AIDS Research Efforts of New York Scientist Featured (July 24, 2009)
In Kaiser Daily U.S. HIV/AIDS Report, from Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
After 25 Years, a Landmark HIV Study Is Still Going Strong (April 25, 2009)
The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) is one for the history books: It's one of the most important HIV/AIDS studies ever done, and over the past 25 years it has brought about many major discoveries.
From National Public Radio
Lancet Opinion Piece Examines Progress Made Against HIV/AIDS (March 24, 2009)
In Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, from Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
The Biography of an HIV Doctor (January/February 2009)
A 20-year retrospective.
To read PDF, click here.
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
Renowned San Francisco Hospital Marks 25 Years of Fighting HIV (November 27, 2008)
On World AIDS Day, San Francisco General Hospital and members from the surrounding community looked back at 25 years in which they've played a pivotal role in HIV research and activism.
In Bay Area Reporter
HIV in Humans May Be 100 Years Old, Researchers Say (July 25, 2008)
In Science
HIV Frontlines: An Interview With Anthony Fauci, M.D. (June 12, 2008)
From The Body
25 Years of HIV (May 15, 2008)
In Nature
Dr. Anthony Fauci Reflects on 25 Years of HIV (May 14, 2008)
From National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
HIV Frontlines: Mark King Looks Back at the AIDS Epidemic's Darkest Hour in the U.S. (May 14, 2008)
In this powerful interview, King recounts the tremendous courage of people who fought through the U.S. epidemic during its terrifying early years.
From The Body
On an HIV Anniversary, Scientists Talk About the Progress of HIV Research (May 9, 2008)
From National Public Radio
HIV Arrived in U.S. From Haiti 10 Years Earlier Than Previously Believed, Study Says (October 31, 2007)
In Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, from Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
A Brief History of HIV (September/October 2007)
A look at the medical and political landscape.
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
Reason, Rationality and Madness and the AIDS Epidemic (October/November 2006)
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
Twenty-Five Years in the Fight Against AIDS: What Have We Learned? (October 2006)
To read PDF, click here.
In Project Inform Perspective, from Project Inform
Kramer: Nuremberg Trials for AIDS (June 19, 2006)
From The Petrelis Files
Timeline: 25 Years of AIDS (May 30, 2006)
From PBS
History of the HIV Epidemic (PowerPoint) (March 2006)
11 slides detailing the history of the HIV epidemic, focusing on antiretroviral treatment.
From New York/New Jersey AETC
HAART Turns 10 (January/February 2006)
At the 10-year anniversary of the combination HIV treatment era, Guy Pujol takes a look back at how far we've come, and on what the next 10 years may hold in store.
To read PDF, click here.
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
A Look Back at 1981-1986: In the Beginning of HIV and AIDS ... (January/February 2006)
To read PDF, click here.
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
Top 10: 2005 -- 10 Most Important Developments in HIV Medicine (December 2005)
To read PDF, click here.
In IAPAC Monthly, from International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care
The 10 Most Important Developments in HIV Medicine in 2001 (August 2005)
To read PDF, click here.
In IAPAC Monthly, from International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care
While the Virus Finds its Way Around the Drugs, Newer Treatments Hold Hope (May/June 2005)
To read PDF, click here.
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
20 Years Later, HIV's Discoverer Reflects on a Long, Hard Battle (November 12, 2004)
The Baltimore Sun recently sat down with Dr. Gallo to reflect on the epidemic's past, present and future.
In The Baltimore Sun
Change and Rumors of Change (September/October 2004)
26 AIDS advocates from around the world explain how their communities have changed in the past year.
In GMHC Treatment Issues, from Gay Men's Health Crisis
You Can't Be a People Unless You Have a History (September/October 2004)
A speech on queer history and the impact of AIDS on the gay/lesbian community, by lesbian activist and historian Maria Helena Dolan.
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
How AIDS Gave Gays Marriage (May 21, 2004)
In the 1980s, many people assumed that the U.S. AIDS crisis would push gay men even further out of mainstream society; as Christopher Caldwell explains, they couldn't have been more wrong.
In Financial Times
10 POZ Treatment Stories That Shook Our World (May 2004)
[Archived Article]
For its 10-year anniversary, POZ magazine lists its top 10 stories of the past decade.
In POZ
Why a Red Ribbon Means AIDS (November 7, 2003)
A brief story of how the once-ubiquitous AIDS awareness ribbon came to be.
From BBC News
Sidebar: Paris 2003 (September 2003)
[Archived Article]
2nd International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment.
In IAPAC Monthly, from International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care
The Agent Is Different, but the Anxiety Is Essentially the Same: Anthrax as AIDS (October 24-30, 2001)
In The Village Voice
The Last Word: The Denver Principles (July 2001)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
HIV Treatments: A History of Scientific Advance (July 2001)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
NIH Launches Online AIDS Oral History Project (June 4, 2001)
From U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
A Look Back at the History of AIDS in the U.S. (June 2001)
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
Remarks of Michael Callen to the New York Congressional Delegation, 1983 (February/March 2001)
Recalling Michael Callen's watershed 1983 speech.
In GMHC Treatment Issues, from Gay Men's Health Crisis
Milestones in the U.S. HIV Epidemic (PDF) (2001)
From U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2000: A Year of Endings and Beginnings (January/February 2001)
[Archived Article]
Developments in structured treatment interruptions, new treatments, clinical trial enrollment and treatment for Africa.
To read PDF, click here.
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
Diary of an HIV Doctor: Life During the Early Years of the Epidemic (November/December 2000)
To read PDF, click here.
In Positively Aware, from Test Positive Aware Network
Parallel Epidemics: AIDS in the Developed and Developing Worlds (1998)
In The Encyclopedia of AIDS
Congress, U.S. (1998)
In The Encyclopedia of AIDS
Epidemics, Historical (1998)
In The Encyclopedia of AIDS
The Era of AIDS (1998)
In The Encyclopedia of AIDS
The U.S. Presidency and HIV/AIDS (1998)
[Archived Article]
In The Encyclopedia of AIDS
The Encyclopedia of AIDS: : A Social, Political, Cultural, and Scientific Record of the HIV Epidemic (1998)
[Archived Article]
Select entries from each of the eight major topic sections of the Encyclopedia, including Basic Science and Epidemiology, Transmission and Prevention, Pathology and Treatment, Impacted Populations, Government and Activism, Policy and Law, Culture and Society and The Global Epidemic.
In The Encyclopedia of AIDS, from Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers
Elizabeth Glaser: Address at the 1992 Democratic National Convention (July 14, 1992)
Glazer, a widely known AIDS activist who went public about her status after she was infected with HIV during a blood transfusion while giving birth, died in 1994.
From American Rhetoric

2001: AIDS at Twenty

"Extraordinary Journey": Scientists Appraise 20-Year War Against AIDS (July 15, 2003)
In CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update, from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Living With AIDS -- 20 Years Later (November/December 2001)
In FDA Consumer, from U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Past_Present_and_Future@20 Years (August 2001)
To read PDF, click here.
In Project Inform Perspective, from Project Inform
Twenty Years of AIDS: An Exhibit of the Museum of the City of New York (August 2001)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
AIDS Epidemic Now 20 Years Old, but Still in Early Stages (June 5, 2001)
From UNAIDS
Background on the 20th Anniversary of AIDS (June 5, 2001)
From Office of Minority Health
AIDS at 20 (June 2001)
A great series of articles.
In Newsday
Twenty Years of AIDS (Summer/Autumn 2001)
In Bulletin of Experimental Treatments for AIDS, from San Francisco AIDS Foundation
The New York Times Covers the Grim 20th Anniversary of AIDS (Summer 2001)
Free registration required to read this article.
In The New York Times
Twenty Years of AIDS (June 2001)
By Cleve Jones, founder of the AIDS Quilt Project.
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
AIDS Is Twenty -- It Is Time to Grow Up! (June 2001)
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
The AIDS Time Line: 20 Years, 20 Drugs, 20 Million Deaths (Spring 2001)
In Women Alive Newsletter, from Women Alive
Two Decades of AIDS: Scenes From an Epidemic (January 2001)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive

Ronald Reagan's AIDS Legacy

Ronald Reagan and AIDS (September/October 2004)
David Salyer recaps some of the highlights of the Gipper's life and presidency -- and laments how he never used his formidable political skills to do something about AIDS during the epidemic's first years.
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
Ronald Reagan Remembered: The First Public Discussion on AIDS (June 12, 2004)
A transcript of the first public mention of AIDS in the Reagan White House, at a press conference on October 15, 1982.
In AIDS Treatment News, from AIDS Treatment News
Regarding the Death of Former President Ronald Reagan: A Letter to My Best Friend, Steven Powsner (June 6, 2004)
By Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, on Reagan's inaction during the early days of the AIDS epidemic.
From National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Rewriting the Script on Reagan: Why the President Ignored AIDS (November 14, 2003)
Dartmouth College instructor Michael Bronski offers a thoughtful analysis of Ronald Reagan's decision to pay so little attention to the growing AIDS epidemic during his tenure as president.
In Forward

First Reports of HIV in the U.S.

Today in History -- June 5 (June 5, 2009)
In CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update, from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
HIV/AIDS: A Disease Named, Research Continues (August 2006)
From Infectious Disease News
HIV/AIDS: Unfolding Cases of an Escalating, Rare Cancer (July 2006)
From Infectious Disease News
HIV/AIDS: The Discovery of an Unknown, Deadly Virus (June 2006)
From Infectious Disease News
Follow-Up on Kaposi's Sarcoma and Pneumocystis Pneumonia (PDF) (August 28, 1981)
In Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Kaposi's Sarcoma and Pneumocystis Pneumonia Among Homosexual Men -- New York City and California (PDF) (July 4, 1981)
In Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Pneumocystis Pneumonia -- Los Angeles (June 5, 1981)
The first published case reports of what ultimately came to be known as AIDS.
To read PDF, click here.
In Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention