The first cases of AIDS were reported on this day in 1981 in a document produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detailing a rare and deadly type of lung infection observed among a small group of gay men in Los Angeles. All five would be dead shortly after the report’s publication. Media coverage led to many more cases being reported across the country, and it quickly became clear that there was an epidemic underway that had previously gone undetected. At the time, the disease still went without a name.
Within six months, 337 cases of severe immune deficiency had been identified; the CDC now estimates that around 42,000 people at that point had HIV. The agency first used the term Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in September 1982, the same year it became clear that HIV was spreading in populations other than gay men. Activism had gathered pace and brought attention to the epidemic, leading Congress to pass legislation in May 1983 that included the first funding specifically targeting AIDS research and treatment.
You can read an in-depth timeline on the history of HIV and AIDS in the United States and around the world at HIV.gov.
