Wednesday,
June 6, 2001
Spread
of AIDS in San Francisco since 1981:
With
the 20th anniversary occurring yesterday, Pat Christen did an
AIDS Retrospective on Wednesday night. Here's my own version
of AIDS milestones as reported in the The New York Times:
1982
June 18
Clue
Found on Homosexuals' Precancer Syndrome
Federal epidemiologists investigating a serious disorder of
the body's immune system that has mostly afflicted male homosexuals
reported new evidence yesterday suggesting that the outbreak
is linked to an infectious agent.
1983
February 6
A
New Disease's Deadly Odyssey
The New York Times Magazine reports on the birth of a new disease.
1984
January 4
New
Cases Widen Views About AIDS
New evidence is reported suggesting AIDS can be spread heterosexually
and transmitted even before a person shows outward signs of
the disease.
April 24
New
U.S. Report Names Virus That May Cause AIDS
American researchers headed by Dr. Robert Gallo announce that
they have isolated the cause of AIDS and call the virus HTLV-3.
American health officials say they believe the American and
French viruses will turn out to be one in the same.
December 12
Lab
Worker Gets Immune Disorder
Federal health officials begin investigating the case of a lab
worker who contracted AIDS.
1985
September 20
U.S.
Counters Public Fears of AIDS
The three top federal health officials handling AIDS call a
news conference to say the "epidemic of fear" is absolutely
unnecessary.
October 2
Rock
Hudson, Screen Idol, Dies at 59
December 15
37%
in Poll Say AIDS Altered Their Attitude to Homosexuals
A Gallup poll shows that one-third of Americans are less favorably
disposed toward homosexuals as a result of AIDS.
1986
October 30
Federal
Efforts on AIDS Criticized as Gravely Weak
The National Academy of Sciences criticizes the Federal Government's
response to AIDS as gravely weak and calls for $2 billion a
year to avert a "medical catastrophe."
1987
February 1
Insurers
Are Pressing for AIDS Testing
Health insurers continue to push for AIDS tests as an eligibility
for insurance. Some states say they will block this move.
November 13, 1987
A.M.A.
Rules That Doctors Are Obligated to Treat AIDS
The American Medical Association rules that doctors are obligated
to provide treatment for people with AIDS.
1989
August 4
Strong
Evidence Discovered That AZT Holds Off AIDS
New research indicates that AZT holds off the onset of AIDS
in people showing mild immune system damage.
1990
April 9
Ryan
White Dies of AIDS at 18; His Struggle Helped Pierce Myths
Ryan White, a symbol of AIDS discrimination, dies at age 18.
August 22
Panel
Issues Broad Attack on U.S. Response to AIDS
The Federal Government's top AIDS panel issues a three-part
report assailing the Government's handling of the crisis.
1991
November 8
Magic
Johnson Ends His Career, Saying He Has AIDS Infection
Magic Johnson, one of the most popular and accomplished players
in basketball history, said that he had been infected by the
virus that causes AIDS and that he would retire immediately
from the Los Angeles Lakers.
November 24
The
Changing Profile of Patients With AIDS
Mirroring and in some cases surpassing a national trend, AIDS
in Westchester is increasingly a disease of families.
1992
September 26
Magic
Johnson Quits Panel on AIDS
Magic Johnson resigns from the National Commission on AIDS,
contending in a letter to President Bush that the Administration
had "utterly ignored" the commission's recommendations and "dropped
the ball" on AIDS.
1993
January 1
New
H.I.V. Strains Resist AIDS Drug
In increasing numbers of patients infected with H.I.V., the
virus that causes AIDS, it is showing early resistance to AZT,
the drug most commonly used against it, and researchers say
there is an urgent need to develop new drugs to combat the epidemic.
October 1
Giving
Addicts Clean Needles Cuts Spread of AIDS, U.S. Study Finds
The Federal Government's first comprehensive study of whether
giving clean needles to addicts can help prevent the spread
of AIDS has concluded that it does and that the Government should
finance a significant expansion of such programs.
1994
January 6
OPED:
Losing Ground Against AIDS
News reports in recent months suggest that we are entering a
new phase of the AIDS epidemic in which the effectiveness of
our prevention efforts will determine how successful we are
in fighting the disease.
March 11
AIDS
Cases Increase Among Heterosexuals
In a development that reflects the changing demographic face
of the AIDS epidemic in this country, heterosexual transmission
accounted for the largest proportionate increase in AIDS cases
reported last year.
1995
January 31
AIDS
Is Now the Leading Killer of Americans From 25 to 44
AIDS has become the leading cause of death among all Americans
aged 25 to 44, new Federal data show.
February 2
Combination
of Drugs Appears to Slow AIDS Virus, Studies Say
A new combination of drugs seems to suppress the AIDS virus
more effectively and for longer than existing combinations of
drugs, preliminary results of four American and European studies
show.
September 17
Experts
to Review AZT Role as the Chief Drug for H.I.V.
After years of recommending AZT as the first-line drug for treating
the virus that causes AIDS, Federal health officials are considering
a change because of surprising results with other drugs.
October 16
Patients
Pay High Price in Cuba's War on AIDS
Almost a decade after Cuba became the first country in the world
to quarantine people infected with H.I.V., the measure of control
it has gained over the outbreak is the envy of many other nations.
1996
January 27
President
Plans to Sign Bill to Cut Troops With H.I.V.
President Clinton plans to approve a military budget bill that
requires the Pentagon to discharge troops infected with the
virus that causes AIDS.
February 6
The
Doctor's World:
New AIDS Therapies Arise, but Who Can Afford the Bill?
Shortly after AIDS was first recognized in 1981, activists demanded:
give us new therapies. Now the latest worry of activists and
many others concerned about the costs of health care is: who
can afford them?
July 12
Scientists
Display Substantial Gains in AIDS
Treament Results from several studies showed that whether people
were infected for weeks or years combinations of new and older
drugs suppressed the virus below the limits of detection for
long periods of time.
From The Associated Press :
October 11, 1996
Slide
Show: The National AIDS Memorial Quilt
The National AIDS Memorial Quilt was unfurled on the Washington
Mall.
1997
February 28
U.S.
Reporting Sharp Decrease in AIDS Deaths
For the first time since the AIDS epidemic began in 1981, the
number of deaths from the disease has dropped "substantially"
across the country.
March 16
As
More Cases Arise in People Over 50, a Silent Group Slowly Gets
Help
Wrinkled faces do not appear on billboards promoting safe sex.
Researchers have not investigated the interaction of AIDS drugs
with those for high blood pressure and other ailments of aging.
AIDS and older people is not a popular topic with the Gay Men's
Health Crisis or the American Association of Retired Persons.
1998
September 25
Wave
of Laws Aimed at People With H.I.V.
Reflecting a growing frustration and fear about AIDS, legislators
around the country are passing an increasing number of laws
intended to protect the public.
November 24
Dismaying
Experts, H.I.V. Infections Soar
AIDS virus infections worldwide have risen 10 percent over the
past year, showing a disturbing lack of progress in prevention,
the United Nations AIDS Program in Geneva said.
1999
April 20
After
17 Healthy Years, Hope of 'Safe' H.I.V. Dies
The ultimate dream of AIDS researchers is to find a nonvirulent
strain of H.I.V. and turn it into a safe, effective vaccine.
June 8
Researchers
Seek Volunteers to Test a New AIDS Vaccine
Newark and New Jersey have begun casting their nets for test
subjects for the world's first full-scale clinical trials of
an AIDS vaccine.
July 13
In
Africa, a Deadly Silence About AIDS Is Lifting
Earlier this year, AIDS became the leading killer in Africa,
a mere 18 years after the infection was first recognized. But
if political and religious leaders had responded with effective
public health programs much earlier, they might have prevented
hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of deaths.
2000
February 8
Promise and Peril of New Drugs for AIDS
In less than four years, the euphoria over the success of new
drug combinations to treat AIDS has yielded to the sobering
challenge of dealing with the drugs' complications and failures.
March 1
Harare
Journal: Zimbabwe's Sad Lack: Land to Bury AIDS Victims
This struggling country has been short of a lot of things lately.
Fuel to fill up its cars. Foreign currency to pay for its imports.
And now, space to bury its dead.
March 19
South
Africa in a Furor Over Advice About AIDS
President Thabo Mbeki's decision to seek advice from two Americans
who argue that H.I.V. does not cause AIDS has raised fears that
South Africa's already soaring infection rate will climb still
further.
July 1
H.I.V.
Cases Jump in San Francisco
A small but sharp rise in new infections with the virus that
causes AIDS has been detected among gay men in San Francisco
over the last three years, San Francisco health officials said
yesterday.
August 2
Scientists
Warn of Inaction as AIDS Spreads in China
With the AIDS virus skipping silently through China, a number
of the country's leading medical experts have begun to complain
that the government has done little to determine the extent
of the problem.
2001
January 28
Look
at Brazil
Patent laws are malleable. Patients are educable. Drug companies
are vincible. The world's AIDS crisis is solvable.
February 26
In
India and Africa, Women's Low Status Worsens Their Risk of AIDS
The poverty and powerlessness of women in Africa and Asia are
combining to make them increasingly vulnerable to AIDS, which
some research groups are now calling a women's disease.
April 1
Cheaper
AIDS Drugs Pose More Dangers in Africa
American foundations and African experts say that unless public
health systems are strengthened in poor countries, the benefits
of more AIDS drugs at lower prices could be undone by ineffective
distribution or misuse, leading to the development of new strains
of drug-resistant viruses.
May 8
Free
AIDS Care Brings Hope to Botswana
Botswana's bountiful diamonds have made it rich enough to mount
a wide-ranging effort to save its most precious industry and
its people from the AIDS epidemic.
