looking at AIDS widely

Harrison Narcotics Tax Act passed

Dec 17, 1914

The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act regulates the distribution of narcotics (heroin and other opiates). Federal law enforcement will later incorrectly classify cocaine, a central nervous system stimulant, as a "narcotic" and regulate it under the same legislation.​ The Harrison Narcotic Act (Francis B. Harrison - Dem. - NY) was originally a taxing measure on drugs such as morphine and cocaine, but it later effectively became a prohibition on such drugs

Otto Heinrich Warburg, Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology 1931

Dec 10, 1931

"for his discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme" and for his proof of the fermentative energy production of cancer cells.
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1931/warburg-facts.html

The Marijuana Tax Act passed

Aug 2, 1937

The Marijuana Tax Act (MTA) extends federal restrictions to cover marijuana. It imposed a tax on all sales of marijuana, hemp or cannabis in the United States. The Act was the brainchild of the head of the Federal Narcotics Bureau, Harry Anslinger, who had noticed an increase in the number of people smoking marijuana. The MTA effectively forced everybody involved with the marijuana trade to pay a tax to the government. It did not, however, make possessing or using cannabis a crime.

Antibiotics are manufactured for the first time

1942

Howard Florey, Ernst Chain and Edward Abraham succeeded in purifying the first penicillin, penicillin G, in 1942, but it did not become widely available outside the Allied military before 1945.
Howard Walter Florey, OM, FRS, FRCP (24 September 1898 – 21 February 1968) was an Australian pharmacologist and pathologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Sir Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for his role in the development of penicillin

Azidothymidine (AZT) is found in herring sperm

1961

Azidothymidine (AZT) is found in herring sperm, with identical azide group as azathioprine.

Introduction of the birth control pill jump-starts the sexual revolution

Feb 15, 1961

Although FDA-approved for contraceptive use, Searle never marketed Enovid 10 mg as a contraceptive. Eight months later, the FDA approved Enovid 5 mg for contraceptive use. In July 1961, Searle finally began marketing Enovid 5 mg (5 mg noretynodrel and 75 µg mestranol) to physicians as a contraceptive.
Contraceptives were not available to married women in all states until Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965 and were not available to unmarried women in all states until Eisenstadt v. Baird in 1972.

Azathioprine was first given after organ trasplantations

Apr 5, 1962

Azathioprine, in combination with prednisone, was first given after organ transplantations, in order to inhibit the cellular immunity and thus the rejection of the transplanted organ.
For many years, this kind of dual therapy with azathioprine and glucocorticoids was the standard antirejection regimen, until ciclosporin was introduced into clinical practice in 1978.

Azidothymidine (AZT) is synthetically manufactured

1964

Azidothymidine was first synthesized at the Michigan Cancer foundation in 1964 as part of a program directed toward the discovery of anticancer drugs. It gave negative results and attracted little further interest. In 1974, Wolfram Ostertag (Germany) reported that AZT specifically targeted Friend virus. This report attracted little interest from other researchers as the Friend leukemia virus is a retrovirus, and at the time, there were no known human diseases caused by retroviruses.

Azidothymidine (AZT) is tested as an anti-cancer chemotherapy

1965

Azidothymidine (AZT) is tested as an anti-cancer chemotherapy in rats with leukemia. The animals further developed lymphatic cancer, which made plans for clinical trials in humans grind to halt.

Bactrim antibiotic entered the market

1969

Bactrim (aka Septra/Septrim) entered the pharmaceutical market, at first hailed as a miracle drug because of the dual-punch combination of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole, by which it was hoped to sidestep the problematic development of microbial drug-resistance.
https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/220651

It was first proven that Bactrim suppresses the cellular immune function

1970

In animal experiments It was proven that the trimethoprim in Bactrim suppresses the cellular immune function, and that this immunosuppressive power is comparable to that of Azathioprine. Additionally, it was shown that after a normal therapeutic dosage and duration, systemic Candida fungal infection occurred (one of the most frequent AIDS indicator diseases)

Discovery of Reverse Transcriptase by Howard Temin and David Baltimore

Jan 1, 1970

Reverse transcriptase was discovered only in 1970 by Howard Temin and David Baltimore, who received the Nobel Prize for this work in 1975.
The enzyme Reverse Transcriptase (RT) was wrongly assumed to occur exclusively in RNA tumor viruses, which were subsequently called retroviruses. It was maintained that a retrovirus would transcribe its RNA into human DNA, which could then result in cancerous cellular transformations.

The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (CDAPCA) passed

Oct 27, 1970

An Act to amend the Public Health Service Act and other laws to provide increased research, into, and prevention of, drug abuse and drug dependence; to provide for treatment and rehabilitation of drug abusers and drug dependent persons; and to strengthen existing law enforcement authority in the field of drug abuse. The Controlled Substances Act (CSA), Title II of the CDAPCA, is the legal foundation of the government's fight against the abuse of drugs and other substances.

Nixon's War On Drugs was created, describing illegal drugs as "public enemy number one in the United States."

Jun 17, 1971

“The Nixon campaign in 1968 [...] had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes [...] Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
John Ehrlichman -top adviser

President Nixon procalims the War on Cancer

Dec 23, 1971

Just before the Watergate scandal exploded, Nixon proclaims the War on Cancer.
The largest investment of funds in the history of medicine to date became focused on the hunt for cancer retroviruses.
As part of this national effort, in October 1971, the Army's Fort Detrick, Maryland, biological warfare facility was converted to a cancer research center, eventually becoming the Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, an internationally recognized center for cancer and AIDS research.

Rules for isolation of retroviruses were established

1973

In 1971, publications of several different research groups prove that RT occurs in nearly all forms of cellular life, and it's not specific to retroviruses. Under the direction of Luc Montagnier at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, accurate rules were codified for the proof and the isolation of retroviruses in human tumor cells. RT an other indirect and nonspecific markers no longer applied as proof of isolation.

Robert Gallo publish an article about Reverse Transcritase activity

Jan 1, 1973

"An endogenous and completely RNA-dependent... DNA polymerase [reverse transcriptase] activity was also found in this fraction [material of density 1.16 g/ml]. The activity was obtained from leukemic blood lymphocytes (and myeloblasts) and from PHA stimulated (but not unstimulated) normal human blood lymphocytes."
Gallo, RC et al. "On the nature of the Nucleic Acids and RNA dependent DNA Polymerase from ARN Tumor Viruses and Human Cells"
Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company 1973 (p.13-34)

First medical cases of microbial resistance against Bactrim are published

1974

First medical cases of microbial resistance against Bactrim are published.

Amyl Nitrite Employed in Homosexual Relations

Jan 1, 1975

The Gay Scene made use of Poppers' well-known muscle relaxant property. Taking poppers enables "the passive partner in anal intercourse to relax the anal musculature and thereby facilitate the introduction of the pennis" according to a 1975 report in the journal Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality. Labataille, Lorette. 1975; Vol 9, p. 122

'Toxicology of N-nitroso compounds' is published

Mar 1, 1975

The acute and chronic toxicity of N-nitrosamines and N-nitrosamides are reviewed in general terms. Emphasis is made of the relationship between metabolism and toxicity
The production and sales of volatile nitrites for recreational use was the new life-style factor that brought this problem to attention. The prevalence of nitrite use among a subset of male homosexuals was very high, almost every case of Kaposi's Sarcoma in the original AIDS patients included a history of prior chronic nitrite use

David Baltimore receive the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the reverse transcriptase enzime

Dec 12, 1975

David Baltimore and Howard Temin - independently of one another - discovered that viruses with genomes consisting of RNA can also be inserted into host cells' DNA. This takes place through an enzyme known as "reverse transcriptase". The discovery that the information in RNA can be transferred to DNA meant that the generally accepted rule that genetic information was only transferred in one direction - from DNA to RNA, to protein - had to be modified. Reverse transcriptase was discovered in 1970

Robert Gallo claims the first isolation of a retrovirus

Mar 18, 1976

Robert Gallo claims the first isolation of human retrovirus in leukemia cells: HL23V. Scientific peer-review showed that the previously codified rules had not been followed, and his proof of isolation was declared invalid. After close examination with electron microscopy, it was shown that the alleged retroviral particles emerging from the leukemia cells were nothing more than cellular waste and stress proteins. The rules of the Pasteur Institute were designed to prevent such mistakes as this

Venereal Transmission of Enteric Pathogens in Male Homosexuals http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/355633

Sep 26, 1977

Authors: Donna Mildvan, MD; Alvin M. Gelb, MD; Daniel William, MD
In two cases there was simultaneous or sequential occurrence of amebiasis, shigellosis, and giardiasis in male homosexuals. Enteric pathogens may, under the proper conditions, be venereally transmitted. In particular, the sexual practices of male homosexuals, most significantly, oral-anal contact, appear to provide the necessary link for transmission. Evidence suggests that this is a growing problem. (JAMA 238:1387-1389, 1977)

1977 Patents Act

Dec 8, 1977

1977 Patents Act allowed to patent new medical techniques or diagnostic devices.
In the US under President Carter, and soon after in the UK, patent protection was granted for manipulations of natural cell properties. With this downfall of humankind began the race to profit from the building blocks of life itself.

Poppers Warning: carcinogenic effects

Jan 1, 1978

In 1978, L.T. Sigell wrote in the American Journal of Psychiatry that the inhaled nitrites produced nitrosamine, known for its carcinogenic effects --A warning which Thomas Haley of the FDA likewise articulated.
"Health Hazards of Nitrite Inhalants" - Research Monograph Series 83. NIDA
"Review of the physiological effects of amyl, butyl and isobutyl nitrites" - Clinical Toxicology. May 1980.

Immunotoxic profile of NO gas is shown in experiments with animals

1980

Trimethoprim, azathiporine an NO gas (the active substance inhaled in 'poppers') are shown in animal experiments to have an identical immunotoxic profile, and also to be responsible for cancer cell transformation, particularly in Kaposi's Sarcoma. The carcinogenic power of nitrogen derivatives is based on, among other things, their ability to bind to iron-containing 'heme' groups in the cell organelles of the mitochondria, with associated inhibition of ATP synthesis (H. Kremer).

Crack Cocaine made its first appearance

Jun 1, 1980

Drugging America also has other secondary functions besides profitability. It debilitates de the segment of society most prone to resistance and rebellion: the young.
During the height of the Civil Rights and Vietnam war resistance movements, the CIA, in another government sanctioned program, MK-ULTRA, began to introduce a multitude of drugs into the nonconformist youth scene. It was a veritable drug supermarket where large number of vulnerable young people were targeted for the use of drugs.

Nixon's 'War on cancer' project is terminated

1981

The billion-dollar Nixon project was terminated, as Retrovirus-Cancer researchers had nothing to show after a decade of work. For the second time Robert Gallo claims the alleged isolation of a human retrovirus (HTLV). Again the Pasteur Institute rules were not followed, and again only surrogate markers were presented.

Studies prove Bactrim causes DNA damage in human cells

1981

Studies prove that Bactrim (Septra/Septrim) causes substantial DNA damage in human cells after even a short duration of ingestion. Nonetheless it is still prescribed to approximately 5% of the global population.

first article related to AIDS MMWR

Jun 5, 1981

Author: Dr. Michael Gottlieb
"a gay man repeatedly call for refill the rare drug used to treat for PCP".
The 5 patients did not suffer form the typical bacterial pneumonia but rather from a rare form (PCP) caused by the pathogen Pneumocistis Carinii, a ubiquitous fungal microbe that is inhaled by breathing. It has been shown that over 90% of normal children and adults have antibodies against this fungus. All of the PCP patients were treated with the chemoantibiotic Bactrim/Septra.

article of outbreaks of KS among homosexual males in NY

Jul 3, 1981

RARE CANCER SEEN IN 41 HOMOSEXUALS
Doctors in NYC and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer. Eight of the victims died less than 24 months after the diagnosis was made.
Dr. Curran said there was no apparent danger to nonhomosexuals 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.''
[None of the patients knew each other]

Since 1981, cause of the AIDS-indicating diseases was denied

Aug 1, 1981

Since 1981, the distinct causal relationship between the toxic burden profile and the occurrence of the so-called AIDS-indicating diseases (opportunistic infections and Kaposi's sarcoma) was denied, albeit arbitrarily, in favor of the hypothesis of a "new type of microbe". (H. Kremer)

Fast-lane Lifestyle: a possible cause of AIDS

Dec 10, 1981

In 1981, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), one of the world's most significant journals, published several articles at the same time singling out the so-called fast-lane lifestyle as a possible cause of AIDS. This lifestyle is characterized by an extremely poor diet and long-term intake of antibiotics and antifungal substances, which damage the mitochondria, the cells' powerhouses (plus numerous other medicines, later AZT and +)
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM198112103052402

the first American AIDS clinic is established in San Francisco

1982

In January, the first American AIDS clinic is established in San Francisco.
http://www.sfhiv.org/

first congressional hearings on HIV/AIDS

Apr 13, 1982

On April 13, U.S. Representative Henry Waxman convenes the first congressional hearings on HIV/AIDS. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that tens of thousands of people may be affected by the disease.
"It was the birth of an epidemic dictate without an epidemic agent, however its discovery was imminently expected after the allotment by the Reagan administration of the largest investment of funds in medical history" (H. Kremer)

First AIDS case deffinition

Sep 24, 1982

“AIDS” is used for the first time, and releases the first case definition of AIDS: “a disease at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell-mediated immunity, occurring in a person with no known case for diminished resistance to that disease.” 14 opportunistic diseases (PCP pneumonia, KS, cytomegalovirus, candidiasis), regardless any HIV infection. They excluded immune suppressed patients with known cause for that deficiency. AIDS diagnose required no identify cause of immune suppression.

CDC issues recommendations for preventing transmission

Mar 4, 1983

In the March 4 edition of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), CDC notes that most cases of AIDS have been reported among homosexual men with multiple sexual partners, injection drug users, Haitians, and hemophiliacs. The report suggests that AIDS may be caused by an infectious agent that is transmitted sexually or through exposure to blood or blood products and issues recommendations for preventing transmission.

Luc Montagnier published his LAV paper "Isolation of a T-lymphotropic retrovirus from a patient at risk for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)"

May 20, 1983

The French team took the supernatant from cultures containing tissue derived from AIDS patients and banded it in sucrose density gradients.They claimed that the 1.16gm/ml band represented purified virus. They had also not applied the rules regarding the correct isolation of retroviruses, which they made at their own institute in 1972. Nobody have published electron micrographs of the 1.16gm/ml band showing that the band contained nothing else but retroviral particles, that is, purified particles

14th annual Lesbian and Gay Pride parade in New York

Jun 27, 1983

A group advocating AIDS research marches down Fifth Avenue during the 14th annual Lesbian and Gay Pride parade in New York, June 27, 1983.

First revision of the AIDS case deffinition

1984

San Francisco officials order to close the bathhouses

1984

In October, San Francisco officials order bathhouses closed due to high-risk sexual activity occurring in these venues.
New York and Los Angeles follow suit within the year.

announcement of the discovery of HIV as the cause of AIDS

Apr 23, 1984

Margaret Heckler & Robert Gallo - 1984 Press Conference [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6zd3gdDKG8]

Robert Gallo publish his paper "Detection, isolation, and continuous production of cytopathic retroviruses (HTLV-III) from patients with AIDS and pre-AIDS"

May 4, 1984

"One cytopathic effect of HTLV-III in this system is the arrangement of multiple nuclei in a characteristic ring formation in giant cells of the infected T-cell population. These structures can be used as an indicator to detect HTLV-III in clinical specimens. This system opens the way to the routine detection of HTLV-III [...] in patients with AIDS or pre-AIDS and in healthy carriers, and it provides large amounts of virus for detailed molecular and immunological analyses."

teenager Ryan White is refused to entry school

1985

Ryan White, an Indiana teenager who contracted AIDS through contaminated blood products used to treat his hemophilia, is refused entry to his middle school. He goes on to speak publicly against AIDS stigma and discrimination.

FDA licenses the first blood test: ELISA

1985

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licenses the first commercial blood test, ELISA, to detect antibodies to HIV in the blood. Blood banks begin screening the U.S. blood supply.

Second revision of the AIDS case deffinition

Jan 11, 1985

CDC added 7 more diseases: histoplasmosis disseminated beyond the lungs or lymph nodes, isosporiasis causing chronic diarrhea for more than a month, bronchial or pulmonary candidiasis, many types of non­Hodgkin's lymphomas, Kaposi's sarcoma over the age of sixty, chronic lymphoid interstitial pneumonitis if a child, any cancer of the lymph system diagnosed three or more months after a diagnosis of any opportunistic infection. people with same clinical symptoms but no HIV or low T cells = no AIDS

First International AIDS Conference in Atlanta, Georgia

Apr 15, 1985

On April 15-17, 1985, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) host the first International AIDS Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ronald Reagan mentions AIDS publicly for the first time

Sep 17, 1985

On September 17, President Ronald Reagan mentions AIDS publicly for the first time, vowing in a letter to Congress to make AIDS a priority.

Rock Hudson dies of AIDS-related illness

Oct 2, 1985

Actor Rock Hudson dies of AIDS-related illness on October 2. Hudson leaves $250,000 to help set up the American Foundation for AIDS research (amfAR). Elizabeth Taylor serves as the founding National Chairman.

The CDC and WHO established the Bangui AIDS case definition

Oct 25, 1985

AIDS in Africa: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Vice President Al Gore (at the U.N. Security Council) have declared it to be an international security threat as grave as warfare.This meeting was engineered by an official from the CDC, Joseph McCormick. He wanted to establish a diagnostic definition of AIDS to be used in poor countries that lacked the equipment to do blood tests. "there's a one to one sex ratio of AIDS cases in Zaire."

the name HIV is officialy set up

May 1, 1986

the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses declares that the virus that causes AIDS will officially be known as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Third revision of the AIDS case deffinition

1987

the list of opportunistic infections indicative of AIDS grew to twenty­four, again enlarging the pool of potential AIDS patients.
By far the most important of the changes made in 1987 was the statement that "regardless of the presence of other causes of immunodeficiency, in the presence of laboratory evidence for HIV, any disease listed . . . indicates a diagnosis of AIDS." People with diseases identical to those classically used to define the syndrome are not AIDS patients in the absence of HIV

the book "and the Band Played On" is published

1987

Journalist Randy Shilts’ book about the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic, is published.

FDA approved RETROVIR (zidovudine, AZT) to treat HIV+ diagnosed people

Mar 19, 1987

RETROVIR, commonly known as AZT, is a Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs), wich blocks the reverse transcriptase enzime, thought to be used by HIV to make copies of itself.
The U.S. Congress approves $30 million in emergency funding to states for AZT—laying the groundwork for what will be the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), authorized by the Ryan White CARE Act in 1990.

NIDA Meeting on Nitrite Inhalants

Mar 31, 1987

NIDA reported that sales of [poppers] in just one US state added up to $50 million in 1976 (at $3 per vial, that equals more than 16 million bottles). "By 1970, poppers had permeated every angle of gay life", writes Harry Haverkos, who joined the CDC in 1981 and the American drug authorities NIDA in 1984 and was the leading AIDS official for both institutions. "And in 1979, more than 5 million people consumed poppers more than once a week."
Health Hazards of Nitrite Inhalants. Monograph 83

FDA approves the Western Blot blood test

Apr 1, 1987

In April, FDA approves the Western blot blood test kit, that is said to be a more specific test for HIV antibodies.

U.S. Public Health Service adds HIV as a “dangerous contagious disease”

May 16, 1987

On May 16, the U.S. Public Health Service adds HIV as a “dangerous contagious disease” to its immigration exclusion list and mandates testing for all visa applicants.

President Reagan's first public speech about AIDS

May 31, 1987

President Reagan makes his first public speech about AIDS and establishes a Presidential Commission on HIV.

US Congress bans the use of funds for AIDS education that “ promotes homosexual activities"

Jul 1, 1987

the U.S. Congress adopts the Helms Amendment, which bans the use of Federal funds for AIDS education materials that “promote or encourage, directly or indirectly, homosexual activities.”

WHO declares December 1 the World AIDS Day

1988

The World Health Organization (WHO) declares December 1 to be the first World AIDS Day.

FDA allows the importation of unapproved drugs

1988

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows the importation of unapproved drugs for persons with life-threatening illnesses, including HIV/AIDS.

In Africa more women than men diagnosed HIV+, UNAIDS reports

1988

UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) reports that the number of women living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa exceeds that of men.

First needle-exchange program (NEP) in North America

Apr 1, 1988

In April, the first comprehensive needle-exchange program (NEP) in North America is established in Tacoma, WA. San Francisco then establishes what becomes the largest NEP in the nation.

ACT UP protests at FDA for drug approvals

Oct 11, 1988

On October 11, ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) protests at FDA headquarters about the drug-approval process. Eight days later, FDA announces new regulations to speed up drug approvals.

Fauci endorses access to experimental treatments

1989

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), endorses giving HIV-positive people who do not qualify for clinical trials access to experimental treatments.

AIDS cases in the USA reaches 100,000

1989

The number of reported AIDS cases in the United States reaches 100,000.

Robert Mapplethorpe dies of AIDS-related illness

Mar 9, 1989

Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe dies of AIDS-related illness on March 9.

First guidelines for preventing PCP pneumonia

Jun 16, 1989

On June 16, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issue the first guidelines for preventing Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), an AIDS-related opportunistic infection, and a major cause of illness and death for people living with AIDS.

FDA approves AZT for pediatric use

Oct 26, 1990

On October 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves use of zidovudine (AZT) for pediatric AIDS.

Starts the Red Ribbon visual symbol

1991

The Visual AIDS Artists Caucus launches the Red Ribbon Project to create a visual symbol to demonstrate compassion for people living with AIDS and their caregivers. The red ribbon becomes the international symbol of AIDS awareness.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson announces he is HIV-positive.

Nov 7, 1991

On November 7, American basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson announces that he is HIV-positive.

Freddie Mercury died of bronchial pneumonia

Nov 24, 1991

On November 24, Freddie Mercury, lead singer/ songwriter of the rock band Queen, dies of bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/24/newsid_2546000/2546945.stm

Fourth revision of the AIDS case deffinition

1992

4th revision to include: any person who had developed a significant loss of a particular type of white blood cell called T-­helper lymphocytes. AIDS may now be diagnosed when the number of these T­helper cells falls below 200 per cubic millimeter of blood if the individual is HIV seropositive and even if he or she has no opportunistic infections. This latest proposed definition change has little, if any, scientific merit. AIDS cases may double, not because of AIDS spread but by definition itself

8th International AIDS Conference

1992

The 8th International AIDS Conference is originally scheduled to be held in Boston, but is moved to Amsterdam due to U.S. immigration restrictions on people living with HIV/AIDS.

Rudolf Nureyev dies of AIDS-related illness

Jan 6, 1993

World-renowned ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev dies of AIDS-related illness on January 6, and tennis star Arthur Ashe dies on February 3.

tennis star Arthur Ashe dies of AIDS-related illness

Feb 3, 1993

In the early 1980s, Ashe is believed to have contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he received during heart bypass surgery. Ashe publicly announced his illness in April 1992 and began working to educate others about HIV and AIDS. He founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health before his death from AIDS-related pneumonia at age 49 on February 6, 1993.
On June 20, 1993, he posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

ORI found Gallo guilty of misconduct

Jul 21, 1993

The Office of Research Integrity, US Department of Health, produce a detailed report indicting Robert Gallo for medical fraud. These charges are extraordinary important as they were drawn up by a panel of scientists appointed by America's most prestigious scientific institutions, the Academy of Scince and the Institute of Medicine, in 1992. This Popovic/Gallo scientific paper was allowed to remain available uncorrected, despite being found seriously flawed and deceptive.

CDC expand the case definition of AIDS

Dec 18, 1993

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expand the case definition of AIDS, declaring those with CD4 counts below 200 to have AIDS.
In that same MMWR, CDC adds three new conditions—pulmonary tuberculosis, recurrent pneumonia, and invasive cervical cancer—to the list of clinical indicators of AIDS. These new conditions mean that more women and injection drug users will be diagnosed with AIDS.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00018871.htm

Randy Shilts dies of AIDS-related illness

Feb 17, 1994

On February 17, Randy Shilts, a U.S. journalist who covered the AIDS epidemic and who authored And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic, dies of AIDS-related illness at age 42.

U.S. Public Health Service recommends AZT for pregnant women

Aug 5, 1994

On August 5, the U.S. Public Health Service recommends that pregnant women be given the antiretroviral drug AZT to reduce the risk of perinatal transmission of HIV.

Number of new AIDS cases declines for the first time

1996

The number of new AIDS cases diagnosed in the U.S. declines for the first time since the beginning of the epidemic.

AIDS Drugs Kill. Ban Toxic AZT. Sue Glaxo

1996

AIDS Drugs Kill. Ban Toxic AZT. Sue Glaxo

FDA approves the first HIV home testing and collection kit

May 14, 1996

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the first HIV home testing and collection kit

"AIDS: The Failure of Contemporary Science" gets published

Jun 1, 1996

'AIDS; The Failure of Contemporary Science', written by former Sunday Times science correspondent Neville Hodgkinson, has been released by its UK publisher.

11th International AIDS Conference, in Vancouver

Jul 7, 1996

In Vancouver, the 11th International AIDS Conference highlights the effectiveness of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), creating a period of optimism.
Hundreds of angry AIDS activists led by ACT UP San Francisco marched to the XI International Conference on AIDS. Screaming protestors marched behind a banner that read "AIDS Drugs Kill. Ban Toxic AZT. Sue Glaxo!"
They asserted that research efforts focusing on suppressing HIV are dangerously flawed.

First intent of micrographs of HIV purified particles

Jan 13, 1997

"Cell Membrane Vesicles Are a Major Contaminant of Gradient-Enriched Human immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Preparations"
Pablo Gluschankof; Isabelle Mondor; Hans R. Gelderblom; Quentin Sattentau
French-German Group 13/01/1997

Djamel Tahi interviews Luc Montagnier

Jul 18, 1997

Luc Montagnier: "That's is. So then analysis of the proteins of the virusdemands mass production and purification. It is necesary to do that". // "I repeat, we did not purify." // "I don't know if he [Gallo] really purified. I don't believe so". Pasteur Institute, 18/07/1997. Continuum 1998;5:30-34.

Resignation of Mark Pierpont, HIV/AIDS Prevention Program Coordinator, in Florida

Jun 17, 1999

Resignation of Mark Pierpont, HIV/AIDS Prevention Program Coordinator, in Florida
His letter was published in Continuum Magazine on June 3rd. http://www.immunity.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/v5n6.pdf

Premio Príncipe de Asturias a Robert Gallo y Luc Montagnier

May 17, 2000

El Jurado del Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Investigación Científica y Técnica para el año 2000 [...] acuerda por unanimidad conceder el Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Investigación Científica y Técnica 2000 a los investigadores Robert G. Gallo y Luc Montagnier reconociendo la originalidad, calidad, y extensión de su labor científica, así como la trascendencia práctica para el diagnóstico, prevención y tratamiento de la infección por el Virus de la Inmunodeficiencia Humana y el Sida.[...]

FDA approves TRUVADA to treat HIV infection

2004

Djamel Tahi interviewed Dr. Charles Dauguet, Electron Microscopist

Dec 1, 2005

"We have never seen virus particles [HIV] in the purified virus. What we have seen all the time is cellular debris, no virus particles [HIV]".
Dr, Charles Dauguet, Electron Microscopist for Dr. Luc Montagnier & Françoise Barrè-Sinoussi
Djamel Tahi videotaped interview with Dr. Charles Dauguet. December 2005.

Threat of world AIDS pandemic among heterosexuals is over

Jun 8, 2008

"In the first official admission that the universal prevention strategy promoted by the major Aids organisations may have been misdirected, Kevin de Cock, the head of the WHO's department of HIV/Aids said there will be no generalised epidemic of Aids in the heterosexual population outside Africa."
The Independent. 08/06/2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/threat-of-world-aids-pandemic-among-heterosexuals-is-over-report-admits-842478.html

Nobel prize for Luc Montagnier, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen

Oct 6, 2008

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008 was divided, one half awarded to Harald zur Hausen "for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer", the other half jointly to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier "for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus"

Letter to Science. Bruce Alberts, Alan Lechner and other 42 Rethinking Aids scientists and physicians

Dec 1, 2008

Letter to the editor of Science, Bruce Alberts and the CEO Alan Lechner from a group of prominent and well- respected scientists and physicians.
"On May 4, 1984 your journal published four papers by a group led by Dr. Robert Gallo. We are writing to express our serious concerns with regard to the integrity and veracity of the lead paper among these four of which Dr. Mikulas Popovic is the lead author. The other three are also of concern because they rely upon the conclusions of the lead paper"

First cases of Swine flu (H1N1) in US

Apr 26, 2009

Press briefing by Dr Fukuda: Containment is impossible

WHO last count of Influenza A (H1N1) worldwide

May 27, 2009

WHO last count of Influenza A (H1N1) worldwide:
48 countries:
13.398 cases
95 deaths

Barack Obama declared swine flu pandemic a national emergency.

Oct 26, 2009

The aim is to make it easier for hospitals to deal with the flood of cases that may appear in coming weeks.
The US had already said in April that the H1N1 virus was a public health emergency. This announcement allowed 12 million doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu to be released from national stockpiles.
CDC said cases of pandemic flu were continuing to climb rapidly in the US, with "many millions" of cases, 20,000 hospitalised and more than 1000 deaths confirmed by a positive test for the virus

The WHO declared H1N1 swine flu pandemic

Nov 6, 2009

Level six in the WHO’s rating scheme. This means the world’s vaccine industry can now switch from making vaccine for ordinary flu to pandemic vaccine (paid for by governments).
However companies are not likely to change production until they have finished their current production run of ordinary flu vaccine in July or August. That will be the case, even though that vaccine will be useless if swine flu behaves like previous pandemics and replaces the current, ordinary flu viruses.

WHO announces Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic is over

Jul 10, 2010

WHO Director General announces that the world is no longer in a pandemic.

CDC: all men who have sex with men should take AIDS drugs

Jan 29, 2011

The CDC suggest that all homosexual men should take AIDS drugs, prophilactically, regardless of their HIV status, in order to reduce the risk of HIV transmission.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/2011/prepmsm.html

WHO warns against the use of inaccurate blood tests

Jul 20, 2011

WHO warns against the use of inaccurate blood tests for active tuberculosis
A substandard test with unreliable results
The use of currently available commercial blood (serological) tests to diagnose active tuberculosis (TB) often leads to misdiagnosis, mistreatment and potential harm to public health, says WHO in a policy recommendation issued today. WHO is urging countries to ban the inaccurate and unapproved blood tests and instead rely on accurate microbiological or molecular tests.

FDA approves TRUVADA to use as PrEP

Jul 1, 2012