January
The CDC reported 3,000 cases of AIDS in the United Sates with 1,283
deaths. |
January
NHLBI convened an Ad Hoc Working Group on AIDS and Blood Transfusions. |
April
On April 23, DHHS held a press conference where HHS Secretary Margaret
Heckler announced that Dr. Robert Gallo of NCI had found the cause
of AIDS, the retrovirus HTLV-III. She also announced the development
of a diagnostic blood test to identify HTLV-III and expressed hope
that a vaccine against AIDS could be produced within two years. |
May
Four papers from Dr. Gallo’s laboratory demonstrating that the
HTLV-III retrovirus was the cause of AIDS were published in Science. |
May
NHLBI awarded a contract to establish a volunteer blood donor serum
repository for HTLV-III donor/recipient studies. |
May
NHLBI, CDC, and FDA cosponsored an AIDS ethics conference. |
May
NIDR intramural investigators showed that the AIDS virus can infect
not only T4 lymphocytes but also macrophages. |
June
Drs. Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier held a joint press conference
to announce that Gallo’s HTLV-III virus and Montagnier’s
LAV were almost certainly identical. |
June
The CDC reported 4,918 cases of AIDS in the United States with 2,221
deaths. |
Summer
Intensive study of the AIDS retrovirus was launched, resulting in
findings such as: the CD4 molecule on T4 helper lymphocytes was identified
as one receptor by which the AIDS virus entered cells. Genetic sequences
of HTLV-III and LAV were determined. |
September
A meeting between NCI investigators and Burroughs Wellcome pharmaceutical
company was held to discuss plans to test potential drugs as retrovirus
inhibitors. The outcome of this meeting was research and development
of AZT, the first anti-retroviral drug approved to treat AIDS. |
November
On November 2, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci was named NIAID director. |
November
Pasteur Institute investigators published the genetic sequence of
LAV. |
November
The CDC reported 6,993 cases of AIDS in the United States with 3,342
deaths. |
Fall
NIAID held a conference at its Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton,
Montana, on potential animal models for retrovirus infections and
their relationship to AIDS. |
