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Though the earliest confirmed AIDS case--then unrecognized as such--dates from 1959, [1] the first official recognition of AIDS was on June 5 1981, when the American Centers for Disease Control issued a press release describing five cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in Los Angeles.[2] The following month, cases of Kaposi's Sarcoma, a skin cancer, were reported. The first reports of these unusual cases were made to the CDC by Dr Michael Gottlieb of San Francisco.
While KS and PCP were not unknown to physicians, the tight clustering of cases was considered highly unusual. Most patients identified were sexually active homosexual men, many of whom were also discovered to be suffering from other chronic diseases later identified as opportunistic infections. Blood tests revealed that many of the patients were also lacking in adequate numbers of a class of white blood cells called CD4+ T cells. Many of the patients died within a few months.
Since most of the originally identified sufferers were homosexual men, the syndrome was initially referred to by doctors as "GRID" (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency), and was referred to in some sections of the media as "the gay plague." Almost at once, however, it was realised that the infected population included Haitian immigrants, intravenous drug users, blood transfusion recipients, and heterosexual women as well. The disease was officially renamed AIDS in 1982.
Until 1984, there were a number of theories about the possible causes of AIDS. The most widely held theory, right from the start, was that AIDS was caused by a virus. The evidence for this was mainly epidemiological. In 1983 a group of nine gay male AIDS patients in Los Angeles with interlocking sexual contacts, including a sexual contact in New York shared by three of the Los Angeles men who were strangers to each other was described; this group became known as the "Los Angeles Cluster." This pattern immediately suggested that an infectious agent was responsible.
Other possible theories at this time included the "immune overload" theory, popularised in the gay press by the activist Michael Callen . This theory suggested that AIDS arose from the effects of excessive drug use and sexual promiscuity among so-called "fast lane" gay men. It was also suggested that the anal intake of semen during anal sex, when combined with the use of nitrite inhalants (known as "poppers"), might suppress the immune system. Few medical specialists accepted these theories, but they became established among non-medical commentators and are still promoted by some of those who deny that HIV causes AIDS.
It was also commonly believed that the spread of AIDS to the western world was attributable to the sexual behaviour of a single man known as Patient Zero, a Canadian flight attendant who was said to have had sex with over 1,000 men in various countries. This theory, popularised by the gay journalist Randy Shilts in his book And the Band Played On, and later made into a movie, has since been disproven.
In 1984 two scientists, Dr Robert Gallo in the United States and Professor Jean Luc Montagnier in France, independently isolated the virus which causes AIDS. After a prolonged dispute, they agreed to share credit for its discovery, and it was given the name Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in 1986. The discovery of the virus allowed the rapid development of an antibody test, which allowed people at risk to know whether they were infected and therefore at risk of developing AIDS. It also allowed research on possible treatments and a possible vaccine to begin.
Sufferers of AIDS in the early days were frequently ostracized by their communities, friends, and even families. Ryan White, for example, was a young American boy who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion, and was forced to withdraw from school because of protests by the parents of other children. Actor Rock Hudson left the nighttime drama Dynasty after it was revealed that he had the disease; his love interest on the program, actress Linda Evans, was urged to get tested due to the two sharing kisses. Sufferers were isolated; people were afraid to be close to them as it was commonly believed that AIDS could be transmitted by casual contact such as holding hands, kissing, hugging, or sharing cups, dishes or eating utensils.
Gay men were frequently blamed for the advent and spread of AIDS in the West. (See also AIDS in the United States.) Some claimed that AIDS was a punishment from God for homosexuality (this belief is still espoused by some religious groups, both Christian and Muslim). Others claimed that the "depraved lifestyles" of gay men were responsible. It is true that in the early years AIDS spread quickly through gay communities and that a majority of early sufferers were gay men, but this is in part due to the fact that birth control was unnecessary with same-sex partners so gay men were unlikely to use condoms, now considered one of the best ways (other than abstinence) to prevent the spread of HIV.
The initial focus on gay men proved very damaging since it distracted attention from the rapid spread of HIV infection among heterosexuals, particularly in Africa and the Caribbean, and later in parts of Asia, and, some believe, because institutionalized homophobia prevented quick action against HIV and AIDS.
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