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Chronology of AIDS in San Francisco, 1983
January
- Early in year: New York City health department establishes formal AIDS surveillance program.
- Early in year: Beginning of bathhouse crisis. Formal AIDS infection control guidelines instituted at San Francisco General Hospital.
- January 1 First outpatient clinic dedicated to AIDS (Ward 86) opens, at San Francisco General Hospital.
- January 4 CDC national conference to determine blood bank policy re blood screening for AIDS; no consensus.
- January 7 San Francisco's Irwin Memorial Blood Bank [IMBB] adds medical history questions designed to screen out donors from high-risk groups.
- January 7 CDC adds heterosexual partners of AIDS patients as fifth risk group for AIDS.
- January 14 National Hemophilia Foundation asks blood and plasma collectors to screen out high-risk donors.
- January 19 Irwin Memorial Blood Bank adds more questions on donor medical history.
- Luc Montagnier, Barre-Sinoussi, and Chermann at Pasteur Institute, seeking to isolate an AIDS virus, begin to grow cells from lymphadenopathy patient.
- January 25 Montagnier et al. find traces of reverse transcriptase in lymphadenopathy cell cultures.
- President of New York Blood Center denies evidence of transfusion AIDS.
- Orphan Drug Act becomes law, giving exclusive marketing rights, tax breaks, and other incentives to companies developing drugs for rare diseases.
February
- February 3 Physicians from UCSF KS Study Group urge IMBB to use hepatitis B core antibody test to screen out blood donors with AIDS.
- February 7 IMBB launches confidential questionnaire designed to detect potential blood donors with AIDS. Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights urges potential donors to refrain from donating if they have AIDS symptoms.
- At Cold Spring Harbor Workshop on AIDS, Robert Gallo suggests that a retrovirus probably causes AIDS and presumes a variant of HTLV-I or HTLV-II.
March
- March 4 MMWR first refers to "high risk" groups: gays with multiple sex partners, IVDUs, Haitians, and hemophiliacs.
- March 4 CDC states that "available data suggests that AIDS is caused by a transmissible agent."
- March 24 Food and Drug Administration [FDA] issues donor screening guidelines.
- CDC establishes clinical definition of AIDS in attempt to standardize epidemiological surveillance.
- UCSF Task Force on AIDS created, mainly to establish infection control policy.
- California requires reporting of AIDS cases, but not AIDS-Related Complex [ARC].
- Public Health Service [PHS] recommends members of high risk groups reduce number of sex partners.
- Mervyn Silverman, SFDH director, forms Medical Advisory Committee on AIDS.
April
- April 11 Date NCI officials later cite as when NCI became committed to finding AIDS etiology.
- April 14 Irwin Memorial Blood Bank adds donor sheet designed to screen out donors at high risk for AIDS.
- April 26 Recall of Feinstein, supported by White Panthers and some gay groups, fails.
- Congressman Phillip Burton dies; Sala Burton eventually elected to his seat.
- City of San Francisco and Shanti open hospice-type care center for neediest AIDS patients.
- Conant, Volberding, John Greenspan, Frank Jacobson, and others persuade Willie Brown to ask for $2.9 million in state funding for AIDS research.
May
- May 2 "Fighting for our Lives" march in San Francisco; similar march in NYC.
- May 6 Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA] press release: "Evidence suggests household contact may transmit AIDS."
- May 12 UCSF announces receipt of $1.2 million for AIDS research; Paul Volberding, principal investigator
- May 20 Montagnier publishes discovery of "T-cell lymphotrophic retrovirus," later called lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV).
- May 23 San Francisco Board of Supervisors votes $2.1 million for AIDS programs, $1 million of which is for out- and inpatient wards at SFGH.
- May 24 Edward Brandt, Assistant Secretary of Health, declares AIDS research #1 priority.
- May 31 Mervyn Silverman, backed by Feinstein and San Francisco Board of Supervisors, requires city bathhouses to post public health warnings about contracting AIDS.
- NIH announce $2.5 million for AIDS research. NCI and NIAID issue RFA for research on an infectious agent.
- Heat treatment to reduce infectious agents in transfused blood approved by FDA.
- San Francisco health department issues first brochure on AIDS.
- Feinstein declares first week in May AIDS Awareness Week.
June
- UC issues guidelines to protect AIDS patients and health workers.
- San Francisco Men's Health Study begins to recruit participants.
- Feinstein chairs first U.S. Conference of Mayors Task Force on AIDS.
July
- July 26 12-bed inpatient Special Care Unit (Ward 5B) opens at SFGH--first dedicated AIDS hospital unit in U.S.
- July 28 Universitywide Task Force on AIDS created to advise UC president on guidelines for and coordination of state-supported AIDS research at UC.
- California legislature approves $2.9 million for UC AIDS research.
- Abrams begins work at SFGH AIDS Clinic, bringing 200+ lymphadenopathy patients from UCSF.
August
- Willie Brown, Rudi Schmid, Conant and other AIDS researchers criticize UC for delays in releasing state funds for AIDS research.
September
- September 13 Montagnier sends Gallo sample of LAV.
- September 21 UCSF Task Force on AIDS publish infection control guidelines for health care workers caring for AIDS patients.
- At Cold Spring Harbor NCI meeting on human T-cell leukemia retroviruses, Montagnier et al. report LAV-like viruses in 5 lymphadenopathy patients and 3 AIDS patients, selective affinity of LAV for CD4 helper lymphocytes, and evidence of similarities between LAV and lentivirus causing equine infectious anemia. Gallo presents findings of HTLV-I in 10% of AIDS patients; doubts LAV is retrovirus.
- UC states that there is no scientific reason for healthy medical personnel to be excused from caring for AIDS patients.
- Bureau of Infectious Disease Control, SFDPH, begins active surveillance of AIDS cases in San Francisco.
November
- KS Research and Education Foundation [later San Francisco AIDS Foundation] contracts with State of California Department of Health Services to provide information and referral services on AIDS to other counties.
- Mika Popovic in Gallo's lab discovers method for growing AIDS virus in T-cells.
- San Francisco Department of Public Health asks for legal option to make baths off-limits to PWAs. Lawyers decide that medical uncertainties about AIDS prevent such action.
- Jay Levy obtains six viral isolates from AIDS patients but decides not to publish until further proof.
December
- Pasteur Institute applies for U.S. patent on diagnostic kit based on ELISA test for LAV antibodies.
- Feinstein votes against live-in lover legislation, angering gay community.
- AIDS Clinical Research Centers established with state funding at UCSF and UCLA to collect clinical and laboratory data.
- National Association of People with AIDS formed.
- Entry "AIDS" added to Cumulated Index Medicus.
- Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists passes resolution making AIDS a reportable condition.
- Hospice of San Francisco contracts with SFDPH to include AIDS patients in its care of terminally ill.
You may send comments or inquiries about the AIDS Chronology to shughes@library.berkeley.edu.
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