Title for 1981

Unexplained cases of enlarged lymph nodes among gay men are observed and studied by physicians and researchers in New York City, including Dr. Mathilde Krim.

Drs. Michael S. Gottlieb, Joel D. Weisman, et al., report five cases of homosexual men with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, a rare form of pneumonia usually found only in severely immunosuppressed patients. The report is published in the June 5, 1981, issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Drs. Gottlieb and Weisman later are among amfAR’s founding directors. NY Times

The July 3, 1981, MMWR reports 26 cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), a rare cancer, in homosexual men in both New York and California.

The New York Times publishes the first news article about the mysterious new disease.

Initial use of the term gay-related immune deficiency (GRID) or “gay cancer” by the media and others mistakenly suggests an inherent link between homosexuality and the new disease.

The first AIDS service organization, Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), is founded in New York City.

U.S. YEAR-END STATISTICS

A total of 159 cases of the new disease are recorded in the U.S.