First HIV announcement

On 5 June 1981 the CDC releases its first HIV-related announcement. In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), it describes the cases of five patients in Los Angeles, previously healthy, who had developed pneumocystis pneumonia – what we now know as an AIDS-defining illness. Some refer to this announcement as the ‘beginning of AIDS’, as it marks the beginning of widespread medical awareness of the disease.