History of AIDS and the HIV Virus A brief history of AIDS. For more history on HIV and AIDS use the advanced search. AIDS, originally referred to as "gay cancer", "gay plague" or GRID (gay related immune deficiency) was first documented in 1981, when The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported an abnormally large number of reports of a rare form of cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma and Pneumocystis, in homosexual males. Less than a year later, the list of groups "at risk" of developing AIDS had grown to include intravenous drug users, recent Haitian immigrants and hemophiliacs regardless of sexual persuasion. The virus that causes AIDS, human immunodeficiency virus, was first discovered by French scientists in 1983. Since the initial discovery of the disease in January of 1981, it is estimated that AIDS has claimed more than 25 million lives worldwide, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in world history. Unfortunately, the stigma associated with the disease caused initial calls for research to fall on deaf ears. By the time President Ronald Reagan declared AIDS "public health enemy No. 1" in April of 1987, the disease had already claimed nearly 20,000 lives in America alone. Often reported to be a disease that only affected gays and IV drug users, by 1987, AIDS was being discovered in nearly every strata of society, in every age group. In 1988, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop announced his plan to mail an informational brochure on AIDS to every American household. The brochure explained in explicit language how AIDS was and was not transmitted and did much to shed light on the disease. However, despite these efforts and the fact that AIDS took the lives of celebrities like actor Rock Hudson and Liberace in the 1980s, it was the story of teenage AIDS victimRyan White, which brought AIDS into America's living rooms. Ryan, a white heterosexual male, was infected with HIV while receiving the blood product Factor VIII as part of his treatment for hemophilia. Ryan worked to educate people on the nature of the disease, and to show that there was little or no danger in associating with those infected. Ryan died in April of 1990, his funeral, a standing room only event in Indianapolis, Indiana, was attended by celebrities such as Elton John and Michael Jackson. The revelation that other heterosexual male celebrities, such as Magic Johnson and Arthur Ashe, were affected by HIV and AIDS, simply served to drive home the message that Ryan had spent the last years of his life trying to convey, AIDS is not a "gay disease." In August of 1990, four months and 10 days after Ryan White's death, President George H.W. Bush signed the United States' first piece of major AIDS legislation, the Ryan WhiteComprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act into law. The bill authorized $881 million in relief funds to the 16 cities hardest hit by the epidemic. However, Congress only appropriated $350 million. President Bush also signed the Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA) in 1990 which sought to protect people with HIV/AIDS from discrimination. The 90s saw several breakthroughs in AIDS research and the development of new drugs meant to combat the disease. Although AZT, the first drug approved to fight HIV, had been on the market since 1987, the introduction of protease inhibitors such as Saquinavirmarked a major advancement in the medical treatment of the disease. Nevertheless, as the death toll rose, voices from an ever diversifying section of society increased the calls for education and research. By the end of the 90s, AIDS had claimed nearly 300,000 Americans and nearly seven million people worldwide. In 2001, the United Nations approved its "blueprint" for fighting the global AIDS epidemic, calling for the creation of a global fund of up to $10 billion to combat AIDS in the developing world. In 2003, President George W. Bush signed a bill authorizing up to $15 billion for Global AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria treatment in developing nations. However, the Global AIDS epidemic continues to spiral out of control, with nearly 40.3 million people now living with the HIV virus. The vast majority of cases are found in Sub-Saharan Africa, where as many 25.8 million people are living with the disease.