Timetable of Events

1954 - currently, the earliest date that a person is thought to have died of an AIDS type syndrome. The victim was a young rent-boy in New York.

1959 - The earliest that a person in the UK is thought to have had the virus - a sailor from Manchester.

1981 - 20 cases of Kaposi's Sarcoma appeared in young men NOT of Middle Eastern origin (where the condition is more common). The individuals were found to have damaged immune systems.

1983 - The Pasteur institute in Paris isolated a virus in the lymph glands of an individual thought to have the 'new' virus - they called the virus lymphadenopathy associated virus (LAV).

1984 - Robert Gallo in the USA isolated a retrovirus and antibodies that matched a virus in people with AIDS - HIV had been finally 'discovered'.