- 1920s or 1930s (speculated): Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), which destroys immune cells in apes, leaps the species barrier to humans after a bushmeat hunter in Western-Central Africa is bitten by an infected animal or handles infected meat.

- 1978: Gays in the United States and Sweden start to show the first signs of a disease that will later be called AIDS.

- 1981: Eight young homosexuals in New York are diagnosed with Kaposi's Sarcoma, a skin cancer that usually occurs in older people, while five Los Angeles gays fall sick with a rare form of pneumonia. Together, these clusters alert the US authorities to something new: a disease that wrecks the immune system and exposes the body to opportunistic disease.

- 1982: AIDS gets its name -- acquired immune deficiency syndrome. A 20-month-old child dies from AIDS-related infection after a blood transfusion, providing first clear signs that AIDS can be transmitted by other than homosexual contact.

- 1983: France's Pasteur Institute, led by Luc Montagnier, isolates a virus that penetrates white blood cells, causing AIDS. They call the agent lympadenopathy-associated virus, or LAV. The first signs, derived from African men in Europe, emerge that heterosexuals can become infected, unleashing widespread anxiety. World Health Organisation (WHO) sets up global surveillance. Known number of AIDS cases (US only) is 3,064 by the end of the year.

- 1984: US scientist Robert Gallo announces he has isolated the virus, calling it HTLV-III, but it becomes clear that the agent is the same as LAV, identified a year earlier in France.

- 1985: First commercial tests for the AIDS virus help to clear blood banks of contamined blood. First International Conference on AIDS, held in Atlanta, Georgia. Movie actor Rock Hudson becomes first major public figure known to have died of AIDS. AIDS cases now reported from every region of the world. First case of AIDS reported in China.

- 1986: The agent that causes AIDS is officially known as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

- 1987: First anti-HIV drug, azidovudine (AZT) is approved after trials showed it slowed, but did not cure, the progress of the virus. AZT is a class of drug called reverse transcriptase inhibitor, which impedes virus replication. President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia announces his son has died of AIDS, a landmark in the campaign against stigma in Africa. US President Ronald Reagan, who had been accused of neglecting AIDS, delivers speech that describes the disease as "public enemy No.1."

- 1990: Death of Ryan White, a young American HIV-infected haemophiliac whose barring from school, because of HIV infection, unleashed a campaign against AIDS prejudice.

- 1991: Death of Freddy Mercury, lead singer with rock group Queen. US basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson announces he has HIV.

- 1992: Tennis star Arthur Ashe announces he was infected by a blood transfusion nine years earlier. Trial in France of health officials accused of allowing HIV-contaminated blood to be used in transfusions.

- 1993: Worrying signs emerge of resistance to AZT among long-term users. Death from AIDS of Russian ballet star Rudolf Nureyev. AIDS cases start to surge in South Africa.

- 1994: Studies show AZT can dramatically cut mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

- 1995: Two new classes of anti-HIV drugs, also targeting replication, are approved: protease inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Used in combination, they can reduce the viral load to below detectable levels, an achievement that triggers optimism that a cure has been found.

- 1996: United Nations sets up the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS). Introduction of the viral load test, a yardstick of disease progression. Epidemic starts to worsen in Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union, India, China.

- 1997: Number of AIDS deaths drops in the US for first time since 1981. Evidence emerges of toxic side-effects, resistance to the new antiretroviral drugs.

- 1998: Hopes that the antiretroviral "cocktail" is a cure are dashed. Evidence emerges of HIV "reservoirs" where the virus holes up and rebounds if the drugs are stopped.

- 2000: Southern Africa becomes the epicentre of what is now a global pandemic. In Botswana, up to one in four adults and 40 percent of pregnant women have HIV. South African President Thabo Mbeki is attacked around the world for questioning that AIDS is caused by HIV. Drugs companies start to cut prices for poor countries. UN states call for spread of HIV/AIDS to be halted and thrown into reverse by 2015 as part of Millennium Development Goals.

- 2001: Indian drugs company Cipla vows to make cheap generics of AIDS medications, putting pressure on multinationals to cut prices further. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan calls for an AIDS "war chest" of between seven to 10 billion dollars per year, compared to the one billion currently being spent. AIDS becomes leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. "Declaration of Commitment" by UN General Assembly calls for global pandemic to be halted and reversed by 2015.

- 2002: The Global Fund for Fighting AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria starts to make its first allocations. Fuzeon, first in a new class of anti-HIV drugs called fusion inhibitors, which aim to prevent the virus from docking with immune cells, rather than replicating within them after penetration, is found to be successful for people resistant to existing treatment.

- 2003: US President George Bush unveils plans to spend 15 billion dollars over five years to combat AIDS in Africa and Caribbean. First HIV vaccine to undergo a full trial proves to be a flop. New WHO Director General Lee Jong-Wook names AIDS as his top priority, calls for three million poor people to get access to antiretrovirals by end of 2005. In a landmark gesture, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao becomes first premier of his country to publicly shake the hands of an AIDS patients. Cost of antiretrovirals plummets, helped by World Trade Organisation (WTO) deal allowing poor, vulnerable countries to import generics.

- 2004: South Africa finally starts to provide free antiretrovirals in hospitals. G8 summit calls for a Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise that will beef up coordination and exchanges of information among the world's vaccine scientists.

- 2005: WHO's "Three by Five" initiative falls far short of goal, reaching only 1.3 million out of a hoped-for three million. But it is also praised for mobilising political commitment and funds and building medical infrastructure.

- 2006:

February - China issues first policy guidelines on dealing with AIDS epidemic, including requirement for local governments to offer free drugs and testing.

March - Lancet study says the number of new HIV infections in southern India has plunged by a third over four years, apparently due to safe-sex practices.

May - UNAIDS says more than 25 million people have now been killed by AIDS. But it revises downwards to 38.6 million the total living today with HIV/AIDS and says the overall infection rate has stabilised.

June - UN members set goal of universal access to HIV/AIDS care by 2010.

Aug 13-18 - 16th International AIDS Conference, in Toronto, Canada.

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