Table 1.

Important milestones of research in HIV/AIDS biology, diagnosis, and genetics

General		Diagnostics		Viral biology and therapeutics		Genetics
Year	Event	Year	Event	Year	Event	Year	Event
1959	First case of AIDS confirmed retrospectively in Congo	1985	First ELISA test kit for screening of abs against HIV	1987	AZT (Zidovudine) approved as the first anti‐HIV drug	2004	First meta‐analysis of AIDS restriction genes in multiple cohorts compiled (9)
1981	Pneumocystis carinii outbreak and Kaposi’s sarcoma reported as gay compromise syndrome or gay‐related immune deficiency	1987	Western blot blood test kit for confirmation of infection	1995	Triple combination therapy approved as more effective ART	2007	First whole‐genome scan identified susceptibility loci in MHC at 6p21 (10)
1982	Syndrome renamed as AIDS	1996	Introduction of Amplicor HIV‐1 monitor test for viral load	1998	First human trial of AIDS vaccine begins in the United States	2008	Whole‐genome association identified susceptibility loci on 8q24.3 (11)
1983	Luc Montagnier isolated lymphadenopathy‐associated virus – HIV‐1	2001	Launch of TrueGene HIV‐1 genotyping kit and Open Gene DNA sequencing	2007	Crystal structure of gp120 in complex with neutralizing ab b12
1984	Identification of HIV‐1 (HTLVIII) by Robert Gallo	2002	Versant HIV RNA3.0 assay (bDNA) for viral load estimation	2008	Novel host‐derived factors for HIV‐1 life cycle identified (8)
1986	Global AIDS strategy launched by WHO	2002	Development of OraQuick Rapid HIV‐1 ab test	2008	Nobel prize awarded to Luc Montagnier, Francoise Barre‐Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen for their discoveries of HIV and HPV
1996	Launching of UNAIDS	2004	Introduction of OraSure rapid test for HIV‐2
1999	Source of origin of HIV traced to chimpanzee in West Central Africa	2004	Launching of Multispot HIV‐1/HIV‐2 rapid test

ab, antibody; ART, antiretroviral therapy; bDNA, branched DNA; ELISA, enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay; MHC, major histocompatibility complex; UNAIDS, Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS.