By ANTIGONE BARTON
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
1981:
Cases of a deadly syndrome with symptoms that include Kaposi’s Sarcoma, a skin cancer, and Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia are first reported. In June, the first case is reported in Florida. By the end of the year, 8 cases have been reported statewide.
1982:
The syndrome is called AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 66*
1983: AIDS surveillance officially begins in Florida.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 236
1984: HIV is identified as the virus that causes AIDS.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 545
1985:
The Food and Drug Administration approves the first HIV antibody test and national screening of the blood supply.
In Florida, 6,155 HIV tests are carried out, and 22 percent: 1,404: show HIV infection.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 1,090
1986: A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the state of Florida concludes that mosquitoes do not transmit HIV.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 2,111
1987: Florida becomes first state to set up voluntary HIV counseling and testing in all public health centers.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 3,748
1988: The Florida Omnibus AIDS Act prohibits discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 6,327
1989: Medicaid Waiver Program for AIDS care established.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 9,766
1990: In Florida, 143,877 HIV tests are carried out, and 4.5 percent: 6,540: show HIV infection.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 13,487
1991: Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 18,788
1992: Gov. Lawton Chiles commissions panel to address HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment issues.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 24,174
1993:
AIDS definition, which has included people sick with opportunistic infections, is expanded to include those with immune cell counts lower than 200.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 34,130
1994: Giving AZT to HIV-infected pregnant women reduces mother-to-child transmission by two-thirds.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 42,159
1995: In Florida, 215,296 HIV tests are carried out, and 2.2 percent: 4,799: show HIV infection.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 49,766
1996: With a series of anti-AIDS medications approved for patient use, the annual number of HIV/AIDS deaths decreases in Florida for the first time, dropping 29 percent from 4,336 in 1995 to 3,093 in 1996.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 56,591
1997: Officials estimate that 90,000 Floridians are living with HIV/AIDS. HIV infection reporting begins in Florida with 2,136 HIV cases reported.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 62,108
1998: Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 67,129
1999:
A statewide Minority HIV/AIDS coordinator is appointed and eight regional minority AIDS coordinators.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 72,102
2000: The number of people dying of AIDS in Florida jumps 5.4 percent to 1,631, the first increase since 1998.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 76,721
2001: A federally funded study reveals that crucial targets, including immigrants and black residents, are being ignored in HIV prevention and care efforts.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 81,354
2002: HIV/AIDS fact sheet translated into Haitian Creole is produced.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 86,112
2003: Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 90,627
2004: HIV continues to be the leading cause of death among black men and women in Florida between the ages of 25 to 44. It is the fifth leading cause of death for white men, and seventh leading cause of death for white women in that age group in Florida.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 96,144
2005: Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 101,013
2006: Statewide in 2006, 1,746 people died of AIDS, bringing the epidemic’s death toll in Florida to an estimated 45,888 people. More than a half million people in the United States were estimated to have died from AIDS by the end of 2006.
Cumulative Florida AIDS cases: 105,476