The 1980s Medicine and Health: Chronology

1980:      The World Health Organization formally announces the worldwide elimination of smallpox.

1980:     June 6 A U.S. Senate subcommittee is told of a baffling, recently discovered disease called toxic shock syndrome that frequently strikes young women and can cause death within a few days.

1980:     September 22 Rely brand tampons are recalled because federal studies link their use to increased risks of toxic shock syndrome.

1981:     January 8 Scientific studies confirm a long-term advantage in reducing cholesterol and saturated fats in the fight against heart disease.

1981:     January 13 A three-month study links toxic shock syndrome to the use of high-absorbency tampons and confirms that teenagers have the highest risk of developing the disease.

1981:     June A new disease that will come to be known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is first detected among homosexual men and intravenous drug users.

1982:     September 29 The first of seven people die in Chicago after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol painkilling capsules tainted with cyanide.

1982:     December 2 Physicians at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City successfully implant a permanent artificial heart in a sixty-one-year-old patient.

1982:     December 9 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta announce that AIDS is now spreading to infants and children.

1983:     January 25 A study by the Food Resource and Action Center links an eight-state increase in infant mortality to poverty brought on by the economic recession.

1983:     May 24 AIDS is called the nation's "number one priority" of the U.S. Public Health Service.

1984:     February 16 The American Heart Association, American Lung Association, and American Cancer Society denounce cigarette ads.

1984:     April 21 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirm news reports that French researchers have identified a virus thought to be the cause of AIDS.

1984:     October 26 Doctors in Loma Linda, California, replace the defective heart of a newborn baby girl known as "Baby Fae" with the heart of a baboon.

1985:     February 17 A third permanent artificial heart is implanted at Humana Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.

1985:     June The Renfrew Center, the first residential facility devoted exclusively to the treatment of the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia, is opened in Philadelphia.

1985:     September 9 New York City school districts are struck by a boycott when a seven-year-old AIDS victim is given permission to attend school.

1986:     May An international commission names the AIDS-causing virus the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV.

1986:     June 30 The federal government announces $100 million in contracts to step up research for a cure for AIDS.

1986:     September 19 The federal government announces that an experimental drug, azidothymidine (AZT), prolonged the lives of some AIDS victims.

1987:     March 20 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the marketing of AZT in the United States for treating symptoms of AIDS.

1987:     May 31 President Ronald Reagan refuses entry into the United States immigrants and aliens with AIDS.

1987:     October 11 The AIDS quilt is unfurled for the first time on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

1988:     May 12 The National Institutes of Health halt funding for artificial-heart programs, citing failures for all five patients who had received them.

1988:     June 1 The National Academy of Sciences criticizes the absence of strong federal leadership and support in the fight against AIDS.

1988:     June 27 Michigan becomes the first state to outlaw surrogate-mother contracts.

1989:     March 8 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it will support programs to supply hypodermic needles to drug addicts to help halt the spread of AIDS.

1989:     June 1 A New England Journal of Medicine article reports that the AIDS virus can lie dormant for up to three years before it is detected with standard blood tests.