History
The disease still did not have a name, with different groups referring to it in different ways. The CDC generally referred to it by reference to the diseases that were occurring, for example lymphadenopathy (swollen glands), although on some occasions they referred to it as KSOI, the name already given to the CDC task force.14 15
In contrast some still linked the disease to its initial occurrence in gay men, with a letter in The Lancet calling it "gay compromise syndrome".16 Others called it GRID (gay-related immune deficiency), AID (acquired immunodeficiency disease), "gay cancer" or "community-acquired immune dysfunction".17 18
In June a report of a group of cases amongst gay men in Southern California suggested that the disease might be caused by an infectious agent that was sexually transmitted.19
By the beginning of July a total of 452 cases, from 23 states, had been reported to the CDC.20
Later that month the first reports appeared that the disease was occurring in Haitians, as well as haemophiliacs.21 22 This news soon led to speculation that the epidemic might have originated in Haiti, and caused some parents to withdraw their children from haemophiliac camps.23
The occurrence of the disease in non-homosexuals meant that names such as GRID were redundant. The acronym AIDS was suggested at a meeting in Washington, D.C., in July.24 By August this name was being used in newspapers and scientific journals.25 26 27 AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) was first properly defined by the CDC in September.28
By the beginning of July a total of 452 cases, from 23 states, had been reported to the CDC
An anagram of AIDS, SIDA, was created for use in French and Spanish.29 Doctors thought AIDS was an appropriate name because people acquired the condition rather than inherited it; because it resulted in a deficiency within the immune system; and because it was a syndrome, with a number of manifestations, rather than a single disease.30
Still very little was known about transmission and public anxiety continued to grow.
"It is frightening because no one knows what's causing it, said a 28-year old law student who went to the St. Mark's Clinic in Greenwich Village last week complaining of swollen glands, thought to be one early symptom of the disease. Every week a new theory comes out about how you're going to spread it."The New York Times 31
By 1982 a number of AIDS specific voluntary organisations had been set up in the USA. They included the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF), AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), and Gay Men's health Crisis (GMHC).32 In November 1982 the first AIDS organisation, the "Terry Higgins Trust" (later known as the Terrence Higgins Trust), was formally established in the UK, and by this time a number of AIDS organisations were already producing safer sex advice for gay men.33 34
In December a 20-month old child who had received multiple transfusions of blood and blood products died from infections related to AIDS.35 This case provided clearer evidence that AIDS was caused by an infectious agent, and it also caused additional concerns about the safety of the blood supply. Also in December, the CDC reported the first cases of possible mother to child transmission of AIDS.36
By the end of 1982 many more people were taking notice of this new disease, as it was clearer that a much wider group of people was going to be affected.
"When it began turning up in children and transfusion recipients, that was a turning point in terms of public perception. Up until then it was entirely a gay epidemic, and it was easy for the average person to say 'So what?' Now everyone could relate."Harold Jaffe of the CDC for newsweek 37
It was also becoming clear that AIDS was not a disease that just occurred in the USA. Throughout 1982 there were separate reports of the disease occurring in a number of European countries.38
Meanwhile in Uganda, doctors were seeing the first cases of a new, fatal wasting disease. This illness soon became known locally as 'slim'.39
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