American History: July 3, 1981: First Article about AIDS in the N.Y. Times by Robert Altman, “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals.”
Neither the term AIDS nor HIV existed back in 1981.
RARE CANCER SEEN IN 41 HOMOSEXUALS
By Lawrence K. Altman
Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer. Eight of the victims died less than 24 months after the diagnosis was made.
The cause of the outbreak is unknown, and there is as yet no evidence of contagion. But the doctors who have made the diagnoses, mostly in New York City and the San Francisco Bay area, are alerting other physicians who treat large numbers of homosexual men to the problem in an effort to help identify more cases and to reduce the delay in offering chemotherapy treatment.





