President Clinton recommends sizable increases in Ryan White CARE Act funding. The controversy over a planned graft of baboon immune cells to Jeff Getty at the University of California San Francisco unleashes a storm of concern and dissent about xenotransplantation, while focusing the debate on treatment choice. FDA approves 3TC, an anti-HIV drug, and Saquinavir, the first protease inhibitor which interferes with the enzyme responsible for HIV assembly. Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis discloses his HIV status. AIDS Reports from the XI International Conference on AIDS in Vancouver hold great hope about progress being made toward controlling HIV disease.
Researchers identify a herpes virus responsible for kaposi's sarcoma.
Artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres , Director Norman Ren . Doctors, public officials and people with AIDS nationwide call upon Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to lift the ban on the use of federal funding for needle exchange. President Clinton appoints Sandra Thurman, former executive director of AID Atlanta, as the country's new AIDS czar. HIV infection fell from 8th to 14th among leading causes of death in the U.S. from 1996 to 1997. But the total number of people living with HIV is still increasing, indicating a greater demand for the services required by people living with AIDS, including housing, treatment counseling, and primary medical care.