The surveillance definition of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and the clinical classification of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

In 1982, one year after the first cases of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) were reported, a case definition of AIDS was produced by the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. This definition was implemented world-wide, and it allowed the standardization of the reporting of cases. The identification of the virus that is responsible for AIDS, which subsequently was named the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), led to the development of laboratory test procedures to detect its presence. The use of these tests confirmed that additional clinical manifestations were associated with severe outcomes of HIV-1 infection, which resulted in an increase in the number of conditions that were encompassed by AIDS. Moreover, the diagnosis of many AIDS-defining conditions could be made presumptively in the presence of proved HIV-1 infection. Thus the case definition required revision in 1985, and again in 1987. In addition, clinical expressions other than AIDS definitively were attributed to infection with HIV-1 after the widespread use of the testing procedures. The case definition of AIDS, as revised by the Centers for Disease Control in 1987, now is the current definition that is used in Australia. The clinical classification of HIV infection, which was produced by the Centers for Disease Control in 1986, was implemented in this country in January 1988.