(Stephen Epstein notes, in his 1996 book Impure Science, that in 1985, fully 88% of scientific publications referred to the virus Gallo "discovered" in early 1984 as the "probable" or definitive cause of AIDS. Many observers are unsure of how this conclusion could have so quickly been reached as, according to them, proper epidemiological studies could never have been carried out so quickly. 0% of scientific articles mentioned the possibility that the "AIDS virus" might not be the cause of AIDS.)

The Food And Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA approves Gallo's patent on the antibody test. Soon after the first commercial kit for antibodies is licensed. o Late in the year the Pasteur Institute files a lawsuit against the NCI, claiming a share of the royalties from the NCI's patented AIDS blood test, and alleging that Dr. Robert Gallo had stolen the virus from their laboratory.

In the USA, Ryan White, a 13 year old hemophiliac with AIDS, is barred from school.

Large numbers of people are now claimed to be infected with the "AIDS virus" in Central Africa by media and UN health agencies. The initial definition of AIDS had been developed in the USA in 1982, but this definition required laboratory facilities which were not available in most African countries. So in 1985 a new UN WHO clinical definition of AIDS in Africa is created. This definition means that anyone with weight loss, fever, coughing, OR diarrhea, among other conditions, can be considered an AIDS case, even without a test for the "virus" Gallo had found.

By the end of the year, AIDS has been reported in 51 countries.