With no long-term trial to determine drug safety, or even whether this drug decreases total deaths from AIDS, the FDA in the USA approves AZT as the first drug to be used as a treatment for AIDS.

On March 1, in the journal Cancer Research, Dr. Peter Duesberg publishes his first scientific article challenging what is at this point the deeply held belief that HIV causes AIDS. This paper is essentially ignored by the scientific community, until journalists and activists such as Larry Kramer begin asking questions.

A memo circulates at the National Institutes of Health on April 28 which "alerts" key NIH scientists of the need to develop a "strategy" for the "provocative" media situation arising as a result of Dr. Duesberg's article and "anti-NIH gay playright" Larry Kramer's related media activities. There is no mention of any need to look into the scientific questions Dr. Duesberg has raised in his paper.

The CDC in the USA revises the definition of AIDS to include many more conditions. Thus, the numbers of AIDS cases continues to climb dramatically.

In the United States, legislation is passed which prohibits entry into the U.S. by "HIV-infected" immigrants, aliens and short-term visitors.

President Reagan gives his first speech on AIDS, by which time 36,000 Americans have been diagnosed with AIDS and 20,000 had died.