Nightline Daily Email: 6/8

W A S H I N G T O N, June 8 -- As a rule, we do not do "anniversary shows." There are just too many. Every day is an anniversary of something. But some times an anniversary should not be ignored. It is an opportunity to stop and take stock of how much, and how little, has changed.

Twenty years ago this week, in June of 1981 the Centers for Disease Control issued a report containing a short article about five gay men in Los Angeles suffering from a rare pneumonia and compromised immune system. Today that disease is estimated to have killed 22 million people worldwide. Another 36 million are currently infected. Those numbers are unimaginably horrifying. It is impossible to appreciate the vast suffering and deep loss that they quantify.

In thinking about this anniversary, we looked back at the reporting on AIDS that we have done, a prism of sorts through which the history of the disease can be viewed. We were reminded of the fear, the ignorance and hysteria that surrounded the early years. Remember when young children with HIV couldn't go to school? Or when we feared hugging, or shaking hands might spread the virus?

Tonight we will remind you how far we have come through excerpts from past NIGHTLINE programs. And Ted Koppel will talk to three people, all experts on this subject, all former NIGHTLINE guests. One is a leading AIDS researcher, who tells us what scientists have learned and are seeking to learn about the behavior of this powerful virus. Another is a patient living with full-blown AIDS, who devotes much of her time to educating young people. Another is an activist, who has pushed the medical establishment hard over these yeas, demanding more and better.

In 1983 NIGHTLINE did its first broadcast about AIDS. There was no way to know at that time how many more programs would be devoted to it, but there would be dozens. Tonight's broadcast is certainly not the last.

Sara Just is a senior producer for Nightline.