On National HIV Testing Day, we present one of the first test kits for the virus that causes AIDS. Abbott Laboratories’ Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type III EIA Kits were themselves tested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at 155 blood banks, plasma collection centers, health departments, and clinical centers in 1985. Note the name of the kit: “HTLV-III” was the name used by Dr. Robert Gallo, NCI, for the retrovirus his laboratory identified as the cause of AIDS. This kit is part of our HIV/AIDS collection.












