1 August 1971: The term viroid was coined by Theodor Diener to describe the agent of potato spindle tuber disease

6 August 2007: Maraviroc, first CCR5 receptor antagonist, approved for HIV/AIDS

8 August 2011: UN declared rinderpest eradicated

8 August 2014: WHO declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa (virus pictured), the most widespread so far, an international public health emergency

18 August 1990: Ryan White Care Act enacted, the largest American federally funded programme for people living with HIV/AIDS

20 August 1780: Start of an outbreak of dengue fever in Philadelphia, USA, which led Benjamin Rush to describe the disease in 1789

26 August 1976: First case of Ebola virus, now the Zaire form

26 August 1998: Fomivirsen, first antisense drug, approved for cytomegalovirus retinitis