alternatehistory.com

With a POD of June 6th 1981 what can be done by medical authorities, community leaders, and the White House to either soften the impact of HIV/AIDS or completely eradicate it?

It was on May 18th 1981 that the first report on AIDS was printed in the media, a gay-aimed tabloid The New York Native under the headline of "Disease Rumors Largely Unfounded

“Last week there were rumors that an exotic new disease had hit the gay community in New York. Here are the facts. From the New York City Department of Health, Dr. Steve Phillips explained that the rumors are for the most part unfounded….”

(Sources: http://1981.nyc/first-appearances-gay-cancer/ http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/03/w...ad-20-years-ago-first-clues-birth-plague.html )

Later that year on June 5th AIDS receives it's first mention in a CDC published medical journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

In the period October 1980-May 1981, 5 young men, all active homosexuals, were treated for biopsy-confirmed Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia at 3 different hospitals in Los Angeles, California. Two of the patients died. All 5 patients had laboratory-confirmed previous or current cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and candidal mucosal infection. Case reports of these patients follow...

(Full article here: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/june_5.htm )

The New York Times did a brief story on a CDC report on July 3rd titled

'Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals.''


HIV/AIDS then vanishes from the mainstream media until the Wall Street Journal runs a February 25th 1982 story with the headline


''New, Often-Fatal Illness in Homosexuals Turns Up in Women, Heterosexual Males.''

On May 11th of that year the New York Times issues yet another, more detailed story, as the Federal government starts to notice.

"New Homosexual Disorder Worries Health Officials"


A SERIOUS disorder of the immune system that has been known to doctors for less than a year - a disorder that appears to affect primarily male homosexuals - has now afflicted at least 335 people, of whom it has killed 136, officials of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said yesterday. Federal health officials are concerned that tens of thousands more homosexual men may be silently affected and therefore vulnerable to potentially grave ailments.
Moreover, this immune-system breakdown, which has been implicated in a rare type of cancer, called Kaposi's sarcoma, and seems to invite in its wake a wide variety of serious infections and other disorders, has developed among some heterosexual women and bisexual and heterosexual men.
At a recent Congressional hearing, Dr. Bruce A. Chabner of the National Cancer Institute said that the growing problem was now ''of concern to all Americans.''
The cause of the disorder is unknown. Researchers call it A.I.D., for acquired immunodeficiency disease, or GRID, for gay-related immunodeficiency. It has been reported in 20 states and seven countries. But the overwhelming majority of cases have been in New York City (158), elsewhere in New York State (10), New Jersey (14) and California (71)


Thirteen of those affected have been heterosexual women. Some male victims are believed to have been heterosexual, and to have been chiefly users of heroin and other drugs by injection into their veins. But most cases have occurred among homosexual men, in particular those who have had numerous sexual partners, often anonymous partners whose identity remains unknown.
According to both the Centers for Disease Control and the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., GRID has reached epidemic proportions and the current totals probably represent ''just the tip of the iceberg.'' Preliminary results of immunological tests have led some Federal health officials to fear that tens of thousands of homosexual men may have the acquired immune dysfunction and be at risk for developing complications such as Kaposi's cancer, infections and other disorders at some future date.
GRID is ''a matter of urgent public health and scientific importance,'' Dr. James W. Curran, a Federal epidemiologist who coordinates the Centers for Disease Control's task force on Kaposi's sarcoma and opportunistic infections, told the Congressional hearing. Opportunistic infections are those that rarely cause illness except in those whose immunological resistance has been lowered by drugs or disease.



More than human suffering is involved. Hospital costs have reached more than $64,000 per patient, and Dr. Curran said that if such costs are typical, ''the first 300 cases account for an estimated $18 million in hospital expenses alone.''



Experts currently think of GRID as a sort of immunological time bomb. Once it develops, it may stay silent for an unknown period, and then, at a later date, go on to produce Kaposi's sarcoma, an opportunistic infection, a so-called auto-immune disorder, or any combination of these.
Further, no one is certain that the immune disorder can be reversed. Many patients have survived a bout of pneumonia or other illness, only to succumb to another or to go on to develop Kaposi's sarcoma or some other fatal cancer. 'Natural' Immunity Suppressor..."

(Full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/11/s... homosexual disorder worries officials&st=cse )




Of course throughout all this there were countless other issues: Larry Kramer work in spreading the word that something was wrong, NYC Mayor Koch's hesitation to act because he was a bachelor and was worried he would be smeared as gay, Gaëtan Dugas possibly spreading the epidemic, the panic that "poppers" were the cause of the infections, and the debate among the LGBT community whether to close the bathhouses in San Fransisco.


So, what can be done? It could be argued if the White House even wanted to act so little was known about HIV/AIDS that there was little they could do. I don't know about that though.
Top