About it:
In 1981, the United States of America was the first country to officially recognise a new illness which was considered ‘strange’ among a number of homosexual me. This was the start of HIV and AIDS, one of the most politicised, feared and controversial diseases in the history of modern medicine.
It started at the beginning of the 1980s when various reports of a small number of men who had been diagnosed with rare forms of cancer and/or pneumonia. The cancer, which they thought was the cause (Kaposi’s Sarcoma) normally only affected old men of Mediterranean or Jewish heritage and young adult African men. Yet, the men were all young and had previously all been in very good health. The only other characteristic that connected them was that they were all gay.
<<The first official documentation of the condition was published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on 5th June 1981. Entitled “Pneumocystis Pneumonia – Los Angeles”, the report detailed the cases of five young gay men hospitalised with serious PCP, cytomegalovirus, and disseminated candida infections.>>
The New York Times reported that a total of 41 homosexual men had been diagnosed with Kaposi’s Sarcoma, eight of whom had died before the diagnosis was made. At the end of 1981, 5 to 6 new cases of the disease were being reported each week.
In the beginning of 1982 the conditions had been given a number of similar names: GRID (gay-related immune deficiency), ‘gay cancer’, ‘community-acquired immune dysfunction’ and ‘gay compromise syndrome’.
There were also a small number of cases among heterosexual men and women, but over half of those identified as heterosexual had used intravenous drugs.
The CDC used for the first time the acronym AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) in September 1982, when it reported that an average of one to two cases of AIDS were being diagnosed in the USA every day.
In the popular press, AIDS had become a disease of the “four H club”: homosexuals, heroin addicts, haemophiliacs and Haitians. Even though there had been cases among people who did not fall into one of these groups.
From the outside, AIDS was linked with a high level of stigma and discrimination. This prejudice arose in part because AIDS was connected to groups, such as homosexuals and intravenous drug users, that were already highly prejudiced before the AIDS, but also because proven with evidence information about what was causing AIDS, and how it might be passed on, was in little supply.
While the government failed to respond to the epidemic, a number of non-governmental organisations were founded in the most affected areas of the USA such as The Kaposi’s Sarcoma Research and Education Foundation in San Francisco (later renamed the San Francisco AIDS Foundation) and, in New York, Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). In 1982 GMHC distributed 50,000 free copies of its first newsletter about the syndrome to hospitals, doctors, clinics and the Library of Congress.
By the end of 1983 the number of AIDS diagnoses reported in the USA had risen to 3,064 and of these people 1,292 had died.
Margaret Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Reagan, revealed that Dr. Robert Gallo and his colleagues at the National Cancer Institute had reason to believe that HIV was the virus that caused AIDS. Heckler stated that there would soon be a commercial test available to identify the virus and a vaccine could be ready for testing within two years.
At this time 73 cases of haemophilia-associated AIDS had been reported. Today it is estimated that by 1986, more than half of all haemophiliacs in the USA had become infected with the virus.
On 2nd October 1985, the actor Rock Hudson died of AIDS. He was the first major public figure known to have died from an AIDS-related illness.
ACT UP’s first demonstration took place on 24th March on Wall Street in New York. The group demanded access to treatment for AIDS, public education to stop the spread of AIDS, an end to AIDS discrimination and the establishment of a national policy on AIDS.
By 1988 the group had almost 3,000 members, many of whom were infuriated that little was being done while their friends and relatives were dying.
Around this time, nearly 83,000 cases of AIDS had been identified in the USA, and over 45,000 people had died.
It started at the beginning of the 1980s when various reports of a small number of men who had been diagnosed with rare forms of cancer and/or pneumonia. The cancer, which they thought was the cause (Kaposi’s Sarcoma) normally only affected old men of Mediterranean or Jewish heritage and young adult African men. Yet, the men were all young and had previously all been in very good health. The only other characteristic that connected them was that they were all gay.
<<The first official documentation of the condition was published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on 5th June 1981. Entitled “Pneumocystis Pneumonia – Los Angeles”, the report detailed the cases of five young gay men hospitalised with serious PCP, cytomegalovirus, and disseminated candida infections.>>
The New York Times reported that a total of 41 homosexual men had been diagnosed with Kaposi’s Sarcoma, eight of whom had died before the diagnosis was made. At the end of 1981, 5 to 6 new cases of the disease were being reported each week.
In the beginning of 1982 the conditions had been given a number of similar names: GRID (gay-related immune deficiency), ‘gay cancer’, ‘community-acquired immune dysfunction’ and ‘gay compromise syndrome’.
There were also a small number of cases among heterosexual men and women, but over half of those identified as heterosexual had used intravenous drugs.
The CDC used for the first time the acronym AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) in September 1982, when it reported that an average of one to two cases of AIDS were being diagnosed in the USA every day.
In the popular press, AIDS had become a disease of the “four H club”: homosexuals, heroin addicts, haemophiliacs and Haitians. Even though there had been cases among people who did not fall into one of these groups.
From the outside, AIDS was linked with a high level of stigma and discrimination. This prejudice arose in part because AIDS was connected to groups, such as homosexuals and intravenous drug users, that were already highly prejudiced before the AIDS, but also because proven with evidence information about what was causing AIDS, and how it might be passed on, was in little supply.
While the government failed to respond to the epidemic, a number of non-governmental organisations were founded in the most affected areas of the USA such as The Kaposi’s Sarcoma Research and Education Foundation in San Francisco (later renamed the San Francisco AIDS Foundation) and, in New York, Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). In 1982 GMHC distributed 50,000 free copies of its first newsletter about the syndrome to hospitals, doctors, clinics and the Library of Congress.
By the end of 1983 the number of AIDS diagnoses reported in the USA had risen to 3,064 and of these people 1,292 had died.
Margaret Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Reagan, revealed that Dr. Robert Gallo and his colleagues at the National Cancer Institute had reason to believe that HIV was the virus that caused AIDS. Heckler stated that there would soon be a commercial test available to identify the virus and a vaccine could be ready for testing within two years.
At this time 73 cases of haemophilia-associated AIDS had been reported. Today it is estimated that by 1986, more than half of all haemophiliacs in the USA had become infected with the virus.
On 2nd October 1985, the actor Rock Hudson died of AIDS. He was the first major public figure known to have died from an AIDS-related illness.
ACT UP’s first demonstration took place on 24th March on Wall Street in New York. The group demanded access to treatment for AIDS, public education to stop the spread of AIDS, an end to AIDS discrimination and the establishment of a national policy on AIDS.
By 1988 the group had almost 3,000 members, many of whom were infuriated that little was being done while their friends and relatives were dying.
Around this time, nearly 83,000 cases of AIDS had been identified in the USA, and over 45,000 people had died.