AIDS: 30 years later

Last Sunday marked a somber anniversary.  It was 30 years ago that a report in a weekly publication described cases of a rare form of pneumonia five young Los Angeles men, "all active homosexuals." The cases were noteworthy because the men had previously been healthy, and the pneumonia was only seen in older people with depressed immune systems.  A month later, another report listed 54 gay males with a rare form of cancer seen only in older people.  One summer later, the condition had a name:  AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).  In 1983, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) was identified as the virus which caused AIDS.

In those early years, understanding the disease was impossible.  Though it was clear the disease was spread by sexual contact, other methods caused a scare in people.  Blood transfusions, drug needles, and saliva were also initially ways to transmit the disease.  Remember when we thought licking stamps could increase the risk of AIDS?  Or how about the woman who caught the HIV virus in the dentist chair?  Remember when Hollywood stars and musicians started dying from the disease (Rock Hudson, Liberace, Freddy Mercury, etc.)?  Remember the AIDS quilt on the National Mall?  Remember when ACT UP and other AIDS activists groups blamed President Reagan for the disease (like he was out on DC streets at night selling dirty needles or condoms with holes in them)?

We thought awareness of the disease would provide a cure.  Yet, here we are 30 years after the awareness with 30 million worldwide dead from the disease (615,000 in the US over that period) and still no complete cure.  Oh sure, we have an assortment of drug cocktails that can keep the disease in check, but the drugs are expensive.  Africa, where the disease is widespread and is just as prevalent in women as in men, cannot afford the medications.  And here’s the worst part:  the rates of infection are not going down.  The younger people are not heeding the wisdom of their elders and are repeating the mistakes their elders made in the early days of the disease before they learned what steps could hinder the disease.

Like it or not, AIDS is our generation’s disease.  And until a cure is found, re-teaching the lessons learned the hard way will be one of the few chances to prevent the spread of the disease.  Yes, the disease in the US is more of a disease restricted to the same sex relationship community, particularly men.  But heterosexuals are also affected and the rates of infection aren’t going down there, either.  And in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, heterosexual couples dominate the infected group.  So, this is an everybody problem. 

Even after a cure is found, we will being with the effects of the disease long into the future.  Keep in mind, we haven’t found a cure yet for all the MD diseases, and the fight will go on post-Jerry Lewis there.  We haven’t cured cancer, either.  So an AIDS cure in our lifetime is not a sure thing.

In short, the AIDS epidemic is still there, though no longer on the front pages.  Please keep that in mind especially over the next 30 years or so.