THE SPREAD OF AIDS IN THE 1980s term paper

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), a term first used in 1982, is the last stage of a disorder of the immune system caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). During this stage, the immune system is no longer able to counter the malignancies and infections that lead to death.

The first cases identified in the United States as AIDS were in 1981 in Los Angeles. Since most of these cases were diagnosed in homosexual men or in intravenous drug users, many assumed that the disease was confined to homosexuals and drug addicts. Some concluded that it was God’s punishment. In fact, 70 percent of the cases now reported worldwide originate through heterosexual intercourse.

HIV was isolated in 1983 by the Institut Pasteur in France. In 1985 serologic tests that could detect the virus appeared. That same year the first International Conference on AIDS took place in Atlanta.

For several years the medical community could do little in AIDS cases other than treat the infections and malignancies as they occurred in patients. Efforts to deal with AIDS focused on prevention by recommending sexual abstinence, monogamy, “safe sex,” and campaigns to stop drug addicts from sharing needles. In 1987 AZT (azidothymidine) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This and other drugs were used in therapeutic procedures to slow the progress of AIDS. In 1991 the FDA approved another class of drugs, reverse transcriptase inhibitors, which worked in a different way to slow AIDS. At the end of 1996 it was estimated that more than 8 million cases of AIDS worldwide had resulted in 6 million deaths. Another 23 million were infected with HIV. Two parts of the world have particularly high rates of infection. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than 60 percent of the infections. In some countries nearly one-third of the inhabitants are infected. The other area is South and Southeast Asia, where about 20 percent of the global cases have been reported. The possibilities for economic and social disasters, including drastic depopulation, are especially high in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. The AIDS pandemic has brought out both the best and the worst in people. In France, for example, government health officials in 1985 decided to use tainted blood supplies until a French system for purifying blood became available later that year (in 1992 four health officials went on trial because of this decision; three were found guilty and one acquitted). On the positive side, numerous efforts have been made worldwide to memorialize victims of AIDS and to raise money for AIDS research. AIDS is a disease that has brought into focus countless moral, ethical, social, and legal issues. It will be a source of concern and controversy for decades to come.
Suggestions for Term Papers
1. Write a paper on the origins of HIV, particularly those theories that it jumped from simians to humans (see Suggested Sources).
2. Investigate the controversy surrounding the identification of HIV. Why did an American investigator try to claim credit for identifying HIV and discredit the claims of the Institut Pasteur?
3. Do a research project on the first International Conference on AIDS in Atlanta in 1985. What was known about AIDS and its treatment at that time?
4. In what ways has AIDS changed the lifestyles of homosexual men and women? 5. Many people have become HIV-positive because of blood transfusions. Write a paper about the efforts to make sure blood supplies were safe and untainted (see Suggested Sources) or about the experiences of those infected by tainted blood.
6. For a group research project, examine the efforts by several developed and developing countries to cope with AIDS, and make a comparative report on the findings.

Research Suggestions

In addition to the boldfaced items, look under the entries for “Alexander Fleming and the Discovery of Penicillin, 1928” (#18), “The Discovery of the Double Helical Structure of DNA, 1953” (#49), and “The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio” (#94). Search under STD (sexually transmitted disease), Kaposi’s sarcoma, T4 helper cells, AIDS Memorial Quilt, AmFAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research), and Randy Shilts.

SUGGESTED SOURCES

Primary Source

Feldman, Douglas A., and Julia Wang Miller, eds. The AIDS Crisis: A Documentary History. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998. A convenient source of documents on the history of AIDS.

Secondary Sources

Almond, Brenda, ed. AIDS: A Moral Issue: The Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects. 2nd ed. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996. A useful collection of articles exploring aspects of the AIDS crisis.

And the Band Played On. HBO Video, 1993. Based on the book by Randy Shilts, a wake-up call for many on the subject of AIDS.

Bartlett, John G., Ann K. Finkbeiner, and Johns Hopkins AIDS Clinic. The Guide to Living with HIV Infection. 4th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. An up-to-date book covering all aspects of coping with AIDS.

Gostin, Lawrence O., and Zita Lazzarini. Human Rights and Public Health in the AIDS Pandemic. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. The authors point out that many who suffer from AIDS lack the resources for effective treatment of the disease.

Hooper, Edward, and Bill Hamilton. The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS. Boston: Little, Brown, 1999. A long and compelling book. Its thesis is that HIV jumped from simians to humans through the administration of oral polio vaccine in Africa in the 1950s. Controversial but powerful arguments.

Smith, Raymond A., ed. Encyclopedia of AIDS: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Scientific Record of the HIV Epidemic. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998. A useful reference source.

Starr, Douglas. Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce.New York: Knopf, 1998. A fascinating book that covers many subjects, including scandals connected with HIV-tainted blood.

Sturken, Marita. Tangled Memories: The Vietnam War, the AIDS Epidemic, and the Politics of Remembering. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. A thoughtful book on how people make their history through objects like the AIDS Memorial Quilt and the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Ward, Darrell E. The AmFAR AIDS Handbook. New York: W. W. Norton, 1998. Information on a wide variety of topics presented in summary form (some of it technical).

Watstein, Sarah Barbara, with Karen Chandler. AIDS Dictionary. New York: Facts on File, 1998. A useful reference source.

World Wide Web

“AEGIS.” http://www.aegis.com. A huge site filled with information on AIDS. Includes links to documents and reports of all kinds and links to articles on AIDS-related events around the world.



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