Medical Advances
At the beginning of the 1980s decade when AIDS first appeared little was known about the disease. It was diagnosed by medical professionals as cancer primarily seen in homosexual males. Due to very little information regarding this disease there was no effective treatment. Patients infected with the disease were expected to live only a few months. Since the arrival of the disease medical researchers searched for treatments through clinical trials. From the 80s until now medications and treatments have advanced immensely. From living to only a couple months AIDS patients can now live for years with the right medicinal combinations.
When AIDS was first introduced to the physicians and people all around the world assumptions were made and stereotypes were reinforced. In 1982, AIDS was known as GRID for gay-related immunodeficiency. Furthermore, it was diagnosed as a form of cancer related to Kaposi’s Sarcoma. At this point in time studies were being conducted such as those by the CDC that gathered homosexual men with and without AIDS to correlate information between the number of sexual partners and the disease. Because of the obscurity of the disease there were no drugs or treatments that made any type of improvements in the lives of patients. Due to this AIDS was a death sentence. Patients were only expected to live a few months after being diagnosed.(9)
In 1986 it was assumed that AIDS was a curable disease and drugs were continuously being tested. Three-thousand people were taking part in clinical trials in hope for a cure. By this time medical professionals knew that the virus attacks the body’s cells and damages the immune system by replicating itself within the cells. For these reasons treatments were meant to attack the virus by preventing replication and reboot an infected person’s immune system. There were two-hundred possible effective drugs that were being tested. (10)
Twelve years later in 1998 treatments were narrowed down and more was being discovered regarding medications. Treatments were discovered meanwhile the number of AIDS cases were lowering throughout the world. Combination therapy was introduced by David Ho M.D. and seemed to be the most effective treatment at the time. Doctors began to use this therapy more and more. This combination therapy consisted of protease-inhibitors and antiviral medications.(11)
When AIDS was first introduced to the physicians and people all around the world assumptions were made and stereotypes were reinforced. In 1982, AIDS was known as GRID for gay-related immunodeficiency. Furthermore, it was diagnosed as a form of cancer related to Kaposi’s Sarcoma. At this point in time studies were being conducted such as those by the CDC that gathered homosexual men with and without AIDS to correlate information between the number of sexual partners and the disease. Because of the obscurity of the disease there were no drugs or treatments that made any type of improvements in the lives of patients. Due to this AIDS was a death sentence. Patients were only expected to live a few months after being diagnosed.(9)
In 1986 it was assumed that AIDS was a curable disease and drugs were continuously being tested. Three-thousand people were taking part in clinical trials in hope for a cure. By this time medical professionals knew that the virus attacks the body’s cells and damages the immune system by replicating itself within the cells. For these reasons treatments were meant to attack the virus by preventing replication and reboot an infected person’s immune system. There were two-hundred possible effective drugs that were being tested. (10)
Twelve years later in 1998 treatments were narrowed down and more was being discovered regarding medications. Treatments were discovered meanwhile the number of AIDS cases were lowering throughout the world. Combination therapy was introduced by David Ho M.D. and seemed to be the most effective treatment at the time. Doctors began to use this therapy more and more. This combination therapy consisted of protease-inhibitors and antiviral medications.(11)
Physicians in the 80s
At the start of the AIDS epidemic physicians were like all other citizens without any real knowledge of the causes and complications presented with AIDS. They drew conclusions from what they observed and diagnosed in their own medical offices or hospitals. Doctors also had their own prejudices or stereotypical ideas. According to an article in the New York Times some doctors would refuse to treat anyone with AIDS(12). This created ethical issues because they were neglecting to treat a specific group of people. There were criticisms aimed at doctors refusing to treat AIDS patients. Like most people that didn’t know much about the virus they feared contagion. Anyone working in offices or private practices were at higher risk for exposure because they could be in constant contact with needles, blood or other bodily fluids. The fear experienced by healthcare providers also interfered with the quality of care that patients were receiving. As stated by an article in Public Health Reports studies suggested that there were numerous homophobic healthcare workers and AIDS being a disease once know as GRID this definitely intervened with the type of care that patients were receiving(13).
Anthony Ferrara personal experience with aids
With such little information about the causes and effective treatments of AIDS in the eighties and nineties the most affected were obviously people with AIDS. More specifically homosexual males with AIDS. The name GRID alone pinpointed this specific group of people. They had to deal with stereotypes, the disease itself, and afterwards the side effects of any treatments or studies they underwent. Anthony Ferrara was diagnosed with AIDS in March of 1983. He delivered a speech to the National AIDS forum and discussed his personal life and medical treatments he underwent in the course of his battle with AIDS.
“On the one hand, as my illness progresses, my need for emotional support increases; on the other, I dislike the feeling that my friends are pitying me”(14)
As mentioned before AIDS was considered a death sentence. Knowing the months were passing by and no hope for a cure what Anthony Ferrara and all the others with AIDS were in dire need of was the emotional support from a close circle of supportive friends and family. Ferrara’s body was going through excessive stress. AIDS was breaking him apart from the inside out. He once ran marathons but it became too much as the disease escalated. By the end of April Ferrara took part in experimental treatments. Specifically four and three showed signs of improvement but not sufficiently. The first was Alpha Interferon a thirty day treatment that required a total of twenty injections. The side effects were unsustainable: high fevers, chills, fatigue and depression. Ferrara’s next treatment was Gamma interferon that developed few side effects but no progress. He also underwent Plasma exchange and Interleukin II but they only further debilitated his physical well being.
“I am convinced that to give up is to die. For this reason I submit my body and life to further experimentation because there simply isn’t anything else to do”(14)
Like most Ferrara’s only hope was to accept experimental treatments. Anthony Ferrara died in June of 1984.
“It is up to you to correct the public’s misperception, fostered by often insensitive media representation,that all AIDS patients are ignoble, drug abusing people who are undeserving of attention...We are not bad people. We are merely gay, and that is no reason to regard us with disdain.”(14)
“On the one hand, as my illness progresses, my need for emotional support increases; on the other, I dislike the feeling that my friends are pitying me”(14)
As mentioned before AIDS was considered a death sentence. Knowing the months were passing by and no hope for a cure what Anthony Ferrara and all the others with AIDS were in dire need of was the emotional support from a close circle of supportive friends and family. Ferrara’s body was going through excessive stress. AIDS was breaking him apart from the inside out. He once ran marathons but it became too much as the disease escalated. By the end of April Ferrara took part in experimental treatments. Specifically four and three showed signs of improvement but not sufficiently. The first was Alpha Interferon a thirty day treatment that required a total of twenty injections. The side effects were unsustainable: high fevers, chills, fatigue and depression. Ferrara’s next treatment was Gamma interferon that developed few side effects but no progress. He also underwent Plasma exchange and Interleukin II but they only further debilitated his physical well being.
“I am convinced that to give up is to die. For this reason I submit my body and life to further experimentation because there simply isn’t anything else to do”(14)
Like most Ferrara’s only hope was to accept experimental treatments. Anthony Ferrara died in June of 1984.
“It is up to you to correct the public’s misperception, fostered by often insensitive media representation,that all AIDS patients are ignoble, drug abusing people who are undeserving of attention...We are not bad people. We are merely gay, and that is no reason to regard us with disdain.”(14)
Recent Medical Advances and Views
Over the years, improvements in medications for AIDS have been made. Research has proven that the life expectancy of a patient diagnosed with AIDS has increased more than what someone was told in the 1990s.
More medications have been made that help treat patients with the disease but unfortunately cannot cure them. According to Innovation 2013,“(t)he disease was also very costly to the health care system and society as a whole. Discovery and introduction of new medicines over the past 15 years have greatly improved the outlook for HIV patients and reduced the need for costly health care services.” (15)
The introduction for new medications has helped many infected people mentally. Knowing that scientists are developing new tests for faster results that indicate whether or not someone is affected by AIDS and many other forms of medications has given many people the hope of a longer living. In comparison to the 1900s, “(w)idespread ignorance regarding the transimission of HIV in the mid to late 1980s was, at once, a source of despair and optimism, It was
discouraging that people knew so little about HIV prevention. At the same time, one could hope that an attack on the ignorance might amount to an attack on the virus itself.” (Larsen and Collins, 1997) (16)
Today, the government has taken action and providing individuals in need who have been diagnosed with AIDS. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation 2012, “AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) provide HIV-related
prescription drugs to low-income people with HIV/AIDS who have limited or no prescription drug coverage.”(17)The government sees the need people with AIDs have and cares about its people and about decreasing the mortality rate. In the years before, the death rate was tremendously high and there wasn't much doctors could do. Experiments over the years have played a significant role in treating AIDS. For example, “(t)he FDA approved a new rapid HIV test called INSTI on Wednesday, World AIDS Day. It generates results in as little as a minute, while present tests take up to 30 minutes. U.S. researchers say it'll be an important tool in fighting the virus.”(KABC 2010) (18) Not only have improved tests developed but five common medications people can take have developed as well. “There are five major types of medicines: Reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors - interfere with a critical step during the HIV life cycle and keep the virus from making copies of itself, Protease inhibitors - interfere with a protein that HIV uses to make infectious viral particles, Fusion inhibitors - block the virus from entering the body's cells, Integrase inhibitors - block an enzyme HIV needs to make copies of itself, and Multidrug combinations -combine two or more different types of drugs into one.”(MedlinePlus 2013) (19)
In today’s society, the young age groups speak about how they see AIDS now compare to before. Many say they’ve heard about the joke that in 1991 when Magic Johnson was discovered with AIDS he had found the cure, which was money. Others find these jokes offensive and harsh because when you sit and talk about a person who has AIDS, this topic is no joke and is still very serious. “I think it's interesting because, like, while I don't think it's the same sort of death
sentence mentality, to me it's still like if I actually stop and think about getting it, it still seems like it's a horrifying thought,” said Katherine Hood a senior at UC Berkeley when interviewed by NPR Youth Radio's Asha Richardson in
2011. (20)
More medications have been made that help treat patients with the disease but unfortunately cannot cure them. According to Innovation 2013,“(t)he disease was also very costly to the health care system and society as a whole. Discovery and introduction of new medicines over the past 15 years have greatly improved the outlook for HIV patients and reduced the need for costly health care services.” (15)
The introduction for new medications has helped many infected people mentally. Knowing that scientists are developing new tests for faster results that indicate whether or not someone is affected by AIDS and many other forms of medications has given many people the hope of a longer living. In comparison to the 1900s, “(w)idespread ignorance regarding the transimission of HIV in the mid to late 1980s was, at once, a source of despair and optimism, It was
discouraging that people knew so little about HIV prevention. At the same time, one could hope that an attack on the ignorance might amount to an attack on the virus itself.” (Larsen and Collins, 1997) (16)
Today, the government has taken action and providing individuals in need who have been diagnosed with AIDS. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation 2012, “AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) provide HIV-related
prescription drugs to low-income people with HIV/AIDS who have limited or no prescription drug coverage.”(17)The government sees the need people with AIDs have and cares about its people and about decreasing the mortality rate. In the years before, the death rate was tremendously high and there wasn't much doctors could do. Experiments over the years have played a significant role in treating AIDS. For example, “(t)he FDA approved a new rapid HIV test called INSTI on Wednesday, World AIDS Day. It generates results in as little as a minute, while present tests take up to 30 minutes. U.S. researchers say it'll be an important tool in fighting the virus.”(KABC 2010) (18) Not only have improved tests developed but five common medications people can take have developed as well. “There are five major types of medicines: Reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors - interfere with a critical step during the HIV life cycle and keep the virus from making copies of itself, Protease inhibitors - interfere with a protein that HIV uses to make infectious viral particles, Fusion inhibitors - block the virus from entering the body's cells, Integrase inhibitors - block an enzyme HIV needs to make copies of itself, and Multidrug combinations -combine two or more different types of drugs into one.”(MedlinePlus 2013) (19)
In today’s society, the young age groups speak about how they see AIDS now compare to before. Many say they’ve heard about the joke that in 1991 when Magic Johnson was discovered with AIDS he had found the cure, which was money. Others find these jokes offensive and harsh because when you sit and talk about a person who has AIDS, this topic is no joke and is still very serious. “I think it's interesting because, like, while I don't think it's the same sort of death
sentence mentality, to me it's still like if I actually stop and think about getting it, it still seems like it's a horrifying thought,” said Katherine Hood a senior at UC Berkeley when interviewed by NPR Youth Radio's Asha Richardson in
2011. (20)
Recent Interview- 2010
"In the back of my mind I have always thought that I'm going to live to see the cure," said 46-year-old Raul Alonso, who was diagnosed with AIDS 20 years ago. "Back when I was diagnosed, that's all you heard, it was rejection even from the doctors you went to see because nobody knew what the deal was with the illness."
Family members avoided touching him and friends turned their backs on him.
"You feel like your whole world just comes tumbling down," said Alonso.
He got so sick his weight dropped to 90 pounds.
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/health/your_health&id=7819922 (18)
Family members avoided touching him and friends turned their backs on him.
"You feel like your whole world just comes tumbling down," said Alonso.
He got so sick his weight dropped to 90 pounds.
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/health/your_health&id=7819922 (18)