The Effect of AIDS

[Johnathan Colourfield]

Hey Guys I'm starting a new story called "Seasons of Love" and its all about the effect of AIDS.

[JamesSavik]

That's a question that would take volumes to answer and it has changed as the medications have improved.

 

These are some of the common infections/conditions in people with HIV/AIDS.

 

Pulmonary

PCP or Pneumocystis pneumonia

TB or drug resistant Tuberculosis

 

GI

candidiasis (fungal infection)

herpes simplex-1

cytomegalovirus

mycobacteria

Unexplained chronic diarrhea in HIV infection

Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria or Campylobacter

parasitic infections

cryptosporidiosis

microsporidiosis

MAC Mycobacterium avium complex

 

Neurological

AIDS dementia complex

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML)

toxoplasma encephalitis

misc encephalitis

 

Malignancies

ARL- AIDS related lymphthomia

KS- Kaposis Sarcoma

Hodgkin's disease

hepatocellular carcinomas

head and neck cancers

lung cancer

 

All of these are considered symptoms of AIDS/HIV infections and many can be fatal under their own power.

 

MAC in particular is responsible for the wasting aspects of AIDS. It will cause significant weight loss over very short periods of time.

 

This is ONLY A START. Do your research. Look to Wikipedia, CDC and various HIV/AIDS awareness websites.

[Nephylim]

On a much smaller but everyday scale HIV is a condition of he immune system therefore causes all sorts of nasty little infections, mouth ulcers, cold sores, skin infections and rashes. Not to mention the fact that you have to take a cocktail of drugs every day and they all have their own side effects.

 

People with HIV can live a pretty normal life... but it's one that brings it's own difficulties and burdens. One thing that has to happen is that you have to have a much greater awareness of the pepople around you who you are close to and have to keep safe.

 

I have friends who have HIV and *touches wood* they are relatively fit and well at the moment but they are so often ill and every time they get a cold it's a bit of a panic.

 

But, as James said the drugs are improving all the time as is the length and quality of life.

 

Good for you to be tackling such a difficult subject.

[Trebs]

You might also want to read "And the Band Played On" by Randy Shilts (who also wrote Mayor of Castro Street, a great biography about Harvey Milk).

 

Band gives not only the facts behind the early days, but a real feel of the atmosphere and the reactions in the gay and non-gay populations.

 

 

PS - Those of us who lived through it may not be that open to talking about it as some of the losses reopen old wounds (I had a couple of friends who passed from it, but there are those who lost hundreds of friends - I only really came into the culture late).

[Mark Arbour]

James is rights...Wiki is a good source. If you're working on the effect of AIDS, a question I might ask is "when?" And how broad is your time-frame. For example, if you're talking about the effects on society, that's different than the effects on a person. And the effects on a person in 1985 (where it would almost undoubtedly be fatal) as opposed to now (when it most likely would not be) are different as well.

[JamesSavik]

Back in the days before the drugs improved, the biggest killers were PCP (Pneumocystis pneumonia) and various cancers.

 

Cancers are still a bane for HIV infected people that can't keep their viral load down.

[methodwriter85]

In a broader sense, AIDS had two social effects in the 1980's. The first was that AIDS was held up by evangelicals as God's will and punishment for those gays leading their hedonistic society, as well as the other people who had played part in the late 1970's anything-goes disco era. It created this sort of backlash against homosexuals in society- things had begun to improve after Stonewall in 1969, but with the advent of AIDS wiping out gays like a plague, it was easy to create an overwhelming sense of hatred for gays in society during the 80's. I would say the height of homophobia in this country was really the 1980's- I mean, homosexuality was always frowned upon and gay people were bashed or sent to jail, but I think homophobia was at its most openly visceral in the 1980's because of the resurgence of conservatism and the prevailing notion that gay people were getting AIDS because they deserved it. It wasn't until we got to circa 1987 with Indiana teen Ryan White that people began to understand that it wasn't just gay people who were getting the disease. Still, even then, poor Ryan White had to deal with being called derogatory names for gay people and the like.

 

But the other effect that AIDS had was that it galvanized the gay community to really come together and look for a cure and better treatment. It made homosexuality more out in the open than it ever had been, and with Rock Hudson's death in 1985, people were really starting to open their eyes and discuss their feelings about homosexuality. It was bad for the gay community in the short-term, but in the long-term, I think AIDS gave the gay community a common purpose to rally around- and in turn, it would set the seeds for the wave of 90's gay activism that created a lot of good things for us.

[KJames]

Hey Guys I'm starting a new story called "Seasons of Love" and its all about the effect of AIDS.

 

Does anyone have any information of the cause or what happened and how many died and how many lived to tell the tale and what were the effects of it etc.

 

 

 

 

Much is appreciated.

 

 

 

 

Johnathan xx

 

 

 

 

That's a question that would take volumes to answer and it has changed as the medications have improved.

 

These are some of the common infections/conditions in people with HIV/AIDS.

 

Pulmonary

PCP or Pneumocystis pneumonia

TB or drug resistant Tuberculosis

 

GI

candidiasis (fungal infection)

herpes simplex-1

cytomegalovirus

mycobacteria

Unexplained chronic diarrhea in HIV infection

Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria or Campylobacter

parasitic infections

cryptosporidiosis

microsporidiosis

MAC Mycobacterium avium complex

 

Neurological

AIDS dementia complex

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML)

toxoplasma encephalitis

misc encephalitis

 

Malignancies

ARL- AIDS related lymphthomia

KS- Kaposis Sarcoma

Hodgkin's disease

hepatocellular carcinomas

head and neck cancers

lung cancer

 

All of these are considered symptoms of AIDS/HIV infections and many can be fatal under their own power.

 

MAC in particular is responsible for the wasting aspects of AIDS. It will cause significant weight loss over very short periods of time.

 

This is ONLY A START. Do your research. Look to Wikipedia, CDC and various HIV/AIDS awareness websites.

 

 

In a broader sense, AIDS had two social effects in the 1980's. The first was that AIDS was held up by evangelicals as God's will and punishment for those gays leading their hedonistic society, as well as the other people who had played part in the late 1970's anything-goes disco era. It created this sort of backlash against homosexuals in society- things had begun to improve after Stonewall in 1969, but with the advent of AIDS wiping out gays like a plague, it was easy to create an overwhelming sense of hatred for gays in society during the 80's. I would say the height of homophobia in this country was really the 1980's- I mean, homosexuality was always frowned upon and gay people were bashed or sent to jail, but I think homophobia was at its most openly visceral in the 1980's because of the resurgence of conservatism and the prevailing notion that gay people were getting AIDS because they deserved it. It wasn't until we got to circa 1987 with Indiana teen Ryan White that people began to understand that it wasn't just gay people who were getting the disease. Still, even then, poor Ryan White had to deal with being called derogatory names for gay people and the like.

 

But the other effect that AIDS had was that it galvanized the gay community to really come together and look for a cure and better treatment. It made homosexuality more out in the open than it ever had been, and with Rock Hudson's death in 1985, people were really starting to open their eyes and discuss their feelings about homosexuality. It was bad for the gay community in the short-term, but in the long-term, I think AIDS gave the gay community a common purpose to rally around- and in turn, it would set the seeds for the wave of 90's gay activism that created a lot of good things for us.

 

Johnathan, in light of what these fine people have said about it, do the research...considering how many have already passed on (in the range of several tens of thousands), and how many pass each year (I couldn't find a table with strict numeric data, only graphs), as well as how many are living with being infected (approximately 321,000 as of 2000--according to the CDC table I found--and approximatly 145,000 new cases per year), this story might do well to start in current days and flashback to those past eras as recollections or stories told by characters within the story.

 

As far as the cause, it took some time for the 'gummint' to sort it out, but once they figured out it was passed by blood or bodily fluids, it was determined that patient zero was a flight attendant who had gone on an african safari and was bitten by a monkey in a visitors center. That monkey carried simian immunodeficiency virus--it, like avian flu, jumped the species barrier, and he brought his new little friend home to New York, unbeknownst to him. And the rest, as they say, is now history and current events.

[JamesSavik]

I wrote this las February about a particularly bad year. People who had been living with AIDS for years were running out of time. The drug cocktails were still in trials. The love of my life died.

 

Trebs said a lot of people don't want to talk about that time. About the people that we lost. I do. It's how we keep their memory alive.

 

 

_________________________________________________

 

1996

 

 

I have seen the fire

Destroying everything in its path

In its blazing wrath

 

I have seen the fire

Bringing terror as its might

As it consumes the night

 

I have seen the fire

Slaying friends and lovers

Strangers and brothers

 

I have seen the fire.

Out of control consuming souls

Hell on earth a mass funeral pyre

 

I have been burned by the fire

With scars that don't show

The loss it still burns and stings

 

Friends and lovers I can not replace

I am haunted by their familiar faces

ashes and memories that I hold dear

Are all thats left of those times and places

 

I have seen the fire and the funeral pyre

When I saw the lights go out on my generation

And horror and confusion gripped the nation

Consumed in a viral conflagration

 

I look to my right and look to my left

at the lonely, empty spaces

I walk where we walked and talk where we talked

in the lonely empty places

and wonder to my self why am I still here

the smoke it still stings my eyes

Someone must be left to remember

The year that innocence died.

[YaP]

Hey Guys I'm starting a new story called "Seasons of Love" and its all about the effect of AIDS.

 

Does anyone have any information of the cause or what happened and how many died and how many lived to tell the tale and what were the effects of it etc.

 

 

Much is appreciated.

 

Johnathan xx

 

The guys above already gave good info/advice... just one thing that stuck out to me here.. you talk about it in the "past sense"... but its still real and spreading - there is still no cure for it, just drugs that prolongue (and improve) life for the infected. If you tackle the subject ... it'd be great to make the readers aware that it still is a fatal disease....

[Johnathan Colourfield]

The guys above already gave good info/advice... just one thing that stuck out to me here.. you talk about it in the "past sense"... but its still real and spreading - there is still no cure for it, just drugs that prolongue (and improve) life for the infected. If you tackle the subject ... it'd be great to make the readers aware that it still is a fatal disease....

 

 

 

 

My word... i didnt realise that it was still a major issue thank you guys this has helped alot and i will be starting the story soon. All the information and debates will all be useful.

 

 

 

 

 

More is welcomed

 

 

[tomw]

I wrote this las February about a particularly bad year. People who had been living with AIDS for years were running out of time. The drug cocktails were still in trials. The love of my life died.

 

Trebs said a lot of people don't want to talk about that time. About the people that we lost. I do. It's how we keep their memory alive.

 

[...]

I walk where we walked and talk where we talked

in the lonely empty places

and wonder to my self why am I still here

the smoke it still stings my eyes

Someone must be left to remember

The year that innocence died.

 

I feel with & for you. Like you, the love of my life, Matt, died in December '98. That poem you posted speaks volumes to me. It was a harrowing time, which is probably why people are reluctant to relive it all over again. Kind of like how participants in WWII were always reluctant to speak of their experiences. I already sent an email to Jonathan with my personal recollections, so I won't go over it again here. Suffice to say, I miss Matt so much to this day and and still pissed at what happened in the 80's--a lot more compassion then might have saved so many lives, including Matt's and several other close friends who died. As Trebs recommended above, if you haven't, definitely read Shilts's And the Band Played On for the details on all that.

 

I truly welcome stories that involve this subject because of increasing infection rates among young gay men these days. We can't, by silence, let this happen again. I recall the old Act Up slogan: Silence = Death. So effing true even today.

 

To witness some of the real, personal impact of the AIDS holocaust (I don't use that term lightly) visit the Names Project web site where you can view the many thousands of quilt panels loved ones made for their friends who died. http://www.aidsquilt.org. Matt & I went to the March on Washington in the final days of the senior Bush administration where all the Quilt panels to date completely covered the Mall in DC (there are photos of that in their site).

 

Peace & hugs to all the bereaved.

Edited March 1, 2010 by tomw