Public Health Scare of the 1980s: AIDS Crisis

The podcast episode discusses the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and compares it to the emergence of COVID-19. It highlights the impact of HIV on individuals and the stigmas associated with it. The lack of a federal response and delayed funding contributed to a high number of infections and deaths. Currently, there is no cure for HIV, but advancements in medicine and treatment methods have led to a decline in infection rates. It emphasizes the importance of prevention measures such as abstinence, safe sex practices, and avoiding needle sharing. Can you recall what the first few months were like with the emergence of COVID-19? Can you remember the fear and sense of unease with new reoccurring cases of this mysterious illness spreading rapidly across the globe that we knew so little about before vaccine efforts and the development of treatment methods? Could you imagine something like this taking place in the early 80s and how society responded? Well, something quite similar did, in fact, occur in the 1980s. The AIDS crisis, which is the topic for this week's episode. This is Shape Up with Keba. I'm your host and wellness promoter, Nekeba Evans. Naturally, when we talk about wellness, it's critical to address its opposite state, illness, which is a term that can be used to describe the state of being unwell, sickly, or put simply, not in the optimal condition of health, and if not treated early or effectively, could worsen the condition and potentially lead to death and severe incidence of disease. This was the case for many of those in the 1980s who contracted human immunodeficiency virus, a viral infection marked by a variety of symptoms that can range depending on the infected individual and the stage of the condition. The contracting of HIV could ultimately lead to an individual's increased risk for developing certain cancers and infections that were more common in those with severely weakened immune systems, a condition medically termed as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, if the virus remained untreated during this time period. However, a brief article on HIV published by Science.org indicates that there were instances of HIV discovered prior to the 80s, stating that, quote, many AIDS researchers have suspected that the most common HIV strain, HIV-1, has been lurking in the human population since the 1950s or even earlier, and now scientists have confirmed that's the case. Fragments of HIV-1 from a 1959 blood sample represent the earliest known case of HIV infection. Stigmas around HIV-AIDS were negatively associated with being a homosexual male, as gay men, who frequently engaged in unprotected sex, were amongst one of the highest at-risk groups for contracting the virus, with people, some of them politicians, ignorantly referring to HIV as gay cancer or the gay plague. But as we learned with COVID-19 and prior infectious diseases, viruses do not discriminate. The incidence rate of a certain illness or disease condition can be more common within a certain demographic, but by no means does this signify that individuals within this demographic are the only ones susceptible to contracting the disease. In fact, perceptions of the virus had only begun to change when drug addicts who shared infected needles and hemophiliacs contracted the virus from contaminated blood during blood transfusions. Even newborn babies were at risk through breast milk from HIV-positive mothers, who might have contracted the virus from drug addict partners. And to make matters worse, a federal response to the AIDS crisis was virtually non-existent up until about 1985, when former President Reagan mentioned AIDS publicly, calling it a quote, top priority, and then Congress eventually allocating almost $190 million to help fund AIDS research. While this funding was critically needed, its delay to the situation may have contributed to some 47,000 infected persons with HIV in the United States during that time, and approximately 16,301 deaths. As of recent data from 2022, there were roughly 1.2 million people living with HIV in the U.S., and approximately 38.4 million people globally were reported to have the virus in 2021, according to statistics from HIV.gov. There is still no cure for HIV, and the virus's ability to quickly mutate from person to person, amongst many other factors, makes the development of a vaccine against it far too difficult. However, thanks to advancements in medicine and the development of different treatment methods, coupled with increased awareness and education, annual infection rates of HIV have gradually been declining in recent years. In fact, certain prescribed medications have been able to lower the viral load in the bloodstream of a person with HIV to undetectable levels. And if the virus is undetectable, then it is untransmittable, but only if the HIV-positive person consistently takes their prescribed HIV medication. So as we conclude this episode, let's briefly go over some ways to prevent the spread of HIV. One, practice abstinence, which simply means to not have sex. And if you're going to have sex, then two, do it safely, by correctly using protective barriers, such as condoms and dental dams, each time during intercourse, to help prevent the spread of other STIs. And three, avoid ever sharing needles. And that concludes this episode. All credible sources and additional information are in the show notes. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll hear you in the next one.