8 | OutBoise Magazine | NEWS
Our Health
By Robert Collins
Good News!
In the early to mid 80s I was living in the Los
Angeles area and had the experience of knowing some of the early AIDS (Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome) patients. Then it was known
as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency). The
treatments at the time consisted of treating the
secondary opportunistic infection. The underlying
cause was still unknown and therefore untreatable.
I was at the time horrified at what was happening to my friends. My friend Chris, who was a
blonde, blue-eyed, cornflakes type kid of Scandinavian descent, contracted a disease usually
confined to dark older men of Mediterranean
descent. Chemo helped, but other infections
took root and Chris succumbed in 1983. His death
certificate simply said at the time cause of death:
Kaposi’s Sarcoma, origin unknown.
In 1986, I moved to the Ohio River Valley area
where I grew up and already the impact of AIDS
was making itself known in the area. I became active in the AIDS Task Force Of the Upper Ohio Valley. I specialized in education, giving seminars for
sheriffs departments, police forces, hospitals and
clinics. I also was involved in seeking and distributing medications for treatment. In September of
1986, the first drug to treat retroviral infection such
as HIV was in trials for use by the Food and Drug
Administration. Azidothymidine, known as AZT, offered many the first real hope of long term survival.
The drug was harsh and had numerous undesirable side effects. It was however the only option.
Unfortunately, the U.S. supply was limited and
expensive. Getting into the trials was difficult. If
you lived in certain parts of the country obtaining
the drug was almost impossible. A thriving black
market flourished, channeling AZT from Mexico
and Canada. In 1989, results from a major drug
trial known as ACTG019 were announced. The trial
showed that AZT could slow progression to AIDS in
HIV positive individuals with no symptoms. The find-
OutB