AIDS History 101

[DaShi]

Originally posted by MrFun


So we need to accept this quandary then: When hundreds of people are dying of a new, unknown disease, you do not do anything about it, because there would be no justification for funding, because it is an unknown disease?

But a lot of people didn't know that it was an unknown disease. Many thought it was cancer. And there still was research being done about it and it did receive funding. So I don't see where your quandary applies.

[SlowwHand]

Thye thought it was all kinds of things. Pnuemonia may have been the ultimate cause, but the why wasn't asked.

[Dinner]

I'm kind of sad that the OP starts it's history of AIDS in the late 70's and early 80's when the first known case of AIDS was in the Belgian colony of Congo in 1959. Apparently it was a locally occurring disease in central Africa until the 1960's.

[Aeson]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

[Patroklos]

I learned a lot about AIDS in this thread

[Asher]

Originally posted by Oerdin
I'm kind of sad that the OP starts it's history of AIDS in the late 70's and early 80's when the first known case of AIDS was in the Belgian colony of Congo in 1959. Apparently it was a locally occurring disease in central Africa until the 1960's.

Not to defend MrFun here but it depends on your perspective. AIDS was first reported on June 5, 1981.

The Congo man had HIV-1 and not AIDS.

[MrFun]

Snoopy and Rufus have made some good points on the reality of how research grant funding system works, and how diseases and illnesses are defined and prioritized in public health administrations and institutions. Yet, in the excerpt below, Ted Weiss protested the lack of funding in 1983, stating that the mechanisms and process of research funding for AIDS was inadequate considering that this was a genuine, national health emergency.

This excerpt covers the release of House report documents on how the government and health agencies have failed to adequately fund AIDS research and education.


And the Band Played On (page 397)
December 6, 1983
"The Department of Health and Human Services has failed to adquately fund Federal efforts to fight the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, according to a report prepared by the Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources Subcommittee chaired by Representative Ted Weiss (D-NY).

'Tragically, funding levels for AIDS investigations have been dictated by political considerations rather than by the professional judgments of scientists and public health officials who are waging the battle against the epidemic,' said Weiss. 'The inadequacy of funding, coupled with inexcusable delays in research activity, leads me to question the Federal Government's preparedness for national health emergencies, as well as this Administration's commitment to an urgent resolution to the AIDS crisis.'"