Untitled Essay, Research Paper

How has AIDS affected our Society? Today more Americans are infected with STD’s than at any

other time in history. The most serious of these diseases is AIDS. Since

the first cases were identified in the United States in 1981, AIDS has touched

the lives of millions of American families. This deadly disease is unlike

any other in modern history. Changes in social behavior can be directly linked

to AIDS. Its overall effect on society has been dramatic.

It is unknown whether AIDS and HIV existed and killed

in the U.S. and North America before the early 1970s. However in the early

1980s, “deaths by opportunistic infections, previously observed mainly in

tissue-transplant recipients receiving immunosuppressive therapy”, were

recognized in otherwise healthy homosexual men. In 1983 French oncologist

Luc Montagnier and scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Paris isolated

what appeared to be a new human retrovirus from the lymph node of a man at

risk for having AIDS. At the same time, scientists working in the laboratory

of American research, scientist Robert Gallo at the National Cancer Institute,

one of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and a group

headed by American virologist Jay Levy at the University of California at

San Francisco isolated a retrovirus from people with AIDS and from individuals

having contact with people with AIDS. All three groups of scientists had

isolated what is now known as HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

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In 1995 HIV was estimated to infect almost 20 million people worldwide, and

several million of those people had developed AIDS. The disease is obviously

an important social issue.

AIDS has caused many to rethink their own social behavior.

People are forced to use caution when involving themselves in sexual activity.

They must use contraception to avoid the dangers of infection. Many people

consider HIV infection and AIDS to be completely preventable because the

routes of HIV transmission are so well known. To completely prevent transmission,

however, dramatic changes in sexual behavior and drug dependence would have

to occur throughout the world. Prevention efforts that promote sexual awareness

through open discussion and condom distribution in public schools have been

opposed due to fear that these efforts encourage sexual promiscuity among

young adults. Similarly, needle-exchange programs have been criticized as

promoting drug abuse. Governor Christine Todd Whitman vetoed a bill in New

Jersey that tried to create a needle-exchange program. She was accused of

being “compassionless”. She replied that she could not allow drug addicts

to continue to break the law. By distributing needles, she felt that she

was, in fact, encouraging them to break the law.

Prevention programs that identify HIV-infected individuals

and notify their sexual partners, as well as programs that promote HIV testing

at the time of marriage or pregnancy, have been criticized for invading personal

privacy.

Efforts aimed at public awareness have been propelled

by community-based organizations, such as Project Inform and Act-Up, that

provide current information to HIV-infected individuals and to individuals

at risk for infection. Public figures and celebrities who are themselves

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HIV-infected or have died from AIDS-including American basketball player

Magic Johnson, American actor Rock Hudson, American diver Greg Louganis,

American tennis player Arthur Ashe, and British musician Freddie Mercury-have

personalized the disease of AIDS and have thereby helped society come to

terms with the enormity of the epidemic. In memory of those people who died

from AIDS, especially in the early years of the epidemic, a giant quilt project

was initiated in which each panel of the quilt was dedicated to the memory

of an individual AIDS death. This quilt has traveled on display from community

to community to promote AIDS awareness.

The U.S. government has also attempted to assist HIV-infected

individuals through legislation and additional community-funding measures.

In 1990 HIV-infected people were included in the Americans with Disabilities

Act, making discrimination against these individuals for jobs, housing, and

other social benefits illegal. Additionally, a community-funding program

designed to assist in the daily lives of people living with AIDS was established.

This congressional act, the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency

Act, was named in memory of a young man who contracted HIV through blood

products and became a public figure for his courage in fighting the disease

and community prejudice. The act is still in place, although continued funding

for such social programs is under debate by current legislators.

The lack of effective vaccines and antiviral drugs has spurred speculation

that the funding for AIDS research is insufficient. Although the actual amount

of government funding for AIDS research is large, most of these funds are

used for expensive clinical studies to evaluate new

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drugs. Many scientists believe that not enough is known about the basic biology

of HIV, and they recommend shifting the emphasis of AIDS research to basic

research that could ultimately result in more effective medicines.

Most people agree that AIDS is a very important issue

and cannot be ignored. Personally, I believe that the country and society

is to blame for the spread of AIDS. We let it get out of control. The modes

of transmission have been known for a considerable amount of time, yet the

disease still continues to spread. There are few people who can honostly

claim not to know the ways in which AIDS is transmitted. Similarly, there

are very few people who don’t know the ways to prevent the spread of AIDS.

These methods are very simple and easy to follow. Yet, thousands will be

infected this year alone.

Another aspect of AIDS that up until very recently was

a serious problem is the treatment, or mistreatment, of those who are HIV

positive, but do not have AIDS. One of the most famous stories is the treatment

of Ryan White. He was not allowed to attend a public school because he had

AIDS. His story was told and people began to realize that those with HIV

can lead “normal” lives and must be treated equally. Fortunately, conditions

have improved.

It is hard to know what society might be like had it not

been for AIDS. It might be fair to assume that society in general would be

much more sexually promiscuous had AIDS not curbed this trend. Another effect

that isn’t usually noticed at first glance is the creation of jobs. AIDS

has made it necessary for thousands of workers in the pharmaceuticals industry

as well as research. Also, people have been hired to counsel AIDS patients

and write literature about the causes and

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the methods of prevention. Even the arts have changed since AIDS came about.

Songs have been written. Movies have been made, such as ‘The Band Played

On’.

In conclusion, the effects of AIDS on society are very

far-reaching. They stretch from social behavior changes to a change in art

and music. AIDS has caused all Americans to think about their lives and how

fragile life is. They must be careful and use caution. Hopefully, all of

society will one day know the causes of AIDS and the means of prevention.

They will take knowledge and apply it. With a cure and an end to the spread

of this disease, society will survive and prosper.

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Bibliography Martelli, Leonard J. and others.

When Someone You Know Has AIDS. Crown, 1987.

Shilts, Randy. And the Band Played

On. St. Martin’s, 1987. “Politics, People and the AIDS

Epidemic”.

Weitz, Rose. Life with AIDS. Rutgers,

1991.