once the epidemiologic pattern was clear that this was caused by a virus, the race was on to find the virus. the two labs in paris and bob gallon s lab at the nih at the national cancer institute were trying to show not only do we have the virus but we have the absolute proof it is the virus causing the disease. i think healthy competition is very useful, it sparks you, it sparks creativity. we wanted to be able to say we cracked this, not the french. the probable cause of aids has been found, variant of a known human cancer virus. they called a press conference, we have done it. the americans have discovered it. we are so proud of our american scientists. we now have a blood test for aids, we should be able to prevent transfusion related cases. this is what the virus looks like, magnified thousands of times, now labeled hiv or human immuno deficiency virus.
it is particularly destructive because it attacks t-4 cells. which direct the body s immune system. made a serious scientific advance, developed a blood test. without the blood test, you don t know who is infected, there could never be therapy. but what about french scientists in paris who say they found the real virus. because of the fight between the french and americans about who discovered the virus, the test was delayed by a year. federal health officials announced licensing of a new screening test for aids to protect the nation s blood supply. test kits are being sent to blood banks around the country. we want to identify everyone who is a carrier and identify every possible way to stop them from spreading the disease. controversy is over whether those that test positive should be reported to the state. the reason we are generally opposed to that, it will discourage people from being tested for fear their names will become part of a master list. there are not civil
businesses to operate whose sole source of being is the very activity that communicates the disease. dianne feinstein wanted me to close the bath houses and basically said if you can save one life, it is worth closing them. there are still a number of people who refuse to believe that the problem exists. what we are talking about is playing russian roulette. i got a call from cleve, he said to me, merv, if you close the bathhouses i m going to man the barricades. i didn t want them shut down by the government, what s next, close the bars? i don t think it was unrealistic to be frightened of government action against us through the period it was recently decriminalized. it is the most frightening medical mystery of our times. aids has spread worldwide. it began in africa and spread to haiti and from haiti to the united states. scientists strongly suspect it is a virus. all of the evidence indicates it
so-called guerrilla clinics. it s important to have something we feel we can do rather than be told to sit still, wait until we find something to help you, you may be dead by the time we get there. we were desperately trying to find drugs, test drugs that would be effective because it takes awhile to develop a brand new drug, one of the first things you do when you find out what the virus is is screen drugs that are already developed. they screened a bunch of drugs, found out that azt. had looktivity activity against hiv. they found it may stop the virus reproducing. the only approved drug in america. but even this most promising of drugs is a source of frustration and anger. at $10,000 a year cost for patients, prohibitively expensive for most and not widely available. at the time it was more expensive than any other drug ever released in world history.
felt regulated and safe, very commercial. you walk around in towels and see hot men in towels. guys, until we know better, layoff the number of people you have sex with until we know better. if it is a virus and sexually transmitted, it is passing between us. let s cool it for awhile. there was an enormous amount of denial. larry kramer s most famous he is a, 1,112 and counting said if this article doesn t scare the hit out of you, it should. larry anticipated what was going to happen and he was shunned. these people who are just feeling the vigor of freedom were told everything you re doing is killing you, and bath houses where there s lots of sex with different partners who you don t know, that s the worst thing possible. i don t believe that this city has any business permitting