The Early Days of AIDS

December 1st is World AIDS day, a day set aside to raise awareness for the deadly virus. Since 1981, AIDS has killed at least 25 million people around the world. Another almost 35 million people currently live with HIV. This makes it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history.

On this edition of Rewind a look at the early days of the AIDS crisis- and its effect on gay men, on sexuality and on society as a whole.

Please keep in mind that medical information in this program was believed accurate at the time of broadcast, but may have changed since then.

In the early 1980s, doctors began noticing that rare cancers and infections were striking otherwise healthy young gay men. Something was destroying their immune systems- something fatal, and possibly contagious. At first it was called the "gay plague." Then others began dying- Haitians, intravenous drug users, hemophiliacs and heterosexuals. Fear, confusion and prejudice reigned as the disease eventually known as AIDS grew from a mystery to an epidemic.

The first piece is from the program Quirks and Quarks in 1981. It's the earliest reference to AIDS- although it wasn't called that at the time- in the CBC archives.

In 1981 the disease was referred to as "gay-related immune deficiency" or GRID. But in 1982 officials learned of a case acquired through a blood transfusion and the term was dropped. That year AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) entered our lexicon. A reminder that AIDS does not kill you directly. Instead, by weakening the immune system, it leaves the body vulnerable to "opportunistic infections" -- infections that are rarely seen in healthy people but can be deadly for someone with AIDS.

In early 1983 the link between AIDS and blood transfusions was becoming more known. By July of that year AIDS cases were increasing exponentially around the world. There were many theories on how it was transmitted, but nobody really knew for sure. And there wasn't yet a test for AIDS.

One of the more alarming side effects of AIDS was the social and political hysteria it caused. In the United States, some political and religious leaders called for all gay acts to be criminalized in the name of public health. Columnist Pat Buchanan called the disease "Nature's revenge on homosexuals," and Reverend Jerry Falwell called it "proof of society's moral decay." In 1983, Falwell was on CBC's The Journal. Falwell's crusades against homosexuality didn't end there. For example in February 1999 Falwell "outed" the purple Teletubby 'Tinky Winky' as being gay.  

At the time of this broadcast there was little information about AIDS and many misconceptions circulated. Some researchers thought the disease was connected with visitors to gay bathhouses sniffing nitrate "poppers," a drug used to enhance sexual encounters. Most suspected a blood-borne virus was involved, but no such virus had been identified. Few researchers at the time believed the disease could be contracted through heterosexual sex.The rush to find if not a cure, then at least the cause, was on.

In 1984 scientists in France and the U.S. isolated the virus which they believed was the cause of AIDS. It was called HIV, for human immunodeficiency virus. When the virus was first discovered, hopes ran high that a vaccine was just a year or two away. But it has taken years for that promise to be fulfilled. Just this summer, in 2012, researchers were still cautiously talking about a cure at the international biannual AIDS conference.

However, the development of a test for HIV in the mid 80s did help doctors diagnose patients earlier, screen blood donations and slow the spread of AIDS.

In 1985, the Canadian Red Cross announced that it was investigating the death of two men who had recently died of AIDS. The men were not in any of the groups most susceptible to the disease, but they had both had blood transfusions. The Red Cross admitted there was a possibility they caught AIDS from the transfusions.

At least 2000 Canadians contracted HIV as a result of blood transfusions received between 1980 and 1985. Another 30,000 were infected with hepatitis C, a potentially debilitating liver disease. The ensuing public investigation, called the Krever inquiry, eventually led to almost $10 billion in legal claims, criminal charges and the near bankrupting of the Canadian Red Cross.  

But that was still to come. In October 1985, Rock Hudson died. He had been a popular actor in romantic comedies and later on television. A few months before he died it was revealed that he had AIDS. The announcement had an immediate impact on the discussion of AIDS.

Rock Hudson's death might have put a public face to AIDS, but that didn't mean that the public's fears were allayed. There was a debate on whether employers had the right to demand HIV tests of prospective employees, whether insurance companies could do the same, or whether there should be quarantines for anyone who tested positive. It seemed that a nervous public was unwilling to take any chances even if it meant sacrificing human rights.

The ethicist Margaret Somerville talked about the idea that by excluding one group of people who we fear, we risk harming society as a whole. This was a concept that June Callwood embraced. She was a journalist and activist who fought for the underdog. And in the mid eighties she began working on behalf of people with AIDS. June Callwood's initiative, which was called Casey House opened in 1988 in Toronto, and is still in operation.

At about that time, the term "safe sex" started to be used not just in the gay community, but also in society at large to describe sexual practices to keep people free of HIV and AIDS. It was an urgent message, but a difficult one to convey when even the word "condom" was taboo. Most broadcasters, including the CBC, initially refused to run ads that showed or mentioned condoms because it was felt to be too controversial.

Later that year, CBC vice president Sheelagh Whittaker agreed to air ads for condoms as long as they met "the ethical standards of our audience." Television ads for condoms debuted in Canada in February 1987, but weren't allowed on American television until 1992.

Even so, Canadian ads for condoms had to emphasize the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases rather than pregnancy. The invention of safer-sex guidelines was an important victory in the fight against AIDS and has reduced its spread in North America, Western Europe and Japan. However in many developing countries, discussion of sex is still taboo, condoms are expensive and women have little control over their sex lives. Many countries do not have the health budget to combat the epidemic.

In March 1987 the drug AZT became the first anti-HIV drug approved for use in the United States. It helped control the disease by keeping HIV from multiplying.

On December 1st, 1988, the World Health Organization declared World AIDS Day. The theme for World AIDS day 2012 is "working together for an AIDS-free generation."

In 1991, the red ribbon became the international symbol of HIV and AIDS awareness. It made its public debut at the 1991 Tony Awards on the lapel of actor Jeremy Irons. And has been worn by millions since then.

AIDS is, of course, still a problem in North America and Europe. But Africa in particular has been truly devastated by HIV and AIDS. As of 2011 there were approximately 34.2 million people living with HIV. Over 60% of them are in sub-Saharan Africa.

In some countries, particularly in Southern Africa, between 20 and 30 per cent of adults aged 15-49 have HIV.

World Health Organization
Canadian AIDS society
Casey House
Health Canada- Government of Canada