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Living With AIDS
A Time Of Testing
A year ago I would have said, "No thanks, no way." What difference would it make if I fmd out
I'm HIV positive? It wouldn't change what I do sexually. That's already safe-well, almost always.
And besides, I would just worry at every little cold.
Sure, I know, my doctor said, "Time for gay men to pull their head out of the sand." Now if we
are positive, there are things that can be done. Doctors can monitor our status, look for early
indications of change, move in early with therapy before other symptoms appear. And increasingly,
there are more options than just AZT.
Finally, I decided it was time to know. I wanted to be able to plan while I'm feeling well and not
suddenly be surprised when I'm not. It seems to me this is just another way of trying to take control
and not letting myself be a victim of circumstance.
And so I’m sitting in the Gay Center-whcre testing is anonymous and only cost $10-talking to a
counselor. No matter that I've just come from the hospital. Seeing my friend there has only stiffened
my resolve to be tested.
The counselor explains about the test—that it is not a test for AIDS but the antibody to the vims
that almost all experts believe causes AIDS-and then talks some more with me about why I want to
be tested, about my feelings about being tested. Then she tells me results are usually back within ten
working days. Next a pleasant volunteer (Td seem him the last time I'd had a VD check) takes some
blood and gives me my anonymous number.
Updates
Sunlight and HIV
Recent reports indicate that sunlight may
activate the human immunodeficiency vims
(HIV). Research suggests that ultraviolet light
may cause HIV to grow as much as 150 times
faster. Scientists in the U.S. and Belgium report
that virus growth dramatically increased in cells
"primed" by exposure to ultraviolet light
Approximately 30 minutes of sunlight rendered
the same effect.
Until more is learned about the possible
effects of sunlight on HIV positive persons,
some doctors are strongly advising their patients
to avoid tanning and to use a #15 or high sun
screen (one containing p-aminobenzoic acid
otherwise known as PAB A, which diminishes
the effects of ultraviolet radiation) during periods
of exposure to sunlight
The definitive research is not in on this
subject but until reasonable documentation is
published rat the possible relation between HIV
and sunlight, persons should consider using an
appropriate sun screen before exposure to
sunlight
For a much more in depth but readable
discussion of this subject see Ann Fenner's
informative article entitled "Sunlight May
Activate AIDS" beginning on page 17 of the
June 14,1988 issue of The Village Voice (check
the public library for back issues). Medical
references to Ms. Fetmer's article can be
obtained by sending a self-addressed stamped
envelope to her in care of The Village Voice, 842
Broadway, New York City, New York 10003.
-Terry Francis
AIDS Hysteria in
Singapore Hotel
Singapore-The, hotel room of a gay man who
died of AIDS at the Tan Tock Seng hospital in
Singapore on June 11 was "sterilized" by hotel
management The hotel destroyed the carpets
and burned the sheets and towels from the room,
despite objections from the Singapore health
Ministry, which insisted that "AIDS cannot be
spread through day-to-day contact"
management also ordered that the hotel
swimming pool be drained.
-Chris Bull
Gay Community News
Japanese AIDS
Cases Still Low
Latest reports from Japan indicate that AIDS
has made limited inroads into Japanese society.
Of the 50 cases reported, most are hemophiliacs
who caught the virus from imported blood
products. Japanese gay males are better prepared
to take precautions because the use of condoms
is widely practiced in both the gay and non-gay
communities. IV drag users are not likely to
become infected with the HIV because drug
users do not routinely share needles as in other
countries. Clean needles are readily available in
Japan.
-John Hubert
AIDS Group
Disrupts
Stockholders
Meeting
Chicago-Thz May stockholders meeting, of
the LyphoMed Corporation was disrupted by
members of Chicago for AIDS Rights, who
came to confront the company on its price hikes
for pentamidine.
The protesters were angered that in the last
four years, LyphoMed has initiated six price
hikes on the drag used to treat pneumocystis
carinii pneumonia, the most frequent cause of
death fra people with ADS. The company is in
a race with other drug giants to develop an
aerosol version of the drag and claims the price
increases are necessary to pay for development.
'Td like to ask if you think the increase in the
price of pentamidine fra people who are dying
of AIDS is an ethical business procedure," Ferd
Eggan, member of the AIDS rights group, asked
LyphoMed officials. As security guards dragged
him away, he shouted "Why don't you answer
the question just the same? The stockholders
might be interested in knowing about the people
who are dying and you're taking their money."
Other stockholders expressed an interest in
the company’s response, and other protesters
began bombanding officials with questions. The
protesters were removed from the auditorium.
-Philadelphia Gay News
I leave the Gay Center feeling more relieved than anxious. Td made my decision, it was now a
done thing. But now the waiting begins. And worse, I know the odds. Td just looked at a Fulton
County report that said that 23% of the gay white men and 45% of the gay black men who present
themselves to anonymous testing sites in Atlanta test positive. I also know that, according to the most
recent research, at least half, and possibly most, of those testing positive will develop serious health
problems within ten years.
Waiting, I play the scene in my mind. I know I have to be as ready to hear yes as no. Countless
times a day, I imagine myself back in that room, talking to the counselor. I hear the result said, I
imagine-again and again-my reaction.
Ten working days later, I call. All day, I have been preparing myself. I feel honed to a high
state-tense but ready. No, that number isn't back yet, I'm told. Damn, I was prepared fra yes or no,
but not maybe! Panic sets in. I think, of course it isn't back-the ELISA was positive and they're
waiting for the confirmatory Western Biol This is Wednesday. Because the clinic operates Monday
through Wednesday, 6:00-9:00 pm, this means I now have to wait until next Monday.
Monday comes. I call. No, still haven't located that block of numbers, I'm told. You may have to
crane back in for new blood. What, I think, begin a new cycle of waiting! Tuesday I call again. Yes,
the results fra those numbers are here, they finally came in.
Again, I'm in the Gay Center waiting room. The counselor calls my turn. She is a pleasant-
looking, somewhat plump woman, short and friendly. I note the looseleaf notebook she holds. We
talk for a moment-anything to delay at this point-then she asks me for my number. Of course, I
think, she doesn't know yet either. I fish out my number from my pocket, she opens the book, finger
running along the page, looking fra my number, my result....
- R. Bakeman
RetumTbThose
Our story is simple. Just take a few precautions and you can love as normally
as you did before the AIDS panic. That’s it. If you know what these precautions are, then you’re
excused from this ad. If you don’t, call AID Atlanta at 876-9944 or 1-800-551-2728
and we’ll tell you. After all, the sex life you save may be your own.
AID Atlanta
AID Atlanta Benefits From Advertiser's
A new public service campaign, donated to AID Atlanta by the locally based ad agency of Cole
Henderson Drake, Inc., targets heterosexuals, and anyone who thinks no-one gets AIDS today
unless they're gay or drug addicts who share IV drag needles in shooting galleries. The message of
the campaign is two-fold: anybody can get AIDS, but anyone who knows the facts about how
ADS is actually transmitted and takes reasonable precautions has nothing to fear. The groups at
highest risk today are the uninformed, and especially those, including the young, who tend to think
they are invulnerable.
The idea for the campaign came from Bob Morrison, who wrote the copy for all the ads. He
interested artist Mark Ashley and senior account executive Sheri Haase in the project and, together,
they took it up with their agency, who gave them a firm go-ahead. Checking frequently with AID
Atlanta, and devoting countless hours of their own time to the project, in addition to meeting all
their regular agency commitments, these three peqple, aided by a host of other volunteers, first
produced a television commercial that, at normal agency rates, would have been budgeted at nearly
$120,000.00-and did it at no cost to AID Atlanta. Print media ads are now ready for distribution as
well, thanks to their efforts, and public service announcements for radio use are expected to go on
the air in the fall.
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