Box Turtle Bulletin

The Daily Agenda for Monday, February 29

TODAY’S AGENDA is brought to you by:

From The Calendar (San Antonio, TX), July 5, 1985. (Source.)

From The Calendar, March 29, 1985, page 8. (Click to enlarge.)

Today’s controversy over PrEP echoes some of the controversies (and, sometimes, misinformation) about the first HIV tests to emerge in the mid-1980s. But there were also a number of very serious and legitimate fears that the first AIDS test brought up. First of all, and on an immediately practical matter, suppose you took an AIDS test and it came back positive? Then what? Remember, AZT, the first drug that provided any kind of hope for at least adding a few more years to your life, wouldn’t come along for another two years (see Mar 19). Taking the test really meant learning little more than whether you were going to die in  the next year or two. (One study found that 14 percent of those testing positive contemplated suicide.) Or not — there were concerns over the new test’s accuracy, with it giving a false negative in one out of every twenty cases. It’s false positive rate was about 1 in 100.

But also in 1985, was still a great deal of uncertainty among researchers about what a positive results would really mean. Technically, it only meant that the individual had been exposed to the virus, but not necessarily that they were still infected with it. After all, that how most viruses and their antibodies work. There was also confusion among AID professionals about the linkage between infection with HIV (or HTLV-3 or LAV as it was still called at the time), and the subsequent development of AIDS. Many still thought, as Randy Shilts described it in And the Band Played On, that “the virus recruited its victims like the U.S. Marines — many were selected but few were chosen.”

But there were also a host of other pressing issues which, as another ad from the Gay Men’s Health Crisis explained, needed to be taken into consideration before taking the test:

The new test for antibodies to the “AIDS virus” doesn’t tell you very much of anything. It only indicates that you have been exposed to the virus. What it can do is frightening.

Imagine if your health insurance company found out that your test came back positive, they might cancel your policy. Even your job and home may be at risk.

Names might be reported to the government and find their way onto a master list.

In fact, desperately needed research is being hindered because the Federal government refuses to guarantee confidentiality. So, if you do take the test, make sure you get a guarantee in writing that your name and the results of your test won’t ever be released to anyone.

Otherwise, our advice is, stay away from the test. It’s bad news.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
► Pedro Zamora: 1972-1994. When MTV debuted The Real World in 1992, it gave us so-called reality television as we know it today — so-called because it’s hard to see how putting eight attractive young people in a hip loft-like apartment with television crews, hidden cameras, and make-work jobs could be considered “reality.” But in 1994, things really did start getting real when Pedro Zamora, the Cuban-American gay man revealed that he was HIV positive to his housemates by showing them his scrapbook of his four years as an AIDS educator and advocate. In fact, it was this vocation which inspired him to audition for The Real World’s third season. As the season progressed, housemates (and viewers) became more aware of the myths surrounding HIV and AIDS, attended some of Pedro’s AIDS education lectures, celebrated with him as he and his partner exchanged vows during a commitment ceremony, and watched as he dealt with his own deteriorating health as the season progressed.

Taping ended in June 19, 1994 and the first episodes aired a week later. As the season aired, Pedro’s declining health prevented him from participating in any publicity appearances. In August, he checked into St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York. There he was diagnosed with toxoplasmosis, one of the many opportunistic infections that many people with AIDS suffered, which causes fatigue, headaches and confusion. After three weeks, he was flown home to Miami to be with his family. He died on November 11, 1994, a day after the final episode of The Real World aired. President Bill Clinton praised Pedro, saying that because of his example, “no one in America can say they’ve never known someone who is living with AIDS.”

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?