AIDS is 'forgotten epidemic,' Koop says

[struggle4progress]

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 18, 2010

C. Everett Koop, the surgeon general whose grim and bearded visage gave the country its first frank talk about AIDS almost 25 years ago, warned Wednesday that the disease is becoming "the forgotten epidemic."

About 56,000 Americans become infected each year, about 15,000 die, and about one-fifth of those with the virus don't know they have it, he told a gathering at the National Press Club. HIV - the virus that causes AIDS - continues to be transmitted readily in the gay community, and efforts to prevent infections or diagnose them early have not made much progress.

"Simply put, HIV is no longer on the public's radar screen, and the result is deadly serious," Koop said.

Although ignorance about AIDS remains widespread, the "irrational fear" that accompanied its emergence in the early 1980s has now been replaced by "a growing sense of complacency that is as dangerous," he added ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/17/AR2010111706552.html

[closeupready]

1. I don't agree that it's been forgotten.

Not sure why he says that. But I'll rec anyway, since open discussion about AIDS is better than talk about Dancing with the Stars.

[CountAllVotes]

2. it is not forgotten

nor any the many people that have died from this horrible disease!

[RZM]

3. I'm surprised he didn't mention treatment as one of the reasons

In the 1980s, contracting the virus was often a death sentence. Today, that's not always the case, as far better drugs are available.

[CountAllVotes]

4. it was an absolute death sentence in the 1980s

I was living in San Francisco at the time and the streets of the Castro were paved with dying men. Weekend "garage sales" often consisted of one man's belongings.

I was working helping to write grants to be funded to help find a cure and to treat this disease while people were dying en mass, including one on the doctors I worked for who had a large family that were all hemophiliacs.

At that time, ~80% of all gay men were HIV+. It was a sad sad time in San Francisco and I'll never forget it.

:( :( :( :( :(

:dem:

[RZM]

5. I remember that time too

I was only a child in the 1980s, but my very first social friend (whom I met in kinderarten) contracted it from a blood transfusion and a family member was also positive, so it was something I was aware of for as long as I can remember. They both passed away in the 1990s. Later in life, I remember thinking that if a young child in Ohio such as myself were touched personally by the disease, how many tens of millions of others were as well? I do agree with Koop that today it certainly garners a lot less attention. At least now though it's possible to live a lot longer with it and for that I'm glad. I hope science can conquer it someday.

[Fearless]

6. The best things people can do is get the word out that ANYONE can have it and get tested...

It's insanely easy, absolutely painless, and many places offer discounted fees based on income.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Koop nearly by himself forced the Reagan administration to

address the crisis it had callously ignored for years. I admire him for that, had he not been present, it would have been more years.

[CountAllVotes]

8. actually Reagan did not address the AIDS issue

Not until his buddy Rock Hudson died. Then he finally admitted that there was a problem.

By this time (1985) many had died including a few friends of mine. :argh:

It was too damn late as much of the population that ended up dying had been infected. Damn him!

:dem: