WaPo: 7,000 Gay Men Help Study AIDS; Effort to Beat Disease Began 25 Years Ago

[Heidi]

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

It was the early 1980s, and an unknown disease was spreading throughout the gay community.

"We were all scared back then," said Walter Smalling, a photographer who lives in the District. "In the beginning, it was a death sentence. Nothing could be done."

So when a friend mentioned that researchers with the National Institute of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) were seeking gay men to participate in an ongoing study of the mystery ailment, Smalling and many of his friends volunteered.

Now, 25 years later, researchers with the Multicenter AIDS Study (MACS) say health and lifestyle information gathered from Smalling and thousands of other participants have helped track the evolution of AIDS and develop therapies to fight it.

<snip>

For more than two decades, men in the four MACS cities have undergone twice-yearly physicals and answered in-depth questions about their lifestyles, with queries including how many partners they've had sex with and what precautions they took to avoid infection. In all, more than 8,500 pieces of information have been gathered from each participant. The data have been used by researchers to develop public health campaigns and to study the impact of the virus on the body and brain.

Read more

[ruggerson]

1. without Act Up

other groups that have been greatly affected by the epidemic, would have had a major catastrophe on their hands.

An enormous debt is owed Act Up by this entire nation.

[Heidi]

3. Totally agree about Act Up.

Good mornin'/evenin', ruggerson. :hi:

[donheld]

4. Indeed

[TexasObserver]

2. Recommend

[Heidi]

5. Mornin', Texas!

:hi:

[TexasObserver]

6. Mornin', Switzerland!

It must be interesting there about now.

[Heidi]

7. Whoa-boy. You're not kidding.

:yoiks: