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In 1981 people were getting ill and no one was sure what it was or how they were getting the virus. This disease spread across the US and around the rest of the world. Since then multiple million people have died of AIDS. This virus transmits easily through bodily fluids, but most often by sharing needles and drug use. It is a very important illness to discuss even now because there has been no cure found. Today we have treatment but we need to learn how they dealt with AIDS in the 80s.
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At the beginning of the epidemic there were false accusations surrounding the disease. They felt that only gay men were getting and spreading it. This made it so the original name was GRID or gay-related immune deficiency. There was a lot of hate being shown towards this and for many years people called AIDS the "gay plague".
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Since many people were contracting the disease they wanted to find out more. People were researching to see how it was spread and if they could do more to prevent it. This image depicts a sign up sheet for an AIDS research project (1) -
Once it was discovered how the disease was spread, there were classes held for the public to attend to educate themselves. At these classes they talked about prevention and protection. There was also testing available for the public at these events. (2) -
Once they found out more information, they wanted to protect people. The government created a prevention guide to help people through this epidemic. This image is the first page but the full text is linked here. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112052602718?urlappend=%3Bseq=5 (3) -
There were funds created to help treatment to be given around the world for hiv/aids. Drug manufactures were starting to decrease the price on the drugs that could help people. The FDA also approved a drug that could help prevent the spread of HIV during sex.
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- AIDS prevention project Cohort. "Consent form: AIDS Prevention". 1987, Dallas County Texas.
- Roll, Elizabeth,. "Red Cross instructor teaching AIDS Education in the Workplace, 1989.". Indiana Red Cross 1989.
- Government document. "AIDS prevention guide : for parents and other adults concerned about youth.". Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control.