In the 1980s, a mysterious epidemic swept the nation. This pandemic, later identified as AIDS, caused many deaths and shattered families. This disease caused a distinct homophobia amongst some Americans and destroyed a generation of people. The AIDS epidemic in the 80s was an event that affected the lives of millions of people and still shapes our world today.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome plagued the world in the 1980s and still does to this day. Humans haven't always had the disease AIDS plaguing their lives. HIV originated in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo around 1920 when HIV crossed species from chimpanzees to humans. AIDS wasn't a large epidemic until the 1980s when everything changed. The term AIDS wasn't used until september of 1982 by the CDC (A Timeline of HIV/AID). Before the CDC used the term AIDS this mysterious plague was called the “Gay Cancer” since the most abundant group of people that had this disease were gays at this time. Another term used by scientists was gay-related immune deficiency (or GRID). As the disease spread like wildfire people started to view gays differently. Because homosexuals were the #1 propagator of AIDS. This continued in just gays until test show that is was also able to be transmitted to females. In January of 1983 AIDS cases broke out, revealing that AIDS can be passed via heterosexual sex. This news took some pressure off the homosexual community because they are no longer the sole …show more content…
Like the legislation in may of 1983 the U.S. Congress passed the first bill to help fund AIDS research. It gave $12 million to the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services ( ))). People also started to make a difference like the San Francisco General Hospital opened ward 5B. All the workers that worked in the ward were volunteers. People started to donate time and money to find a
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome plagued the world in the 1980s and still does to this day. Humans haven't always had the disease AIDS plaguing their lives. HIV originated in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo around 1920 when HIV crossed species from chimpanzees to humans. AIDS wasn't a large epidemic until the 1980s when everything changed. The term AIDS wasn't used until september of 1982 by the CDC (A Timeline of HIV/AID). Before the CDC used the term AIDS this mysterious plague was called the “Gay Cancer” since the most abundant group of people that had this disease were gays at this time. Another term used by scientists was gay-related immune deficiency (or GRID). As the disease spread like wildfire people started to view gays differently. Because homosexuals were the #1 propagator of AIDS. This continued in just gays until test show that is was also able to be transmitted to females. In January of 1983 AIDS cases broke out, revealing that AIDS can be passed via heterosexual sex. This news took some pressure off the homosexual community because they are no longer the sole …show more content…
Like the legislation in may of 1983 the U.S. Congress passed the first bill to help fund AIDS research. It gave $12 million to the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services ( ))). People also started to make a difference like the San Francisco General Hospital opened ward 5B. All the workers that worked in the ward were volunteers. People started to donate time and money to find a