SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This exhibit is part of an area of the museum called “Science in American Life.” It explores the early spread of HIV and AIDS, starting in nineteen eighty-one. It was in June of that year that America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first reported several cases of healthy young men dying in an unusual way. They were dying of diseases usually seen in older adults or people with weak natural defenses for fighting disease.
An AIDS poster from 1987
The men had several things in common. They were homosexual and lived in Los Angeles and New York City. Similar cases were also reported in people with the blood disease hemophilia and people who take drug injections. The CDC did not yet have a name for this disease.
STEVE EMBER: It was not until two years later that scientists identified HIV as the cause of the disease. HIV weakens the body’s natural defenses for fighting disease. A weakened immune system enables pneumonia and cancer to spread. AIDS is short for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The exhibit tells the story of the disease with written explanations, images, and historical objects. For example, visitors see several nearly thirty year old magazine covers dealing with the subject of AIDS. Exhibit notes say major news organizations did little reporting on AIDS before nineteen eighty-three. The exhibit says discriminatory beliefs about homosexuals meant that stories about gay men dying were not considered of interest to the general public.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25