Thursday, February 9, 2012

Pneumocystis Pneumonia --- Los Angeles

Julio sent me this CDC report, from June 5 1981, about 5 cases of Pneumocystis Pneumonia in Los Angeles, which was the first published report about what would, a year later, be known as AIDS and would, thirty years later, have killed 25 million people.

All the above observations suggest the possibility of a cellular-immune dysfunction related to a common exposure that predisposes individuals to opportunistic infections such as pneumocystosis and candidiasis. 

If you would like to read more about this period in history when AIDS was first being discovered and invesitagted  then Randy Shilts book, And the Band Played On, is thoroughly recommended:

"An exhaustive account of the early years of the AIDS crisis, this outlines the medical, social and political forces behind the epidemic's origin and rapid spread. The book stands as a definitive reminder of the shameful injustice inflicted on this nation by the institutions in which we put our trust."  Publishers Weekly

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