Process Narrative:
This project, like the first one, was unlike anything I had done in high school. The purpose was to educate others and help them with further research, where in the past I was usually just writing whatever I knew my teacher wanted to see. This made me cut way down on my use of flowery language, opinions, and other “fluff” and focus on what would truly be useful for anyone reading my annotated bibliography for any purpose other than purely grading it (particularly with the intent of conducting their own research). Over the course of the project my bibliography evolved quite a bit, as at the start I was quite lost. I ended up settling on using the same pattern for each entry in order to enhance readability. I started with providing the background information for the source in the first few sentences then gave an overview of the content for the source. This pattern worked very well for me and once I got it down it was very easier to do the last few sources I found. The project helped me to understand further the great role that technology and mass media can have on people’s opinions and sentiments towards things. Early AIDS reports criticised the victims and portrayed it as a “gay-mans cancer”, which many people then started believing. This greatly diminished support for AIDS victims, both socially and medically and it is interesting to think how the history of the disease would have changed if society had supported the victims from the start. This project also helped me to further my understanding of how different modes can work together to better express a certain message or idea.
Annotated Bibliography:
AIDSHistory.com. “amfAR25: Making AIDS History.” Informational. AIDSHistory. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Oct. 2015.
This source is an article on MakingAIDSHistory.org that discusses The American Foundation for AIDS Research’s (amfAR) impact on AIDS research. The organization was founded when an AIDS research on the east coast led by Dr. Mathilde Krim joined forces with a west coast organization led by Michael Gottlieb (author of my primary source) and Elizabeth Taylor in 1983, two years after the first reported cases of AIDS. In 1986 amfAR awarded its first research grants which led to many advances in AIDS knowledge and treatment. Since then, amfAR has invested nearly $325 million in programs and grants to over 2,000 different research teams worldwide. The organization works in a way very different from most organizations that sponsor research. It works by first identifying gaps in knowledge of AIDS and AIDS medicine. It then sponsors studies that may lack preliminary data that other more established funders would require. By carefully sponsoring these select early stage and high risk research that others wouldn’t, amfAR is able to turn small, select investments into breakthrough advances in AIDS research. amfAR’s research has led to the development of four of the six main drug classes for HIV treatment as well as treatments that prevent mothers with AIDS from passing the disease onto their children. amfAR has been influential and extremely important in the field of AIDS research.
“Approval of AZT | HIV/AIDS News.” AIDSinfo. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
This source is the announcement from the Public Health Service’s Department of Health and Human Services on March 20, 1987 announcing the approval of azidothymidine AZT. AZT was the first treatment for AIDS approved by the American government. It was marketed by Burroughs Wellcome Co. of Research Triangle Park, N.C. under the name Retrovir. The drug had a very limited supply at first so it was only given to selected patients. The drug did not cure AIDS (to this date no cure has been developed) but it was very effective in restricting the reproduction of the virus if detected early enough. This helped to greatly increase the lifespan of patients as long as the virus was discovered while it was still in the early stages of progression. Dr. Windom, the man making the announcement, said that “Today’s action is an important demonstration of FDA’s ability to more swiftly, with impressive scientific precision, to review and approve promising treatments for AIDS, when such action is justified by sound and convincing clinical evidence.” AZT was the first real step made in being able to treat AIDS patients and prolong their lives after contracting the disease.
CCTV America. Michael Gottlieb, Pioneer in the Fight against AIDS. N.p. Film.
This source is an interview of Michael Gottlieb, the writer of the original MMWR report on AIDS, by CCTV on December 5th, 2014. In the interview they discuss the start of AIDS and Gottlieb’s involvement throughout the epidemic. While the previous sources focus more on the start of the epidemic and Gottlieb’s ground work as a physician, this one focuses more on Gottlieb’s part in organizing and leading the response to AIDS, specifically from when it was announced that Hollywood star Rock Hudson had contracted the disease on July 25, 1985 through the date of the interview. They discuss his founding of the American Foundation for AIDS research (amfAR) along with Elizabeth Taylor and Dr. Mathilde Krim and amfAR’s impact on AIDS research over the years. The also discuss his role as medical advisor to the Board of the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance and the impact that group has had on the AIDS epidemic.
gb13k. NBC’s Earliest Report on AIDS 1982. N.p. Film.
This source is NBC’s first report on the AIDS epidemic and was broadcast on June 17th, 1982. It was also the first report by any national news agency on the virus. The report shows the very limited knowledge that most had about AIDS at the time. It opens with NBC Nightly News’ anchor Tom Brokaw saying “The National Center for Disease Control in Atlanta today has released the results of a study which shows that the lifestyles of some male homosexuals has triggered an epidemic of a rare form of cancer.” The camera then goes to Robert Bazell who does the rest of the report. He focuses on the homosexuality of the victims more than the medical aspects of the disease and everything is tied back to the patients’ homosexuality. It is only once mentioned that the disease can also affect heterosexuals. This news report highlights the vethe epidemic.
Altman, Lawrence K. “RARE CANCER SEEN IN 41 HOMOSEXUALS.” The New York Times 3 July 1981. NYTimes.com. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
This source was one of the first newspaper reports on AIDS. It was published in The New York Times on July 3, 1981. The headline was “Rare Cancer Seen In 41 Homosexuals.” In the article they discuss the cases of 41 homosexual men who died of what they called a “rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer.” They report that the cause of the cancer was unknown but there was no evidence of it being contagious. The paper also reported that the doctors who made the diagnoses, which were mostly in New York City and Los Angeles and that the doctors were alerting other doctors in the area who treated large numbers of homosexual men in an effort to identify more cases and reduce the delay in treatment. The cancer was reported Kaposi’s Sarcoma, which occurred in the patients due to HIV’s severe depression of their immune systems.
LB Colby. Rock Hudson Dies [1985 ABC News Report]. N.p. Film.
This source is the ABC News Report on Hollywood star Rock Hudson’s death from the AIDS virus. Hudson began looking gaunt and rumors started to circulate about his health in 1985. He collapsed in Paris in July 1985 and was diagnosed with AIDS in the hospital there. He was given the HPA-23 treatment which was unavailable at the time in the U.S. While he was hospitalized, Hudson decided to have it announced that he had the disease. His publicist Yanou Collart said ‘The hardest thing I ever had to do in my life was to walk into his room and read him the press release,’ says Collart. “I’ll never forget the look on his face. How can I explain it? Very few people knew he was gay. In his eyes was the realization that he was destroying his own image. After I read it, he said simply, ‘That’s it, it has to be done.”
Cosgrove, Ben. “The Photo That Changed the Face of AIDS.” Time 25 Nov. 2014. time.com. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
This source is a photo that was published in the November 1990 edition of LIFE magazine. The picture is of David Kirby, an AIDS victim whose body was harshly ravaged by the disease, surrounded by grieving family members as he slowly faded away on his dying day. Immediately after its publication the picture became one of the most haunting and well known photos associated with the AIDS epidemic and was seen by millions around the world. Kirby was born in a small Ohio town and moved to California when he turned of age. He was a gay activist throughout the 80’s and contracted the disease sometime in the the late 80’s. When he learned he was going to die, he contacted his family from whom he was estranged at the time, and asked if he could come home in order to die with his family. They welcomed him back and the picture was taken with all the family together gathered around David on his deathbed.
Fee, Elizabeth, and Theodore M. Brown. “Michael S. Gottlieb and the Identification of AIDS.” American Journal of Public Health 96.6 (2006): 982–983. PubMed Central. Web.
This source is an article from the American Journal of Public Health published on June 2006. It was written by Elizabeth Fee from the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine and Theodore Brown, M.D. from the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine at the University of Rochester New York. In the article they discuss Doctor Michael Gottlieb (the author of my primary source document) and his part in the history of the AIDS epidemic. Gottlieb was the first person to identify and draw a connection between multiple cases of the disease that is now known as AIDS. In the article they discuss his background and career as an assistant professor at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Dee and Brown then talk about how Gottlieb drew the connection between the patients depressed immune systems and the CMV virus and published the original MMWR report on AIDS. They then discuss how Gottlieb continued to be influential through early stages of the discovery of the disease all the way through modern day. To this date Gottlieb has published over 50 papers on the subject.
Fischl, Margaret A. et al. “The Efficacy of Azidothymidine (AZT) in the Treatment of Patients with AIDS and AIDS-Related Complex.” New England Journal of Medicine 317.4 (1987): 185–191. CrossRef. Web.
This source is a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It was published on July 23rd, 1987 and the lead author was Margaret A. Fischl, M.D. The study was called “The Efficacy of Azidothymidine (AZT) in the Treatment of Patients with AIDS and AIDS-Related Complex” and was conducted to determine the effectiveness of AZT, which was the first treatment developed to combat AIDS, in fighting the symptoms of AIDS and prolonging the lives of its victims. The study was double-blind and placebo-controlled, with 145 patients receiving AZT and 137 receiving the placebo for 24 weeks. At the conclusion of the study 19 placebo recipients and 1 AZT recipient had died. Opportunistic infections (caused by the patients’ weakened immune systems from the disease) developed in 45 placebo recipients compared to 24 of those who received AZT. The study proved that while AZT does not cure AIDS, it can greatly increase the patient’s longevity and provided those who contracted AIDS with some hope for the future.
“Public Health Classics: The First Report of AIDS.” The Pump Handle. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.
This source helps educate the reader about Gottlieb’s history pertaining to the MMWR article. It is a blog post on a public health history blog. The post was made by Rebecca Kreston, who is a microbiologist and infectious disease scholar with a Master of Science in Tropical Medicine from Tulane University where she studies epidemiology. She also runs a blog called Body Horrors where she discusses infectious diseases, public health, and the human body. In this post she explains the impact that the original MMWR report on AIDS (my primary source) had on the medical community, the AIDS epidemic, and later infectious diseases. At the time of publication the report was buried behind other articles in the MMWR that were deemed more important at the time, such as dengue fever among travelers in the Caribbean, a report on lead poisoning in children and others. The report was very plain and consisted of only seven paragraphs detailing the different cases and an editorial note expressing the rarity of the CMV virus and that the patients were probably immunosuppressed and that this was probably caused by another disease (AIDS). It was only later that the true significance of the report was understood and it became one of the most quoted reports during the AIDS epidemic.
Royse, David, and Barbara Birge. “HOMOPHOBIA AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS AIDS PATIENTS AMONG MEDICAL, NURSING, AND PARAMEDICAL STUDENTS.” Psychological Reports1 1987.61 (1987): 867–870. Print.
This source is an article in the journal Psychological Reports discussing attitudes towards AIDS patients and homophobia amongst students in the Medical College at the University of Kentucky. The article was published in 1987 by David Royse and Barbara Birge, two professors at the college. For their study they used a 28-question survey with a 5-point Likert scale (strongly agree to strongly disagree). They measured four separate items on the study; empathy for AIDS victims (higher scores equal more empathetic), fear of AIDS (higher scores equal greater fear of AIDS), social distance from AIDS victims(higher scores equal greater distance is desired), and homophobia (higher scores equals more homophobic). The empathy scale ranged from 8-28 and had an average score of 18.8, the social distance scale from 4-20 with an average score of 11.4, the fear scale from 7-34 with an average score of 20.2, and the homophobia scale from 2-10 with an average score of 6.3. This source is very interesting as it shows students’ sentiments towards AIDS and AIDS victims at the time and how different they are from current sentiments in the same demographic.
“There When AIDS Began: An Interview With Michael Gottlieb, M.D.” TheBody.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.
This source is an interview of Doctor Michael Gottlieb conducted by AIDS survivor and activist Nelson Vergel in June of 2011. Gottlieb is a doctor based in Los Angeles who has been at the forefront of the battle against AIDS at the start. He was the leading author of my primary source document and was one of the first to establish the connection between various patients and cases and a viral disease. In the interview they discuss Gottlieb’s part in the history of AIDS from the first MMWR article through present day. The interview is quite long and split into several sections. In the introduction they talk about Gottlieb’s background and roots in the Los Angeles community. In the next section, “The Discovery: Remembering 1981” they talk about the making of the MMWR article that introduced AIDS to the world (my primary source for the previous project). They then continue on to talk about the evolution of the AIDS epidemic, the future of HIV treatment, Gottlieb’s role as an activist for AIDS victims within the medical community, the present day field of HIV doctors, HIV’s effects on aging, and Gottlieb’s belief that the community must share “common cause” and sympathy with AIDS victims. The interview is extremely insightful and lets the reader know Gottlieb much better.