An old high school research paper recently surfaced from a nearly forgotten box in the attic. In it, my sophomore self had examined the "new disease called AIDS" in 1987, but the paper contained little information. The next year, the first World AIDS Day was held on Dec. 1 to promote awareness and support patients. It has been observed on that date ever since.
In 1993, while attending the University of Oklahoma, a drive was held encouraging HIV testing. Students received free food coupons and World AIDS Day T-shirts from the always-trendy, now-closed Harold’s clothing store. A sorority sister joined me because we thought the T-shirt would be cool, especially after the disease was eradicated. We thought our kids would get a kick out of what would be a long-extinct deadly virus.
It’s the 30-year anniversary of World AIDS Day, and that shirt remains relevant. When OU was holding that drive, Dr. John Schumann, now president of OU-Tulsa, was starting medical school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
“You couldn’t not be involved in care for those with HIV in those years if you were anywhere near a medical learning environment or, in my case, a general county hospital,” he said.
Schumann completed his residency at a public hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, now called the Cambridge Health Alliance. It had a specialized HIV clinic where all medical residents had a rotation.
A professor once told Schumann that if he knew HIV, he’d know medicine.
“The implication is that HIV caused so many complications that it could take you on a tour of common and uncommon opportunistic infections and other syndromes and organ failures that mean you really had to learn your stuff. As a fledgling doctor, it was intellectually challenging and stimulating.
“But, seeing young people, particularly gay men and women of color, get sick made the work all the more emotionally compelling and meaningful.”
HIV and AIDS caused a jump in physicians specializing in the field of infectious diseases.
“Pundits in the 1970s had suggested that there were no more infectious diseases or that we’d be able to cure everything; that we’d encountered all the great diseases like polio, tuberculosis, smallpox and diphtheria. How wrong that proved to be.”
My high school paper was thin on facts because much wasn’t known. And, by 1987, it was hardly a new disease. Stigma prevented government and other agencies from prioritizing HIV/AIDS research.
“There was a lot of stigma, especially for gay men. It was heartrending to see long-time life partners not be able to be publicly open near the end; or for partners not to be the legal health-care proxies for the afflicted individuals; or for patients with AIDS to be estranged from their families,” Schumann said.
It took about seven years after the discovery of the virus (HIV) that leads to AIDS for the first treatment drug to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
That was AZT, azidothymidine, which had been created in the 1960s as a potential cancer-fighting drug. It didn’t work on cancer and was shelved until the ’80s.
Initial studies showed AZT was successful at preventing HIV replication. Those findings were controversial, but AZT was approved in 1987.
“AZT was a great innovation in the late ’80s, but it only delayed the inevitable as the virus became resistant,” Schumann said. “Other than that, of course we had antibacterials, antifungals and antivirals to treat the various opportunistic infections, usually pretty effectively at first.
“But as the immune system began to wane, this became more challenging, the infections more severe, and the drugs we used, relatively speaking, more toxic.”
The most significant steps were the approval in 1995 of the first protease inhibitor coupled with the “triple therapy” concept, also known as the AIDS cocktail. This involves combining three or more antiretroviral drugs to control the virus.
Schumann said health care turned the corner on the disease between 1997 and 2000.
“We started to see the glimmers of HIV becoming just another chronic illness that could be managed instead of causing sure-fire death.”
There is still no cure. About 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV/AIDS. About one in seven don’t know it.
“We need a vaccine that works,” Schumann said. “Imagine if we had that. HIV would become history. There are a lot of groups working on vaccines. Some claim they are close, but we are still probably five to 10 years away.”
World AIDS Day still has purpose.
In Oklahoma, on average, one person is newly diagnosed with HIV each day. About 5,000 Oklahomans are living with HIV or AIDS.
In Tulsa, an HIV specialty clinic funded by federal Ryan White funds is at Oklahoma State University Center of Health Sciences.
HOPE nonprofit provides clinic services for HIV, hepatitis C and sexually transmitted diseases with testing, education, counseling and medical referrals.
Tulsa CARES supports more than 800 people living with HIV, with services ranging from mental health to housing.
Schumann and his wife, Dr. Sarah-Anne Schumann, are co-chairing the Tulsa CARES Red Ribbon Gala in March.
“Without a doubt, it’s an incredible story of scientific advancement and achievement in the face of a worldwide pandemic. It’s research, policy, business, educational policy and, dare I even say, political success story of massive scale,” Schumann said. “The advocacy story is quite significant also.”
This type of large-scale community embrace and advocacy wasn’t always the norm.
At OU all those years ago, a friend strongly suggested we not wear that commemorative T-shirt. She thought it was not appropriate for the sorority members. I didn’t think she was appropriate.
I dropped that friend, still have the shirt and hold out hope for an AIDS cure.
