GRIDS, or '
Gay Related
Immune Deficiency Syndrome', was the
name given to
AIDS when it was first observed in the
West in the
early
1980s.
As the vast majority of cases were seen in homosexual and bisexual
males, it was considered primarily a gay ailment ('gay
cancer' and 'gay plague', although not considered polite, were used
to refer to the epidemic). Early studies focused on the sexual and
social behaviour of gay and bisexual men, and it was
believed that the presence of some sort of infectious agent in semen, such as cytomegalovirus (a very common strain of herpes) or Epstein-Barr virus (the root cause of mono, also in the herpes family) transmitted through lesions in the anal mucosa caused the syndrome. Stimulants, such as
butyl nitrate or amyl nitrate (aka 'poppers'or Rush)
were also thought to interfere with ones' immune system and contribute to the disease.
On July 27, 1982 the American Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) officially renamed 'GRIDS' to
'AIDS' (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).
Sources:
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News: The Fight for Gay Rights World Timeline:
- http://cbc.ca/news/indepth/background/gayrights.html
- ESOnline Magazine, published by Terenure College:
- http://www.iol.ie/~terenure/esonline5/msmaids.html
- AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP) Law Manual Web Site:
- http://www.alrp.org