Public Health Museum
Self Guided Indoor Tour Walkthrough
Administration Room
Tewksbury almshouse
old administration room objects
Infectious Disease Room
HIV/AIDS Exhibit
Understanding HIV/AIDS
- As a retrovirus, HIV can multiply in the body and cause lifelong infection by inserting itself into a cell’s DNA.
- Those who maintain effective treatment and have an undetectable viral load may stay in the Chronic HIV stage for decades and are likely not to transmit the virus or develop AIDS.
Beginnings of the Aids crisis
- The first indications of the AIDS crisis began with the startling increases of Pneumocystis pneumonia, a form of pneumonia mostly seen in people with immune suppression due to cancer chemotherapy or transplant, and Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), an otherwise rare form of cancer.
- Official public service announcements did not appear in the U.S. until 1987 with the “America Responds to AIDS” campaign, as misinformation about how the disease was being transmitted was circulating throughout the country.
- By 1985 the CDC had identified cases in women, children, hemophiliacs, Haitians, blood transfusion recipients, and intravenous drug users.
- Various AIDS activist groups began rallying across the nation to have their voices heard for recognition and medication, as they saw their friends and loved ones dying.
- AIDS was the number one cause of death in men aged 25 to 44 years from 1992 to 1996.
Surgeon general koop
“We are fighting a disease, not people. Those who are already afflicted are sick people and need our care as do all sick patients. The country must face this epidemic as a unified society. We must prevent the spread of AIDS while at the same time preserving our humanity and intimacy.”
Surgeon's General Report on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Understanding AIDS
HIV blood test
- Early research identified an imbalance of types of lymphocytes, CD4 and CD8 T cells, with AIDS providing a laboratory test associated with the syndrome.
- The Red Cross and other blood donation centers across the country began implementing the ELISA test in April of 1985 to screen blood donations.
how aids changed healthcare
- These safety precautions were seemingly even more necessary after the case of Kimberly Bergalis. Diagnosed with AIDS in 1990, Bergalis had no apparent risk factors that could have led to her infection, and it was determined that the dental care provided by Dr. David Acer was the source of her infection, as well as for five other patients. Although implicated as the source of her HIV infection, how these transmissions occurred was never determined, causing widespread concern about the potential of HIV transmission resulting from dental care in particular and healthcare in general, especially surgery. Outrage from the Bergalis family fueled the debate over what to do with healthcare workers who have HIV. In turn, a variety of guidelines were developed by professional societies and governments. A number of studies were also done over several years to assess the risk and found that the risk for transmission was extremely low and testing of healthcare workers or work restrictions were not required, as long as appropriate injection control was maintained.
Safe Needles Save Lives
Stimga
As the first group affected during the rapidly emerging AIDS crisis, it was evident to the gay community that government response and action was slow in part because of the stigma. Well meaning health campaigns promoted during the 1980s often ignored the realities that those most affected by the pandemic faced, and were often misconstrued as endorsing their behavior. Drug use was viewed by some as criminal activity. Haitian immigrants to the United States during the 1980s were faced with immense scrutiny. Identified by the CDC as a population at risk for AIDS cases, Haitians were condemned for possibly spreading the disease to the United States. So too were hemophiliacs who suffer from a disorder in which the blood does not clot normally. Clotting proteins were collected from the plasma of thousands of anonymous blood donors before HIV/AIDS transmission was understood, and in turn hemophiliacs were exposed to HIV contaminated doses. Hemophiliacs who suffered from AIDS, many of whom were young, were stigmatized.
Pediatric hiv
In 1994, the results of a clinical trial of ACTG 076 AZT (zidovudine) in pregnant persons with HIV infection and their newborns were reported; the rate of infant infection went from 25.5% to 8.3%.
U.S. aids policies today
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Please feel free to tie a ribbon to our interactive AIDS memorial
Polio Exhibit
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Iron lung
Tuberculosis Exhibit
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radiography
X-Ray Viewer:
The x-ray on the right shows a normal lung.
The x-ray on the left shows a tubercular lung, scarring and holes are visible in the upper parts of the lung. This x-ray shows the wasting associated with tuberculosis in comparison to the x-ray on the right.