And The Band Played On

Factor VIII is a substance that allows hemophiliacs to have their blood clot normally. Bruce Evatt, the resident expert on hemophilia at the CDC, receives a call from a Miami physician believing that Factor VIII may have caused the death of his aged patient who died of Pneumocystis. Guinan and Francis anticipate more cases from hemophiliacs and blood transfusions, but there is no substantial evidence yet.

In Europe, Dr. Bygbjerg sees his third AIDS case, a man suffering from “the strange gay syndrome” (116) and believes it is related to the death of his friend, Dr. Rask. In Paris, Dr. Leibowitch and Dr. Rozenbaum begin tracking the new diseases in 1982 around the various hospitals.

At the CDC offices in Phoenix, Dr. Brandt requests funds for the CDC from the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. His memo is “simply ignored by the various chiefs of the National Institutes of health,” (119) and other researchers also waiting for the money promised by the NCI understood that it “clearly was not forthcoming” (120).

In New York City, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) is founded to raise money for research and Paul Popham is elected to be president, while the board of directors includes