** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at This Medical Life, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **

In June 1981, the CDC reported an article of 5 men who presented with Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). PCP is an opportunistic infection more commonly found immunosuppressed patients (ie. patients receiving chemotherapy for cancer).

The 5 men were young and otherwise healthy.

They were also all homosexual.

In July 1981, another CDC article reported 26 men who presented with PCP as well as Kaposi sarcoma. Kaposi sarcoma is a rare blood vessel tumour. This could not be a coincidence and the world was on the precipice of a pandemic that would kill millions and unleash a wave of homophobia, prejudice and demonization.

Fortunately, today, HIV is a manageable disease and patients can continue to live productive and healthy lives which could not be further from this once terminal diagnosis.

This is the story of HIV.

** Thanks for downloading this episode. If you'd like to stay in touch with our continuing story, Season 2 continues at <a href="https://thismedicallife.com.au/">This Medical Life</a>, in which Dr Travis Brown continues his exploration of diseases and our approaches to treatment from history to the modern day. Have a look in your podcast app now for This Medical Life, and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode **
In June 1981, the CDC reported an article of 5 men who presented with Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). PCP is an opportunistic infection more commonly found immunosuppressed patients (ie. patients receiving chemotherapy for cancer).
The 5 men were young and otherwise healthy.
They were also all homosexual.
In July 1981, another CDC article reported 26 men who presented with PCP as well as Kaposi sarcoma. Kaposi sarcoma is a rare blood vessel tumour. This could not be a coincidence and the world was on the precipice of a pandemic that would kill millions and unleash a wave of homophobia, prejudice and demonization.
Fortunately, today, HIV is a manageable disease and patients can continue to live productive and healthy lives which could not be further from this once terminal diagnosis.
This is the story of HIV.

Welcome to the This Medical Life podcast. Our mission is to share stories about the triumphs and tragedies of diseases and illnesses from ancient times up until what we know today. It is about those scientific and medical minds who came before us and how, every single day, we stand on the shoulders of giants. This is a podcast about the stories of medicine.


Hosted by Dr. Travis Brown and Steve Davis, our target audience is General Practitioners, medical students, and other health professionals. We hope to educate, inspire and celebrate those who choose to care for others in their profession. From experience, we know that our audience extends beyond these fields and would like to welcome anyone to listen. The stories of those who came before us are nothing short of remarkable and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Production by Tim Whiffen

Design by Tom Buzz