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CNN Sunday Morning

Anniversary of AIDS Discovery Marked in Washington, D.C.

Aired June 03, 2001 - 08:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands of people are marching in the nation's capital today to mark the 20th anniversary of the discovery of the deadly AIDS virus.

And joining us from Washington now with the details on that is Christy Feig -- Christy, good morning.

CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. We're in Lafayette Park across from the White House, where people will gather this morning to remember those who have died from AIDS. The only sound this morning is the sound of names being read, names from the AIDS quilt. Cleve Jones is the creator of that quilt. He's also the organizer of today's events. He's with us now.

Cleve, you've had a front row seat for the past 20 years. What was it like in the early days?

CLEVE JONES, AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT: It was really like living in a battlefield. There weren't any explosions, no sound, but a lot of people dying and we saw them dying all around us. And I think it's difficult for people today to understand how terrifying it was during those years before there was any treatment, before we knew accurate information about how the disease was transmitted. But when I think back 20 years, what I think about is people dying every day.

FEIG: Even with what the gay community has seen already, because they certainly took the brunt in all of this, new studies are showing a growing complacency, especially in the young gay community. Why is that? What do you make of that?

JONES: I think part of it is that young people today didn't witness what I witnessed 20 years ago, which was people in their 20s and 30s hobbling around on canes. I mean every time I went outside of my house, I saw people dying of AIDS all around me. They weren't only the people that I knew, my friends and my neighbors, but the familiar faces from the neighborhood, the bank clerks, the bus drivers. People were just disappearing and I think that the younger generation has been spared that horror and so they don't take it seriously and they think that these treatments are a cure.

You know, I'm grateful to be alive, but I've been on these medications now for seven years and I can tell you, it is not a cure. So it's very frightening. We see an increased rate of infection and a very, at least 15 to 20 percent of these new infections are drug resistant cases.

So I think it's inevitable that the death rate is going to go back up and unfortunately a whole another generation is going to have to experience the tragedy that my generation endured.

FEIG: Let's talk about those treatments for just a second. They certainly have changed the face of this disease. If things continue at this trace, does a third generation have the promise of these drugs that the last 10 years did?

JONES: No. It's very frightening right now because we see that there's a very large population of people such as myself who have been on treatment for many years and the virus has mutated to become resistant. And we don't see the new drugs in the pipeline. So I think what we're going to see inevitably is that the death rate is going to go back up as the treatments stop working for so many people.

FEIG: Thank you very much, Cleve.

At noon in this park, the people will leave here and march down through the mall to the west front of the Capitol. It's there at two o'clock that a rally will start and in that rally they will accept new panels for the AIDS quilt, people who have died to show that people are still dying -- Brian?

NELSON: Thank you very much, CNN's Christy Feig in Washington.

Now let's go to Linda.

LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: What we want to do right now is get another personal view of all of this. Joining us right here in Atlanta is Larry Sheldon of the AIDS Survival Project. Now, Mr. Sheldon himself was diagnosed in 1992. Good morning, Larry. Thanks for coming in today.

LARRY SHELDON, AIDS ACTIVIST: Good morning, Linda.

STOUFFER: First of all, what can you tell us about your health now, your treatment, what you go through each day to fight AIDS?

SHELDON: Well, it's better than it's ever been before, but it's really tough living with the drugs that you have to live with to stay alive.

STOUFFER: How many pills, how do they make you feel?

SHELDON: Right now I'm on a regimen that only take about -- I only take about eight pills a day plus a lot of vitamins and supplements. But I've been on five regimens of drugs in the last eight and a half years.

STOUFFER: And as we look at this anniversary, 20 years since the discovery of AIDS, since 1992 I'm sure you've seen changes in treatment, diagnosis, perception of the whole issue. When you look at the, how far things have come in these 20 years, do you feel hopeful about things? SHELDON: Well, I'm hopeful because we've made so much progress and so much of it has helped other parts of the medical industry and we know so much more. But, you know, I don't think that I'm going to see the cure. I'm hopeful because I think the generation behind me may.

STOUFFER: What about your personal experience? What changes have you seen?

SHELDON: Well, I see that I keep having to change drugs. Everybody thinks, society in general thinks that it's now manageable, but they fail and then, as I said, I'm on my fifth regimen of drugs. I'm doing fine now. But I live every day with that suspense of knowing when is the next shoe going to drop.

STOUFFER: And what are the misconceptions? What do you think people are getting wrong about this?

SHELDON: Well, everybody's talking, especially at the 20th anniversary about the fact that, you know, transmission is starting up again, the numbers are going up, and it's among young people mainly. Well, it's society in general, I think, that has gotten complacent about this thing, that the crisis is over. And kids get their messages from all of us. If we don't stop thinking that way, they're going to keep acting the way they are.

STOUFFER: Well, you mentioned the numbers, we have 40,000 Americans are expected to be infected every year with AIDS and the virus that causes AIDS.

SHELDON: Yes.

STOUFFER: What would you tell the people who will find out this week about their diagnosis? What would you tell them personally?

SHELDON: Well, first of all, they are going to go through the feeling that anybody gets when you get a terminal diagnosis that life is over, and it's not. And there's help out there. There are agencies in every city in this country, a lot in Atlanta, but you have to go look for them. And they can help you learn how to live with it.

STOUFFER: And what was that like for you trying to find the right doctor, working with the medical system?

SHELDON: You have to become a partner with your doctor. You can't just expect your doctor to know everything because they don't yet about this disease, f they ever do about anything. But you become a partner with your doctor. You go to the right place to find out something yourself and educate yourself and then you make the best decisions you can day by day.

STOUFFER: And when you look at the whole problem, do you feel like we should be further along and if so, why aren't we?

SHELDON: Well, we've come a long way, as I said. But I'm very saddened by the fact that AIDS spending on all levels of government has flattened. It's as if we think it's over and people are still dying.

STOUFFER: Well, what's your message to people as we look at this anniversary, June 5, 20 years of this?

SHELDON: We need to get serious. It is not over. It's going to kill our teenagers next and we need to get serious, spend more money and do something about it.

STOUFFER: Larry Sheldon, thanks so much for coming in to talk to us today. Good luck to you with your health and getting the message out.

SHELDON: Thank you. Thanks.

STOUFFER: Thank you. And a quick programming note for you. Doctor Robert Gallo was among a group of scientists to independently discover HIV in 1980 and we'll talk to him live on Tuesday during the first hour of CNN LIVE TODAY. That's with Lou Waters and Natalie Allen. And again, it's at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 10:00 a.m. Pacific. So hope you'll join us for that.

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