IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS:

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IN THE FOLLOWING CITIES CONTACT:

CALL

GAY MEN'S HEALTH CRISIS HOTLINE

685-4952

Someone will call you back.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

KAPOSI'S SARCOMA FOUNDATION

520 Castro Street

San Francisco, California 94114 Telephone: 415/864-4376

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

AID-ATLANTA P.O. Box 52785 Atlanta, Georgia 30305

Telephone: 404/872-0600

If you want to receive the free Newsletter of Gay Men's Health Crisis, which contains the latest available information on AIDS, or send a contribution, write to:

G.M.H.C.

Box 274.

132 West 24th Street

New York, New York, 10011

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

AIDS TASK FORCE

c/o PCHA

P.O. Box 7259

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19101 Telephone: 215/232-8055

THIS BROCHURE WAS PREPARED BY GAY MEN'S HEALTH CRISIS, INC. FOR ADDITIONAL COPIES, WRITE TO:

G.M.H.C.

Box 274

132 West 24th Street

New York, New York, 10011

OR CALL OUR HOTLINE: 685-4952

NEW YORK, NEW YORK.

G.M.H.C.

Box 274

132 West 24th Street

New York, New York 10011 Telephone: 212/685-4952

HOUSTON, TEXAS

KAPOSI'S SARCOMA COMMITTEE OF HOUSTON P.O. Box 11550 3317 Montrose Blvd. Houston, Texas 77006

AIDS

OUR HEALTH EMERGENCY...

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

AIDS=

ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME

(not "GRID" or "gay plague" or "gay cancer")

IMMUNE SYSTEM =

Your body's way to fight off disease.

THEREFORE:

When you have AIDS, your body cannot fight off disease properly.

WHICH MEANS:

You are open to such serious illnesses as:

KS =

KAPOSI'S SARCOMA CANCER PCP =

PNEUMOCYSTIS CARINII PNEUMONIA,

OR OTHER SERIOUS ILLNESSES.

By September 1982 there were 634 cases of AIDS in 23 states and 9 foreign countries. Last year at this time we only knew about 123.

50% OF ALL CASES ARE REPORTED FROM NEW YORK

40% OF ALL CASES ARE NOW DEAD

WATCH OUT FOR THESE SYMPTOMS

1. SWOLLEN GLANDS:

(Enlarged Lymph Nodes): With or without pain, usually in the neck, armpits, or groin. 2. PINK TO PURPLE FLAT OR RAISED BLOTCH OR BUMP:

These are without pain, on or under the skin, inside the mouth, nose, eyelids, rectum. They have appeared recently, usually small but gradually getting bigger. They may look like a bruise that doesn't go away. Usually they are harder than the skin around them.

3. WEIGHT LOSS:

Unexpected, and greater than 10 pounds in less than 2 months.

4. FEVER:

That has persisted for more than a week. 5. NIGHT SWEAT:

Periods of waking up drenched or sweaty over several weeks.

6. COUGH:

Persistent, often a dry cough that is not from smoking and has lasted too long to be from flu.

7. DIARRHEA:

Persistent and not explained by other causes.

ONE OR MORE OF THE ABOVE MAY BE CAUSE FOR CONCERN

1. GO TO A DOCTOR WHO IS UP-TO-DATE ON GAY HEALTH

2. TELL YOUR DOCTOR YOU ARE GAY.

3. IF YOU'RE NOT SURE HE KNOWS ABOUT AIDS-ASK HIM.

4. IF HE IS NOT FAMILIAR WITH AIDS, OR NOT SYMPATHETIC-GET ANOTHER DOCTOR.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR NEED A DOCTOR'S NAME:

CALL GAY MEN'S HEALTH CRISIS HOTLINE: 685-4952

IS AIDS CONTAGIOUS?

Not through simple social contact. But current opinion points to something like a virus that MAY BE transmitted sexually. THEREFORE: UNTIL WE KNOW BETTER,

IT MAKES SENSE THAT THE FEWER DIFFERENT PEOPLE YOU COME IN SEXUAL CONTACT WITH, THE LESS CHANCE THIS POSSIBLY CONTAGIOUS BUG HAS TO TRAVEL AROUND.

Have as much sex as you want-but with fewer people and with HEALTHY PEOPLE.

IF YOU DON'T KNOW IF YOUR PARTNER IS HEALTHY-ASK HIM DIRECTLY TO BE HONEST WITH YOU ABOUT HIS HEALTH.

PLAY FAIR YOURSELF:

IF YOU KNOW OR THINK OR SUSPECT THAT YOU HAVE ANY DISEASE YOU COULD GIVE TO SOMEONE ELSE, DON'T RISK THE HEALTH OF OTHERS BY HAVING SEX. WAIT UNTIL YOUR DOCTOR TELLS YOU IT'S SAFE.

There is no conclusive evidence that any drug or sexual act causes AIDS. But until we know better, you might consider giving up drugs. I.V. drug is definitely a high-risk factor.

RECOMMENDATIONS-WHAT YOU CAN DO:

(This recommendation is made by New York Physicians for Human Rights-the organization

of 175 gay doctors in New York, and also by the New York City Department of Health.) We don't know yet what causes AIDS. Until we do:

CUT DOWN THE NUMBER OF DIFFERENT MEN YOU HAVE SEX WITH. PARTICULARLY WITH THE MEN WHO ALSO HAVE MANY DIFFERENT SEXUAL PARTNERS.

HELP YOURSELF!