>>2149027Because some gay men used ‘poppers‘ (amyl or butyl nitrites) for short-term mood elevation whilst clubbing or for anal sphincter relaxation during sex, a potential cause was sought there. Obviously – and unsurprisingly – none was found, not least because not all people with AIDS had used poppers.
My personal favourite in the ‘lifestyle’ theories was semen as a cause of AIDS. This was based on lab observations that the immune response of mice dropped when semen was introduced into their blood stream. Could it be that gay men were actually suffering from an overdose of semen in their blood? I’m not a scientist but even I could see the holes in that one. Gay men – and lots of other people including heterosexual and bi-sexual women – had been getting semen in their blood for centuries. Why would it suddenly trigger a toxic response in one particular group?
On a similar theme was the notion that repeated exposure to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) wore down, then ultimately triggered the collapse of, the immune system.
A variation of this was the ‘multi-factoral’ theory, which differed only in that it suggested a combination of factors wider than merely STIs. The ‘wider factors’ seemed to be limited only by the imagination of the theory’s proponent and included stress, diet and low self-esteem (more on this latter issue later).
Other ‘scientific’ theories focused on the possibility of transmission from animals. These emerged from early theories that the causative agent was related to either the African Swine Fever virus or the ‘Simian AIDS’ virus. But sometimes logic seemed to get lost along the way.
For example, it was a well-known fact that, in the 1960’s and 70’s, the CIA had infected Cuban pigs with African Swine Fever as part of their ongoing efforts to bring down Fidel Castro. It was also known that Haitians were disproportionately affected by AIDS and that Haiti is not a million miles from Cuba.
