How AIDS Devastated the Hemophilia Community and Officials Knew It.

When Public Health Fails

In the early 1980s, a mysterious and deadly disease began claiming lives across America. Initially identified among gay men in urban centers, this terrifying illness would soon reveal itself as a merciless predator that could strike anyone exposed to infected blood. For the tight-knit community of hemophilia patients and their families, what followed was nothing short of catastrophic.

The Promise of a Normal Life

To understand the devastation that AIDS brought to people with hemophilia, we must first appreciate the tremendous medical progress that had preceded it. By 1980, the roughly 20,000 Americans living with hemophilia had reason for optimism. After decades of limited treatment options and shortened lifespans, medical advances had transformed their prospects.

Hemophilia, an inherited disorder that prevents blood from clotting properly, had once meant a life of pain, disability, and early death. Before the 1960s, even minor injuries could cause dangerous internal bleeding. Many patie…