Harry Haverkos on Kaposis Sarcoma _ Poppers - podcast

Harry Haverkos was one of the first AIDS researchers. Although he accepts that HIV plays a role in AIDS, he also has studied the connection between nitrite inhalants, known as ‘poppers’, and Kaposi’s Sarcoma, one of the two diseases that defined GRID - Gay Related Immune Deficiency. Poppers are immune suppressive, carcinogenic, and have a powerful effect on the vascular system, so they are well suited as a potential cause of some AIDS defining illnesses, especially KS. They are used as recreational drugs mostly by gay men, and were deeply embedded in gay life in the big cities of the US in the 1970s and 1980s, and are still easily found today. It is rare to have direct testimony from someone who was an insider in the early days of AIDS, especially at the time before the HIV theory of AIDS solidified, excluding any other cause. But, as Harry notes, in his mind, the cause of KS is still an open question.