Freddie Mercury's HIV Diagnosis – Some Insight – 1985 to 1987

double post

[QUOTE] [b]Panchgani wrote:[/b]

Exactly when did the reaper strike Munich? I assume it was some time in 1985 or 1986?[/QUOTE]

The AIDS help desk Munich exsist since 1984 !

In 85`/86` the numbers of infected people were rising. The death toll also

In 1985 every German household recieved an an official information brochure. I can`t imagine that ALL of his friends missed that one...(see image below )

An official 87`AIDS info brochure stated that only 5 - 20 percent of infected people will develope full blown AIDS. That`s the reason why good old Freddie was keeping quiet feet about his infection.

Gambling !

Freddie was also in New York in January 1976, and March and December of 1977. He may have seroconverted on any of those occasions ( after a one night stand). 10 years is the mean average incubation. I doubt if he contracted HIV pre 1976, that would be an 11/12 years latency period which is stretching it a bit. I agree the episode in 1982 was not seroconversion, but was possibly an Epstein Barr viral infection caught during sexual activity, though unrelated, but not helped by being HIV positive at that time for at least 5 years. Freddie had already entered the late stage of HIV disease around the (8 year mark) in 84 and 85 with oral thrush and other minor symptoms in Munich, before the AIDS stage started proper at end of 86.

Epstein Barr virus causes Hairy Leouplakia. Freddie had this infection (accompanied by other symptoms) in the summer of 82 in NY. The interview with Radio 1 took place in 84, when possibly oral thrush was evident. Freddie started playing the field in the States as early as 76. But he didn't start being overly promiscuous until I believe the following year.

Soooo when do you all think people were getting HIV if they were dying in 1981 from AIDS then?

Here is newly bootlegged footage of Freddie getting HIV! www.abc123HIV.com Wow! Shocking! That must have hurt...OR he did not feel it at all?! Oh, the confusion! Will we ever figure out these mysterious?! So everyone still feel pretty confident the other members did not get HIV, eh?

Freddie was only living the lifestyle of many a succesful rock star in the 70s and early 80s before HIV was known about, regardless of sexual preference. Fate decreed that He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time (NY 1977-83)

It will never be clear to me why it's so important for some to "prove" that he Freddie was bisexual and why it's so important when he's infected.

[QUOTE] [b]Moët Et Chandin wrote:[/b]

Epstein Barr virus causes Hairy Leouplakia. Freddie had this infection (accompanied by other symptoms) in the summer of 82 in NY. The interview with Radio 1 took place in 84, when possibly oral thrush was evident. Freddie started playing the field in the States as early as 76. But he didn't start being overly promiscuous until I believe the following year.[/QUOTE]

This is from the Somebody to Love book, but if he really had this, you'd see it on his tongue in concerts and photos...and you don't.
The book also claims he visited the doctor for this in New York. I have a hard time believing this because the source of this information was a barman who was a friend of Kenny Everett! This was after Freddie and Kenny had fallen out so why would a British barman from London know about Freddie's doctor's appointments in New York. I call bullshit on this.

The oral thrush much later is a separate issue

[QUOTE] [b]Invisible Woman wrote:[/b]

It will never be clear to me why it's so important for some to "prove" that he Freddie was bisexual and why it's so important when he's infected.[/QUOTE]

I know right? But thanks to weird claims in the Somebody to Love book, it's got everyone thinking they're in the know about the exact date (even though that book is full of shite) and it kicked off the debates again last year.

Also too much of this thread concentrates on the words of Barbara Valentin. Nothing the woman says about Freddie makes sense or fits with whatever his other close people say about him. So take her testament with a pinch of salt folks. She claimed to be banging him whilst symptomatic. Well...if that's true, then I am Freddie himself.

I believe that the period between when Freddie contracted HIV and the onset of AIDS was slightly shorter than the average of ten years, because his numerous reinfect ions and lifestyle ( smoking, drugs, etc.) hasten the progress if the disease. If he was infected 10 years before he developed AIDS in 1987, then that means he was infected in 1977, however, as has been mentioned elsewhere, he was in a relationship with David Minns until 1978, and David was never infected. I put my money on infection in late 1978- New York ( 9 years).

David was very lucky, as his lover had started to play the field in the US in 1977, and probably didn't finally contract HIV until the following year, whether from a first exposure, or after a few exposures, such is the nature of contraction.

Jim Hutton, Peter Freestone, and Joe Fanelli, were each bequeathed 500K pounds by Freddie in 1991. That equals approximately $650K in U.S. dollars today, no small amount in 1991 by any measure. It was enough to allow each to buy a place to live and to not have to worry about working. Freddie's driver, Terry, was bequeathed 100K pounds. Mary was bequeathed 50 years use of Garden Lodge and half of Freddie's financial interests ongoing and his sister was bequeathed 25% and parents the other 25%. Freddie was generous and parsed out his fortune in ways that made sense to him.

As we know, Joe Fanelli died of AIDS the following year, Dec 1992. Jim lived until Jan 1, 2010 and succumbed to lung cancer. Peter/Phoebe is still alive and well, as is Terry. *Everyone* in FM's inner circle has profited in some way through their association with Freddie, be it books, articles, consultation on a project, website, attention paid to their own past or current artistic or business ventures, or interest in their lives, whether intentional or unintentional.

People are curious and curiosity about Freddie, his life, his work, his loves, his childhood...all of it...has created a lot of demand for more ways to quench the thirst for knowledge. And with interest comes opportunity. No one is pointing at Peter "Ratty" Hince's book as Queen's roadie and Freddie's attendant during concerts as a sellout. It would be disingenuous to say at the same time that an interest in making some $$$ is not also involved; it is.

I think we all just loved him so much and the more time passes and technology is developed we just wish things would have been different for him. Like watching the Titanic movie and wishing the ending will change. With him being so private back then we the fans missed out on how sweet, funny, loving, kind, loyal and vulnerable he was.?? Kelly ??

I have one reasonable answer to someone who claimed that the first Marys son could be freddies son.its impossible cause then Mary and her son would have hiv too.Mary is lucky because some years after their breaking up freddie got hiv.

An interesting - if morbid - thread.

Lots of speculation that Freddie *knew* he had HIV / Aids during the 1986 Magic Tour. Personally I think he strongly suspected, but had not had conclusive medical proof by that stage because the tests were still too vague and sensitive. The defining moment came in Spring 1987, as we know, when a biopsy confirmed a KS lesion which conclusively signalled he had progressed to AIDS.

However, working backwards from that diagnosis, we know that by summer '86 Freddie would have been suffering the symptoms of late-stage HIV infection - frequent night sweats, skin rashes, extreme fatigue, that kind of thing. Nothing overly dramatic but when all put together would have made him feel pretty rough, and enough to explain why, at the end of that tour, he told his bandmates he needed a timeout. He certainly knew something was badly wrong.

When you look at videos of that tour, you can see how he's aged. I agree with those who say there is something almost indefinable about his appearance that makes him look unwell - a little paler, ever so slightly gaunt in the face. I'm fascinated by his appearance at Knebworth; a wild look in his eyes (he takes 'Another One Bites The Dust at about a hundred miles an hour!!). To me, it's a man who suspects this is his swansong, and he's going to enjoy it.

Working backwards from 1986, and with HIV having a 7-to-10 year latency period, I think it's fair to surmise Freddie acquired HIV around 1980-82, when the epidemic was rampant in the US. Possibly before, but not much before. That would mean he was relatively healthy during 1982 / 83 / 84 / 85 before a slow, gradual decline from 1986 onwards.

I know it's a morbid subject but if you're a Freddie fan - which we all are - it's sort of inevitable to be fascinated. And when you look at the quality of those performances on the Magic tour and beyond, knowing how sick he must have been feeling at the time - well, I think the word 'legend' hardly does him justice.