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

Freddie could infect in the hospital, which he visited,specifically it was done or not is unknown.And is it really so important to who and when Freddie became infected with HIV? Time frame can be between 1985 and 1986.Promoters and management in the person of Jim's Beach killed Freddie. Freddie was not gay. He was bisexual 

No one ever really knows the truth it or lies  When he was infected with HIV, under any circumstances. Who infected him, nobody knows. Tales about Russian soldier, who came to America to  infect everybody  does not hold water.
Are you wondering when and who infected him with HIV?

Gregsynth wrote: I have to give Bob credit for displaying this picture on his site--this may help solve mysteries:

http://www.queenlive.ca/queen/live%20pics/86-08-09_Knebworth_14.jpg

On Freddie's left cheek, there's a small collection of little red bumps (it's right in-between the light reflecting on his face). These are not Kaposi's Sarcoma, but what appear to be shingles/herpes blisters. I read that it's common to get this type of rash during the HIV stage after the latent stage (when the symptoms start to appear--but not yet at the severe stage).
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According to Peter Freestone he already had some skin issues and little spots in 1985. He used to cover them with make-up

I agree with you, 1983 NYC, from the places he was going the Anvil, etc. all those sex clubs, it was Russian roulette for sure.  I really feel for him because if you see the photos in Peter Freestone's book, Freddie looks so happy hanging out in his NY apartment with a group of friends who were just regular guys, not superstars, ironically a little bit of normalcy.  But NYC was out of control in those days and noone knew the consequences.

I can see what you mean, taking into consideration that he is getting older, but his eyes do show signs of weariness, maybe worry.  I noticed it a little in the live aid concert but that was before and he was having throat problems then at the time.  I feel so bad for him if he did know.  How strong of a person he was to have the outlook and love of life that he did.

Queen4ever13 wrote: I agree with you, 1983 NYC, from the places he was going the Anvil, etc. all those sex clubs, it was Russian roulette for sure.  I really feel for him because if you see the photos in Peter Freestone's book, Freddie looks so happy hanging out in his NY apartment with a group of friends who were just regular guys, not superstars, ironically a little bit of normalcy.  But NYC was out of control in those days and noone knew the consequences.
"And bad mistakes"..... we all make em, if we could only go back with the knowledge we have and redo.

I've read that Freddie was infected in 1983 - the most possible date. What do you think?

He was not infected in a hospital, lol. While I agree with Z, that we are making a lot of assumptions and we likely have no idea of the exact date (my throwing out the 1982 SNL date was more of an off the wall guess than anything), I do think it's safe to say he was infected via sex and it happened well before 1984.

If you believe the documentaries, the tell all books and the pictures, Freddie was going out and having lots of casual sex with many men, in New York  gay sex clubs from  ~ 1981-1984. He probably didn't use condoms, because most men didn't at that time. It's more likely he was infected very soon after beginning that phase of his life, than later. He would be exceptionally lucky if he could engage in regular unprotected sex in that scene and still be HIV negative a year later, much less 3-4 years later.

It's always bothered me the way the media seems to throw all logic and 30+ years of HIV research out the window when it pertains to Freddie. There is almost zero chance he was infected in 1985 and it progressed to AIDS by 1987, and there's just as small of a chance that he was having unprotected sex in bathhouses for 3-5 years before getting infected. Possible, but very highly unlikely. It's also extremely likely that he unwittingly infected dozens of men himself. Such were the times.

Scofflaw wrote: It's always bothered me the way the media seems to throw all logic and 30+ years of HIV research out the window when it pertains to Freddie. There is almost zero chance he was infected in 1985 and it progressed to AIDS by 1987, and there's just as small of a chance that he was having unprotected sex in bathhouses for 3-5 years before getting infected. Possible, but very highly unlikely. It's also extremely likely that he unwittingly infected dozens of men himself. Such were the times

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It is completely possible for a person to progress to full blown AIDS in a relatively short time period.  I personally knew someone who took only 10 months from being infected by someone who had it (they were in a monogamous relationship) to showing their first KS lesion and having a very low t-cell/high viral load.  MOST people have longer incubation periods but in general, you never know - different strokes for different folks!  It can progress very aggresively in some people.

I never intended to guess when Freddie was infected, it could be anywhere from 1976 to 1983 (the year he quit NY) - We will never know!

1976?  Why so early? This was the year history shows the initial infection of HIV in New York City that lead to almost all subsequintial AIDS cases in the following decade (in America).

It was July 4th 1976 where thousands of sailors from all over the world came to New York for the huge US Bicentennial celebrations.  Within the next 5 years, culminating in June 1981, gay men were showing up with stange infections that baffled doctors who couldn't explain why previously healthy young men were suffereing from KS, Pneumonia, & CMV. It wasn't until late 1980 that the US CDC finally noticed that many doctors were requesting prescriptions for a rare antiobiotic to treat Pneumocystis jiroveci carinii and all of the patients were gay men.  All of these cases from Los Angeles, San Fransisco, & Miami were traced back to New York.  Whenever Freddie was infected, I will have to say it was most probably in NYC.

Anyway, enough about AIDS!  Let's get back to talking about the music of a man I consider to be a genius :))

For those of you who are doubting the fact that the QUEEN biopic will happen - It will!  Next year!  They are going to be doing the Queen Extravaganza to coincide with the film's promotion in the states ;)

youngballantyne wrote: It is completely possible for a person to progress to full blown AIDS in a relatively short time period.  I personally knew someone who took only 10 months

1976?  Why so early? This was the year history shows the initial infection of HIV in New York City that lead to almost all subsequintial AIDS cases in the following decade (in America). For those of you who are doubting the fact that the QUEEN biopic will happen - It will!  Next year!  They are going to be doing the Queen Extravaganza to coincide with the film's promotion in the states ;)

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It's possible to go from infection to AIDS in 10 months, but that is such a rare situation, and usually that would mean the person a) was infected with multiple strains of the virus or the mythical HIV super-infection  and/or b) was unhealthy to begin with.  I'm not sure if there were so many strains of the virus back in the early 80's, likely it was just a couple of strains being spread around. He might have been reinfected many times over, and that tends to speed up the HIV progress as well.  Freddie supposedly used cocaine in the early 80's, that could have also sped up the disease's progress.  So many variables, and we'll never really know what happened.

I do agree with you that he could have been infected as early as 1976, if he were in NY during that time.

I hope that he didn't know back in 1985 that he was HIV+, because I don't want to think of him as that much of an asshole that he would knowingly infect people, including his own boyfriend.

and like you, I am super excited about the biopic, and I can't wait until we have that to discuss.

Very interesting thread, good enough for the serious discussion:)

It is interesting to know how and what.. Understanding His music becomes maybe easier.

Wonder how they did the tour in 86 though.

And rocknrolllover.... Freddie was (and probably is) Gay with a kapital G.

according to this interview with Mary, he knew much earlier than originally thought

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nzsnli7DjY

according to this interview with Mary, he knew much earlier than originally thought

Interesting discussion. I live nearby to Peter Freestone, and he was attending a show by a Queen tribute band whilst I was too and I met him afterwards, though I didn't think to ask him anything :P

[QUOTE] [b]raucousmonster wrote:[/b]

I think Freddie strongly suspected he had Aids throughout 1986 and maybe even as early as Autumn 1985.[/QUOTE]

Indeed.

I thought he looked quite chubby still in the I want it all video (he went through that slightly chubbier phase around 87/88) - and yet by breakthrough he looked pretty thin. Those videos were shot within only a couple of months of each other, and I thought it was a dramatic weight loss in that time.