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I don't remember the exact date when the first patient
was admitted, but I do recall that there was a snowstorm, and NIH was closed.
It was right before an NIAID council meeting. Somehow I had gotten into
work, and Krause was already in. We were the only two people on the seventh
floor, and the telephones were ringing everywhere. I answered the phone
at one point, and it was a physician from some area outside of Philadelphia.
He said he had tried all over Washington–even the White House–but
he couldn't get anybody. He needed some help, and he had tried everywhere.
To this day, I don't know how he knew to call NIAID. He had a patient–a
forty-odd year old man who had Pneumocystis, and he'd done everything
he could do for him, but he was still very ill. Could we offer any advice?
I said, “Well, I'm not a physician, but I'm sure we can offer you
some advice. Hold on.” I called Krause, who talked with the man. He
told me to call Tony [Fauci]. Tony was also in, and the patient was later
admitted that same day around six o'clock. That was, as I recall, the first
AIDS patient admitted to the Clinical Center, and Tony took care of him. |
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