AEGiS-UPI: AIDS activist Jeff Getty dead at age 49

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

AIDS activist Jeff Getty dead at age 49

United Press International - October 15, 2006

JOSHUA TREE, Calif., - AIDS activist Jeff Getty, who volunteered for a myriad of treatments including a bone marrow transplant from a baboon, has died in California at age 49.

Getty died of heart failure brought on by cancer treatment Monday in Joshua Tree, Calif., the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Getty made international headlines in 1995 when doctors at San Francisco General Hospital transplanted into him bone marrow from a baboon. Although the experiment was deemed a failure, Getty's health bounced back he and continued for the next 11 years to experiment with each new drug discovered, the Chronicle noted.

Getty is credited with helping develop the current mixture of drugs that have been effective in keeping AIDS in check. He also made it possible for AIDS patients to receive liver transplants, often times necessary because of damage caused by drug therapy.

He is survived by his partner of 26 years, Ken Klueh, his father and three sisters.

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