Lance Loud Dies At 50

[HooBoy]

Here is the complete story from the LA Times

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-000102020dec25.story

[Guest Les]

You were something else to these young eyes Lance!

 

I would have come out sooner if it wasn't for you...and your "femme fatale" behavior.

 

My dad had an endlesss stream of hateful terms and phrases that opened my eyes to how most people feel about 'fags'..(So I guess I must thank you for the 17 years that my parents claimed they didn't know).... now I can almost go LOL

 

Take care, Les (too late)

 

At least you were very open about it you silly queen!

[Guest Les]

Well my post doesn't make sense...even to me!

How about an edit/remove option Hoo?

 

Take care, Les:+

[Guest Sports]

Thanks for posting that Hoo. Lance Loud was a character. Does anyone know how one gets hepatitis c?

[Guest]

Yes, and I happen to be one of those people. Hepatitis C is extremely contagious from blood, yet, strangely enough, hardly contagious at all from "sexual secretions." An antibody test was first developed around 1990. Prior to that time, it has been estimated that the odds of getting Hepatitis C was 1 in 7 per "transfusion episode" (typically at least 2 units of blood). This is because Hepatitis C is usually a fairly quiet infection (as long as the infected doesn't drink alcohol or suffer other liver injury), and most people who are infected have neither symptoms nor abnormalities on their liver tests (except, of course, Hepatitis C tests!).

Since the blood supply has been tested, the great majority of people who have aquired Hepatitis C are either illicit drug users or bullshitters. Interestingly, even in married couples in which one of the spouses has Hepatitis C, the other can go for decades without getting infected. Nevertheless, since it's fairly common for men to bleed in their ejaculate, sexual transmission is certainly believed to be likely, although never proven.

BTW, I have no idea what Lance Loud looked like. Any link with a picture would be appreciated....

Now, when I said illicit drugs, I didn't mean just IV drugs. Of course, sharing IV needles is a primo way to get Hepatitis C. This is because (1) most IV drug users are in a "contagious phase" with Hepatitis C, and (2) the odds of getting Hep C when sharing needles with a contagious person is 1 in 3 PER EPISODE (compare with about 1/30 for someone with Hep B, 1/300 with HIV, although it also depends greatly on viral load in those instances). Nevertheless, people who snort cocaine also share Hep C due to microscopic bleeding in the nasal passages which commonly occurs.

I must say that I find the infrequency of Hep C transmission through sexual means, and its almost sure-fire transmission through drug use, a most fascinating set of facts. Unfortunately, drug users often abuse alcohol, too, and they're the ones who really get into trouble with Hep C. Most people who get Hep C probably live their whole lives without knowing they had it.

[Guest]

I have no idea how that request for a picture link made it to the middle of my post. Sorry it makes the post read weirdly.

[+ Charlie]

My doctor has told me that at some point in my life I had Hep C, because I have antibodies to it in my blood. However, I have never had a blood transfusion and have never injected drugs. However, I was enormously promiscuous in my misspent youth, and I did have hepatitis during my most sexually active period, years before researchers even knew there was more than one type.

 

By the way, the latest issue of the Advocate has pictures in an article by Lance Loud written on his deathbed.

[+ Charlie]

I don't understand the mechanism by which one could transmit hepatitis through snorting cocaine (which is another practice I have never indulged in). Is the virus IN the coke?

[CT Dick]

>BTW, I have no idea what Lance Loud looked like. Any link

>with a picture would be appreciated....

 

The "Advocate" obituary has a recent photo of Lance. The link on the right takes you to a picture of the family in their PBS days.

 

http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/854_5/854_5_loud.asp

 

Dick

[Guest]

It's more likely to be in the little straw or spoon people put in their noses. Some could get in the cocaine too, though, I guess.

[Guest]

Thanks for the link. What a hottie! I should start dating guys in their fifties! ;-) Why don't I see guys that look like that at that age when I go out? :-(

[phage]

>Unfortunately, drug users often abuse alcohol, too, and

>they're the ones who really get into trouble with Hep

>C. Most people who get Hep C probably live their whole

>lives without knowing they had it.

 

Thank you for that bit of information. My sister has Hepatitis C as a result of one of those pre-1990 transfusions. Whenever we have discussed the issue she tends to downplay its seriousness, but then I hear of the occasional death attributed to the disease. I sometimes wonder whether she is truly unconcerned or just being stoic.

 

It makes sense that heavy drinking would have a negative impact. What about moderate drinking?

[Guest]

>It makes sense that heavy drinking would have a negative

>impact. What about moderate drinking?

 

Any drinking has a huge impact on Hepatitis C disease. The best analogy is gasoline and fire. You just don't mix the two. In addition, a person has to be completely abstinent from alcohol for one year, or the chance the treatment for Hep C will work is zero. Before starting treatment, a biopsy is done to be sure there is no evidence of any alcohol effect on the liver. It is a complete waste of time to attempt treatment for Hep C if there has been any drinking prior to or during tretment.