''The Littlest Victims'' is a 1989

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

-produced biographical drama about Dr. James Oleske. The TV film was written by Kenneth Cavender and J.J. Towne and directed by Peter Levin. Dr. Oleske was the first U.S. physician to diagnose

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

in children during the epidemic's early years when it was widely thought to be spread only though homosexual sex. It starred

Tim Matheson Tim Matheson (born Timothy Lewis Matthieson; December 31, 1947) is an American actor and director. Some of his best-known acting roles include the title character of the 1960s animated ''Jonny Quest'' TV series, Eric "Otter" Stratton in the 197 ...

as Oleske and was first broadcast on April 23, 1989.''The Littlest Victims''
hollywood.com, accessed February 27, 2016

Storyline

In 1982, Oleske is practicing medicine at Newark, New Jersey's

New Jersey Medical School New Jersey Medical School (NJMS)—also known as Rutgers New Jersey Medical School—is a medical school of Rutgers University, a public research university in Newark, New Jersey. It has been part of the Rutgers Division of Biomedical and Health ...

when he discovers several of his

pediatric Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

patients failing to thrive and suffering from what appears to be suppressed

immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...

s. Most of his patients are impoverished inner city African Americans and Hispanics who are either

intravenous drug users Recreational drug use indicates the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime by modifying the perceptions and emotions of the user. When a ...

or the heterosexual partners thereof. His efforts to convince the

Centers for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

(CDC) that AIDS is the cause of this threat falls on largely deaf and hesitant ears, while another doctor asks him about whether or not

Bible belt The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States in which socially conservative Protestant Christianity plays a strong role in society and politics, and church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's aver ...

politicians will enjoy having to tell their

voters Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

that their

taxes A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or ...

are being spent on homosexuals and I.V. drug users living in the largely

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

coastal The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

where most AIDS cases were and still are reported from. Later, he receives a report from the CDC about infected transfusions and

blood product A blood product is any therapeutic substance prepared from human blood. This includes whole blood; blood components; and plasma derivatives. Whole blood is not commonly used in transfusion medicine. Blood components include: red blood cell concen ...

s and finds one of his pediatric patients had received blood from a donor who later developed and died of the disease, much to the anger of the patient's family over not being told this beforehand. TV reporters appear in the hospital wearing disposable latex gloves, surgical clothes and masks, afraid of becoming infected by being in the same room or building with Oleske and his AIDS patients. Another of his patients, an adult female former prostitute and I.V. drug user, is informed by him that her child has the disease, indicating that its virus was passed to her child through her blood while she was pregnant, meaning that she became infected before she gave up drugs and prostitution. After her child dies of AIDS, she returns to her former lifestyle. The publicity of Oleske's work on AIDS also causes problems with his family in his private life as his children are subjected to ridicule from their peers about this. In 1984, when it's announced that the virus that causes AIDS has been isolated, another one of his child patients dies of AIDS and is buried in a

Gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

style funeral that Oleske attends, and Oleske finally receives approval of his work from the CDC and promises to continue his work among his patients, even though they will eventually die young.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Littlest Victims, The CBS network films 1989 television films 1989 films HIV/AIDS in American films HIV/AIDS in television Films directed by Peter Levin Films set in New Jersey HIV/AIDS in film