World AIDS Day 2006

[Ded 30]

Well, once again its December the first, and once again it is World AIDS Day - which means we should perhaps all take a little time to reflect on the hardship suffered by people who have suffed damage to the immune system, caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

I think perhaps the saddest thing about AIDS is that people truely don't give it as much attention as it deserves - we all know someone who's suffered Cancer and supported them through the rough times (and hopefully they've made a revovery), however, not so many of us know a person living with HIV or AIDS and thus we have a view that perhaps isn't the healthiest or most reasonable. With this in mind, please pay attention the following facts.

- AIDS originatd in sub-Saharan Africa during the 20th Century
- An estimated 38.6 MILLION people now live with disease world-wide.
- The World Health Organization estimates that 25,000,000 people have died from AIDS since it was first recognized on the fifth of June 1981.
- In 2005 AIDS claimed an estimated 2.4 - 3.3 Million lives - Of which more then 570,000 were children.
- The Human Immunodeficiancy Virus (The cause of AIDS) is contracted through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the blood stream with a body fluid containing HIV - Blood, Semen, Vaginal Fluid, Preseminal fluid, and breast milk.
- The transmission can come in the form of: anal, vaginal or oral sex, blood transfusion, contaminated hypodermic needles, exchange between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding, or other exposure to one of the above bodily fluids.

- There is no known cure.

- There is no known cure.

- There is no known cure.



Take care to really read that last point. AIDS is definite - Once you have it, you cannot escape it. Whether you're Gay/Straight, Sober/Addicted, Old or Young. It is with you for life. There are drugs that slow down the time it takes for AIDS to take its toll, but it will eventually do so.

Sadly, there is a stigma attached to people who have AIDS, which is why I'm posting this. We're not in the middle ages any more, we're not in the early 20th century even. Its not time for us to quarantine people from society. Lets get things straight here - YES they carry a virus that is infectious, but you need contact with a body fluid. Understand that people suffering this disease (generally) don't wish to cause you harm - they'll be open with you, and let you in on thier experience - but don't judge them. Would you judge someone with Cancer? No. AIDS is no difference. Instead, listen to people and provide your support to them.

We can make a change in this world - we can educate people, and start practising safe sex, and we can begin to Understand the problems that this pandemic causes. The time has come for change - and you're all going to be in this world to help change it.

Do whats best - and remember to spare a thought for the poor souls in this world who have lost someone to HIV/AIDS, live with HIV/AIDS, or have died from AIDS. Its the least you can do...

[DuskTrooper 314]

YES they carry a virus that is infectious, but you need contact with a body fluid.quote>

we can educate peoplequote>

Only exchange bodily fluids with a reputable, reliable AIDS/HIV free(as tested) source!  Or, don't mix fluids at all(since no other way, including the practice of "safe sex" is 100 percent effective)!  Remember children; you must do what YOU can to stop AIDS!

Gay/Straight, Sober/Addicted, Old or Young, you can do it!

[thundercrack83 0]

I applaud your vigilance in the fight against AIDS and I do agree with almost everything youu've said, except one thing: You can't really make a comparison between AIDS and cancer for reason: Cancer is not contagious. If I were to meet a person with cancer, I cannot get cancer from them. However, if I meet someone with AIDS, there is a possibility, albeit a small one, that I could get the disease from them. I'm not trying to mock anything you've said or insult you or anything like that, nor do I think that cancer is more important than AIDS, I just think that the distinction between cancer and AIDS should be made.

[connor_v 3]

It is a terrible pandemic, that is. Especially for the poor. Like in Africa, India and the Ukraine. Many people don't think about it. They think it can't happen to them in Canada. They sweep the issue under the rug.

This issue cannot be hidden forever. Thankfully, we can get at least a few people to listen, and at least we can hopefully have a good effect on thier lives.

[Ded 30]

Thundercrack - they're comparable on the level that they are both expensive to treat/fight, and that both carry a heavy mortality rate. Certainly the fact that one CAN contract AIDS is an important distinction to make - but Cancer and AIDS are comparable on some similar levels.

[thundercrack83 0]

Ded: You're absolutely right. Actually, I feel kind of bad for even saying anything in the first place because you didn't post this thread to argue semantics, you did it to heighten awareness and to help educate people the disease and I'm splitting hairs over trivial details. This probably isn't the time or the place for this discussion, I apologize.

[coolotter88 2]

the easiest way to stop aids right now is to round up all aids infected people and put them in one isolated community. we can stop the spread and when they all die, we get rid of aids! but on a more serious note.....

I think some of the big pharma have already found a cure for aids, they just haven't really gotten any sort of approval or lots of tests done yet.

[richjd 0]

It's not entirely true to say that 'you can't catch cancer". Cervical cancer is thought to be casued by a virus that is sexually tranmitted from a male carrier to a female. This last week a vaccine for the cervical cancer was added to the immunisation schedule in Australia, and I hope it will be added to the New Zealand (where I live) immunisation schedule soon.

Good on you Ded for your post. I think it is a good thing to make people stop for a minute of two, encourage them to look outside themselves and realise that there is alot going on in the world, much of it not directly impacting on their daily lives, but nether the less having some sort of effect on it. 

Kia Kaha (stand strong).

[DOXXP29 5]

I also applaude your endeavours, Ded. I vividly recall when AIDS first started showing up and nobody knew what it was. I was young and livin the life and saw too many young people wither away and die, with the cause of death being pneumonia or some such. When the medical community finally figured out what was going on, many people changed their lifestyles, while many others did not either from not being educated on the subject or feeling that they couldn't be affected. As time has progressed, it's no longer the immediate death sentence that it once was and life and health can be prolonged. Unfortunately, in less developed countries, the health care and education is so abyssmal that large portions of the population are infected and dying. This is a tragedy and something that the governments and health organizations should seriously address. The world is losing too many people to a disease that is mostly preventable.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: richjd

It's not entirely true to say that 'you can't catch cancer". Cervical cancer is thought to be casued by a virus that is sexually tranmitted from a male carrier to a female. This last week a vaccine for the cervical cancer was added to the immunisation schedule in Australia, and I hope it will be added to the New Zealand (where I live) immunisation schedule soon.quote>

Ah yes, the infamus cervical cancer vaccine. There was a high school in california that started offering it for free to girls there... then they stopped because a lot of parents complained that giving the girls that vaccine was giving them one less reason to be safe about sex.

As for AIDS, at least you can't catch it without doing something foolish. There was a controversial idea of provideing heroin users with clean needles to help stop the spread of AIDS... never happened, though.

I would say the best way to eliminate AIDS would be to make it a crime for anyone with the disease to have sex with anyone (even consentually), and an extra crime for them to share needles.

After all, if you know you have AIDS, and you willingly engage in behavior that could result in someone else catching it, then that's basically potential negligent homicide. The laws don't currently say it's illegal, but it should be.

[dev 47]

I agree with DT and Duke...for one thing, don't be an idiot. There is no truly safe sex...but precautionary at least...

As Duke said, Sex, purposely removing blood, and sharing of infectious materials should be illegal by those who have AIDS...

That is as far as developed countries go. For Africa, it's different. People don't have an idea of "transmission" or disease...it's passed around and people don't know any better. Education, not condoms we should spread. People need protection, but they need to know why first of all...

[Dark_Jedi06 13]

Well that's 38.6 million less people we need to worry about draining the Earth and its resources...let's face it, diseases and epidemics are a counter balance that help to maintain order with our enviroment. It may be cold and I'm not saying that awarness isn't a positive thing, people need to know otherwise everyone would have the disease, but people still need to die. We can't find a cure for every single illness, otherwise we'd be even more outrageously overpopulated.

And even if we did find a cure, who would get it? Every wealthy person in prominent nations and no one in Africa. Honestly, I think AIDs is now a permenant part of their culture. No government or organization is going to spend the money, resources and manpower required for such an operation, and even if they did it would be impossible to get everyone.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: Duke87

As for AIDS, at least you can't catch it without doing something foolish.

quote>

 

Whoa, time out.  Do you not remember Ryan White?   Okay . . . you probably don't, seeing as how he died 16 years ago.  Guess he was before your time.

Anyway, he was a heterosexual, middle class, American white boy who had hemophilia and contracted HIV from a contaminated blood product.  The point is, he did nothing foolish and he died from AIDS.

The good news is, the blood screening process is better than it was back then. 

Is a woman having unprotected sex with her husband "foolish"?  One of my co-workers died from AIDS that she contracted this way.  At least half of married men cheat on their wives.  The possibility of catching something from your husband is more than remote.   But a woman who insists that her husband use protection all of the time isn't going to stay married for very long.

Originally posted by: dev 

For Africa, it's different. People don't have an idea of "transmission" or disease...it's passed around and people don't know any better. Education, not condoms we should spread. People need protection, but they need to know why first of all...

quote>

 

Eliminating smallpox was relatively easy.  Find each person on the planet, grab them by the arm, and give them the vaccine.  The vaccine leaves a scar (mine is on the back of my left shoulder) so it's easy to tell who has had the vaccine and who hasn't.  and, once you have given someone the vaccine, they are done; move on to the next person.

Treating AIDS is more difficult.  The drug *****tail must be administered multiple times a day, different pills at different times during the day, every day for a prolonged period of time.   How do you do that in a culture where people don't wear wristwatches and don't know how to tell time?

Yes, that is a matter of education.  It's also a matter of changing the culture and that's an tricky thing for outsiders to do.

But there is a big difference between treating AIDS and preventing AIDS.  The education needed to prevent AIDS is much simpler than the education needed to treat it.  Simpler, yes, but still a cultural change.  Heck, it was a cultural change here.   You don't hear much about "free love" these days.

[thundercrack83 0]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek

Treating AIDS is more difficult.  The drug *****tail must be administered multiple times a day, different pills at different times during the day, every day for a prolonged period of time.   How do you do that in a culture where people don't wear wristwatches and don't know how to tell time?

quote>

I remember this from an episode of The West Wing...

Anyway, I do agree with you on the Ryan White angle and that you don't necessarily have to do something stupid to get AIDS. That being said, I would bet a large amount of money that more cases arise from stupidity than from instances like Ryan White. Sure, there are exceptions, such as HIV-positive mothers passing on to their children, but for the most part, negligence and indifference are the culprits.

A problem with trying to educate people about AIDS is the fact that AIDS deals with some aspects of human life that a lot of people want to pretend don't exist, especially the sexual angle, but also the illegal drug use side to a lesser extent. I think that it is aborrhent that people refuse to educate children sufficiently about sex, saying that "abstinence is the only true way to prevent getting AIDS." Sure, and the only way to truly prevent car accidents is to outlaw cars. It's a fact of life: Teenagers are going to think about sex and their going to experiment with sex. Teenagers can look at a picture of a steak knife and find some way to make it about sex. So giving a kid a condom isn't going to turn their mind to sex, because it's already there. There has to be a correlation between a condom and AIDS. It has to be beaten into their heads that if you don't use a condom, you can get AIDS. Telling them "Don't have sex at all, you definitely won't get AIDS then," is the most naïve and reckless thing that anyone can do.

As for the situation in Africa, I hate to say that the fight for people who are already infected is probably an impossible one to win, but more can be done on the education front to prevent more infections. However, as someone earlier pointed out, sometimes these types of things happen in societies and there is nothing you can do but wait it out. Even when a cure is found (And there has to be something because Magic Johnson should be dead by now if there isn't), it will be even longer until becomes cost-effective to immunize Africans.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: thundercrack83 

Anyway, I do agree with you on the Ryan White angle and that you don't necessarily have to do something stupid to get AIDS. That being said, I would bet a large amount of money that more cases arise from stupidity than from instances like Ryan White. Sure, there are exceptions, such as HIV-positive mothers passing on to their children, but for the most part, negligence and indifference are the culprits.  quote>

I would have to add "lack of education" to the list.  Even in developed countries there can be the belief, especially among younger people, that certain types of sexual activity "don't count".  While this belief might be traceable to a certain former President, the fact remains that AIDS can be spread by activities that allegedly "don't count". 

To put it as graphically as I care to put it:  the issue is the transfer of body fluids, not how or where those fluids are transferred.   and "body fluids", as ded pointed out earlier, are:  blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid, and breast milk.

A problem with trying to educate people about AIDS is the fact that AIDS deals with some aspects of human life that a lot of people want to pretend don't exist, especially the sexual angle, but also the illegal drug use side to a lesser extent. I think that it is aborrhent that people refuse to educate children sufficiently about sex, saying that "abstinence is the only true way to prevent getting AIDS." Sure, and the only way to truly prevent car accidents is to outlaw cars. It's a fact of life: Teenagers are going to think about sex and their going to experiment with sex. Teenagers can look at a picture of a steak knife and find some way to make it about sex. So giving a kid a condom isn't going to turn their mind to sex, because it's already there. There has to be a correlation between a condom and AIDS. It has to be beaten into their heads that if you don't use a condom, you can get AIDS. Telling them "Don't have sex at all, you definitely won't get AIDS then," is the most naïve and reckless thing that anyone can do.quote>

I agree with you completely. 

As for the situation in Africa, I hate to say that the fight for people who are already infected is probably an impossible one to win, but more can be done on the education front to prevent more infections. However, as someone earlier pointed out, sometimes these types of things happen in societies and there is nothing you can do but wait it out. Even when a cure is found (And there has to be something because Magic Johnson should be dead by now if there isn't), it will be even longer until becomes cost-effective to immunize Africans.quote>

 

The phrases they use to describe Magic Johnson are interesting.  "His viral load is undetectable."    The difference between an undetectable viral load and no viral load is what exactly?   If somone with an undetectable viral load stops taking the medications, does the virus come back?   I imagine it would be difficult to find someone to sign up for that test.