Aids

[lady cop]

AIDS...the death sentence cancer used to be? the next pandemic? the emerging plague? its history and its social ramifications. once considered the 'gay men's disease'. the children not only orphaned, but infected. the continent of africa, decimated. here, the scourge of IV drug users and prostitution. anything would be welcome in this discussion, science, opinion, theory, experience. it's a disease with a morals judgement attached. there has been progress in medicine, but no cure. do you have an opinion and/or feelings about this virus that seemed to arise from the pit of hell?

[lady cop]

to add to my post, my feelings... i remember 'boys in the band'. a brilliant and true depiction of the beginnings of the virus in san francisco. i recall feeling afraid that it was going to explode. fast forward some years and i become a cop. i get blood on me. i am exposed to blood a lot. and druggies and hookers. and i am not allowed to know if the perp has the virus. they do have their privacy rights. i have to go to court and get a judge to order the criminal's HIV status released to me. then i have to go to the hospital and endure a round of sickening 'prevention' meds and weeks of follow-up blood tests whenever i get some dirtbag's blood on me. i start to become prejudiced against the known carriers who may well expose me to the virus.

[spot]

Here's an interesting detail. There's about three times as many people in the USA who are naturally immune to HIV than there are carrying the virus.

At the moment in the USA, new HIV transmission is roughly a third men having sex with men, a third injection drug users and a third heterosexual transmission. Average life expectancy, with treatment, is ten years from infection. People over 40 die sooner. In a random crowd of a thousand people, the chance of there being no HIV infection is less than one in four hundred.

Political, financial, and social barriers have often kept the most effective prevention and treatment strategies from reaching those at highest risk. In addition, HIV-related stigma continues to hinder prevention, testing, and treatment. Expanding HIV prevention programs remains an urgent priority in the United States. Reaching populations at risk to ensure early diagnosis and ensuring sustained access to preventive and treatment services for all at risk and HIV-infected persons can have a major impact on the HIV and AIDS epidemic

Have a guess what wildly left-wing publication that paragraph's from? Strangely enough, it's the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advice pages.

[123cat]

drugs free to those who need the, would you deny someone medicine?

[lady cop]

Originally Posted by 123cat

drugs free to those who need the, would you deny someone medicine?

absolutely not..the drug companies can well afford to help people. the AIDS 'cocktails' are wildly expensive, but so is treatment, care, jail, and hospitalization. and what is the cost in AIDS-infected babies' care? if it is reduced to cost, yes, give the meds to all who require it!

[mominiowa]

Originally Posted by lady cop

AIDS...the death sentence cancer used to be? the next pandemic? the emerging plague? its history and its social ramifications. once considered the 'gay men's disease'. the children not only orphaned, but infected. the continent of africa, decimated. here, the scourge of IV drug users and prostitution. anything would be welcome in this discussion, science, opinion, theory, experience. it's a disease with a morals judgment attached. there has been progress in medicine, but no cure. do you have an opinion and/or feelings about this virus that seemed to arise from the pit of hell?

A lot of you know..but for those who do not...My brother passed away at the young age of 26 to the dreaded disease....in 1988! there isn't a day that goes by that I wish if he were to be born gay, then he should have been born now...with the knowledge and such that we have now days -he would still be alive...I do not judge him for his sexuality, as some members of my family did..to see him laugh and enjoy the company with another man meant only one thing to me..."not that HE was DIFFERENT, but that HE was HUMAN and enjoying life"... when I worked at the hospital as a med aide there was a car accident and there were 5 teens involved...way before the thought of catching AIDS- we jumped right in..when the night was over and 3 kids were dead and we dealt with a lot of blood loss, we were all brought into a room and said we would have to be tested, not because there was a scare but because it was the hospital policy....It was scary enough to wait 2 weeks..then 3 months..then 6 months to be tested again...then I believe a year?- there was not a scare and we figured we were safe..but one never knows...I do not agree with the fact that our law enforcement agency should be subjected to these crazy weirdos that spit, bleed, and have unprotected sex- and cause them to be at a higher risk, but I know there is nothing they can do besides protect themselves.. I think if you know you are HIV positive and you proceed with unprotected sex or attacking someone(EX the rape case from Colorado that the man raped a 14 year old, then told her he was HIV positive) they should be given the death sentence--they choose to kill just as a murderer does ....JMO GOD BLESS OUR SERVICE WORKERS...

[lady cop]

love you Mom, and thanks for telling us your story as painful as it is. xoxox..your comment about criminal sanctions is of great interest to me, i have seen many prosecutions for attempted murder arising from AIDS-HIV infected people KNOWINGLY passing the virus. i agree fully with the pertinent statutes.

[weeder]

Lost my sister about 15 years ago due to aids complications. She contracted the virus through intrevenous drug use. The man she had a long time relationship with died a year after she did. We discovered she was hiv positive when she delivered a child. He was born with holes in his heart, and other problems that didnt show up until later. He had to be tested every six months until he was two years old. For my family, the biggest blessing we have ever received, was that that child was not infected. To this day, we all do not fully comrehend how he was spared. The day before my sister died.. I was doing my work aholic thing as usual. I decided Id better run up to the hospital to see her ( we werent very close, because of her life style) The condition she was in was a sight I will never forget for the rest of my life. The virus truly is a gift from the devil. Im not refering to anything moral. I am referring to the suffering that the victims go through. My dad broke down crying in the elevator saying" I dont care what shes done in her life, no human being deserves to die that way. For fifteen years Ive been horrified that so many young people dont seem to think its real. Ill tell you it had a tremendous effect on my attitudes concerning sexual activity. I also have lost quite a few friends and acquaintances over the years because of working in the flower industry. At one time we all were working in a flower shop with a huge staff . A gay male ( who we didnt know was hiv positive cut himself on a glass vase while loading a truck. We all, of course rushed over to help him. Our employer had kept his health status confidental. I was the manager and was furious that we had not been warned, so that we would know how to protect ourselves in this kind of situation. It brought controversial issues to light. My family doesnt discuss this subject, ever. There is shame connected to the incident.
There are people who are so ignorant about the facts concerning aids that they fear infection through association. When my sister was in the hospital, I saw a room filled with toddlers playing in the afternoon. I said" Who are these children?'
The nurse replied " These are the children whose parents have abandoned here because they have aids. " At that moment an adorable two year old ran towards me with her arms held up. I looked into her eyes... hesitated to pick her up... and then thought. God, if fear of this disease keeps me from ever embracing a child.. you can give the virus to me. I scooped her up in my arms, and at that moment I made my decision about how I felt about the worlds plague.

[Peg]

I can't imagine dating these days. When you have sex with a person, you also have sex with all their previous partners if you know what I mean. It would scare the heck out of me. When dealing with a sick or injured person, I use rubber gloves. You have to pretend like they DO have AIDS in order to protect yourself. IO would never deny help though if gloves weren't available.

[Accountable]

I assume it's the #1 killer in the world, right? How about in the developed nations?