Ignorance OR Fear? That is the question!

On 8 June, 2011, in Resource, Uncategorized, by Cindy Pivacic

I attended a breakfast this morning and sat at a table of ten. I am not calling anyone stupid, am I still allowed to use that word?, however, the two lovely ladies sitting next to me inevitably got into conversation with me and you know how it goes, “What’s your name?” What do you do?’ and I always answer “I’m a Speaker on HIV and AIDS” that’s it!! If a second question comes along which it ALWAYS does, ‘what exactly do you talk about’ and then of course they have no way out, ‘gottem’. It was frightening to discover yet again how little people know about HIV/AIDS and in this instance again, they did not know the difference between HIV & AIDS. Once they asked, it was absolutely amazing how many more questions they had. There is still that fear of the disease and what is unknown. I will pose a question here and see how many of you respond, no cheating…do not google! Is semen and sperm infected by the HI virus? Come on answer quickly, without help. And do YOU know the difference between HIV & AIDS? (OK, so two questions)

 

3 Responses to Ignorance OR Fear? That is the question!

  1. Anni Beale says:

    Hi MY Cindy! Think I know the answer to your (first) question… no, semen/sperm does not become infected with HIV/Aids; it is blood that becomes infected with the disease.

    • admin says:

      Hi My Dear Anni,
      Thanks for responding, unfortunately that is incorrect. I am however, not going to answer the question yet as I would like to see if there are going to be any other takers. So please people, without googling yet, give some response.

  2. Angie DuBois says:

    Unfortunately/fortunately, I do know the answer, Cindy. I’ve been living with the virus since at least 1998. HIV is spread through bodily fluids, which include semen and sperm, vaginal fluids, and blood. It’s not likely to be spread through saliva or sweat, although there are some rare instances of this occurring (have to look up the citation for that one). The difference between HIV and AIDS is that HIV is the virus that can infects us and can progress to an AIDS diagnosis. Fortunately, for those with access to regular treatment and drugs, lives can be prolonged and opportunistic infections fended off long enough for many of us to reach old age. UNfortunately, this is not the status quo in developing (poorer) countries. Maybe Koronis and the company that helped the ‘Berlin patient’ are onto something good that would be more effective than our current regimens.

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