digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover and share the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

See the original image at divinecaroline.com

Why Americans Are Ignoring HIV and AIDS

divinecaroline.com — Frika Chia Iskandar ’s stature and personality suggest she’s more likely to be a bubbly seventeen year old than a twenty-six year old HIV-positive activist. The Indonesian woman was barely able to see over the podium at a recent conference while retelling stories about her family’s reaction to her positive status, including a story about them buying

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • skewl, on 07/23/2008, -6/+18The most important thing is that this is still a killer - and the sooner we re-educate everyone the better.
    • RedHeadedFreak, on 07/23/2008, -1/+5Education only works when the people you are trying to educate are intelligent and are able and willing to learn. Unfortunately, many people will still act like irresponsible animals when it comes to sex. And also, I've read many articles on the decline of AIDS, at least in America, which could also contribute to the apparent or perceived apathy.
    • thelif, on 07/23/2008, -0/+10Would she care about the disease if she didn't have the disease?
    • IKORKYI, on 07/23/2008, -2/+4Butters: I just, eh. Well.. I don't know if I should be helping you make Kyle look silly.
      Cartman: Butters. Helping People who have AIDS, is one of the most important things you could do.
      Butters: I know, but are you sure Kyle has to be taught a lesson?
      Cartman: I'm not just sure, butters. I'm H.I.V. Positive.
      Butters: Oh yeah, eh. I guess that's true.
  • chadillak, on 07/23/2008, -27/+14AIDS. How.... retro.
  • imLissy, on 07/23/2008, -10/+84Yes, enough people in the US have HIV/AIDS for it to be scary, but it's not the death sentence it used to be. The truth is, if you're careful, you have a very low chance of even getting it. They are still teaching about the dangers of the disease in schools and the importance of safe sex practices.

    It isn't being ignored. People are just more concerned with things that have a higher chance of killing them, like heart disease.
    • meandnips, on 07/23/2008, -3/+23I think this sort of mindset is what leads to HIV/Aids not being wiped out yet in the US. While drug therapies are available and treatment is worlds away from when this epidemic started (I saw many of my close friends suffer and die) the truth is that the drug cocktails available today are expensive, time consuming and the side effects can be hard to live with. HIV/Aids may not kill you they way it used to but its not just like having to take a pill and you don't think about it anymore. Additionally, the behaviors that lead to infection are also the behaviors that lead to STDs such as Chlamydia, which can go unnoticed for years, seriously affecting a woman's reproductive health. Again, it may not kill you, but the toll on your life and your community is huge. We can stop HIV/Aids infections, and we should not ever treat this dreadful disease lightly.
      • esteskid, on 07/23/2008, -0/+14unfortunately, until you can stop crazy meth addicts from getting stoned and ***** anyone they can find on craigslist without protection it will be a lot more than a mindset problem
      • CptBuck, on 07/23/2008, -0/+7I think you two are basically saying the same thing, it's not that we've forgotten about HIV its just that we now view it as part of a broader spectrum of sexually transmitted/blood transmitted diseases. While a number of states in the U.S. are still, unfortunately, quite resistant to sex ed there's still been a great improvement in the past 30 years. imLissy is right though, you're much much more likely to be killed by cancer or heart disease in this country than HIV. I think there's also a perception at this point that people are aware of these things and that at this point individuals need to be responsible. When the HIV epidemic first emerged there were a lot of tragic cases where, say, a blood transfusion patient contracted the virus, but today it seems more like people know the risks of what they are doing. If you're an intravenous drug user and you contract HIV from sharing needles, well, tough *****.
      • tuffie, on 07/23/2008, -2/+4First, not everyone who is HIV positive is a drug/meth addict, sexual compulsive, or social degenerate. There are thousands of cases where people, like myself, contracted it while in what we thought was a closed committed relationship due to a cheating spouse. Please don't limit yourself by always connecting the spread of this disease to those who use drugs or sleep around irresponsibly, although they are very much a factor.

        Second, yes HIV is now consider a maintainable condition by doctors and major health care providers, but it's still an every day life altering condition. Until you know what it's like to have to spend countless hours worrying about a simple cold that can put you out for a week or lead to other complications. Or have to inform those you work closely with of your condition should anything happen where you can expose them to your blood, and then deal with their reaction every day of the week after. Or know your very life is now dependent upon extremely toxic and expensive drugs that will overtime assist the very virus it's designed to hinder in destroying your body slowly, then you can tell me there are other more important things in life to worry about that are far worst than contracting HIV/AIDS.

        Comparing a slow death to a quick death is really messed up.
      • tech42er, on 07/23/2008, -1/+2Good point, Cpt. Buck. On the other hand, we seem to be regressing a bit, and that's the problem. When the epidemic first emerged, the US shut their eyes and plugged their ears. The public and the government believed it was only a disease that junkies and gays caught and refused to acknowledge it for a while. Finally, in the early 90's, people (including Reagan) saw the error of their ways and HIV/AIDS was seen as the killer that it was and everyone saw that they were at risk. As a result, we now have massive awareness of AIDS and lots of people now practice safe sex, but certainly not everyone. Unfortunately, people are starting to once again view the disease as something "others" get. This is a very subtle but dangerous shift in the public conciousness. Check out the comments from RedHeadedFreak, VyPR, and CiXeL for a display of this arrogance.
      • perfectsilence, on 07/23/2008, -1/+2just don't have unprotected anal sex. AIDS is a very preventable disease. don't tell me "everybody" have the same risk of getting it.
      • Paulish, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2Agreed, as soon as it is no longer a death sentence people don't put so much energy into caring about it. This is not a bad thing, we need to prioritize risks, otherwise we would go nutters (which is a risk in itself for some). With that said, people need to remember there are still real dangers. HIV/AIDS isn't a walk in the park.
    • inhaler, on 07/23/2008, -4/+3"They are still teaching about the dangers of the disease in schools and the importance of safe sex practices."

      I thought public schools were forced into "Abstinence Only" education? Helluva way to combat the spread of disease.. /sarcasm
      • TheOtherOne135, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1It is mostly abstinence only, reinforced with that "sex can kill you - HIV is only one of the ways" message.
      • anticom, on 07/23/2008, -2/+0I was taught the "abstinence only" method and I was never taught fear inducing paranoid arguments like, "sex can kill you" and I didn't goto public school. I wasn't taught "abstinence only" to avoid STDs, but for other reasons.
      • IPublius, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4I am not sure why you feel that is sarcasm. Abstinence is a great way to avoid getting AIDS. I am not sure how teaching kids to avoid getting Sexually Transmitted Diseases by not having sex is bad practice.

        BTW - they do teach about AIDS and other STDs in Abstinence Education.
      • sysop073, on 07/23/2008, -3/+3@IPublius It's sarcasm because usually abstinence-only education spends less time talking about STDs and more time talking about how if you have sex you're going to burn in hell, so kids are less informed when they inevitably have sex anyway
    • DestroyFascism, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1But the Government wants to ban condoms and fails to hand out injecting needles to Junkie...
    • reastydirtstar, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1Yes, it's being ignored because people are concerned with other crap. but it's not other diseases people are concerned with. it's being ignored because people (especially hollywood celebrity hippies) care more about aids problems in africa than they do in their own country. AIDS is a concern in africa, to say nothing of the fact that there are thousands infected right here in the US. This is just another example of worrying about everyone else's problems except our own. AIDS is ignored in this country because hippy americans are too busy worrying about countries who wouldn't give two ***** about the united states if it weren't for government aid.
  • KatoHamatsu, on 07/23/2008, -7/+31Great reminder that us Americans can't afford to get lax about HIV.
    • mariajose578, on 07/23/2008, -3/+2Yea, we're hardly out of the woods.
      • WiretapStudios, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Some are deeper in the woods than others...
  • tinafey, on 07/23/2008, -1/+20It certainly hasn't gone away, science and medicine has made it easier to live healthier lives while treating AIDS, but we still need to be constantly reminding our youth about the importance of protection and detection.
  • mercimadam, on 07/23/2008, -1/+7I really hope Science finds an answer and we can look back upon these last few decades as unfortunate.
    • Stupidumb, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4"Those poor unfortunate people of the past. Looking back makes me appreciate all the nameless, wild sex that we enjoy daily in the streets."
    • RedHeadedFreak, on 07/23/2008, -6/+4I really hope science gives up and stops wasting money on a disease that could possibly be incurable. Spend the money on cancer research, not for curing a disease of the irresponsible (it could happen through innocent means of blood transfusion etc, but it mostly happens because people are ignorant or just plain dumb).
    • Sirocco, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1I'm sure I'll be dugg into oblivion, but something has to toss a little chlorine into the gene pool every now and then. If we're not careful, something even nastier will likely pop up.
  • thegreenspanput, on 07/23/2008, -23/+6who the hell has AIDS? Why would I care, I've never even met anyone with AIDS.
    • AmyWhere, on 07/23/2008, -4/+19great! then you should have unprotected anal sex.
    • CCoe, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2A good friend of mine died of AIDS. I'm Canadian. Never underestimate that disease, my friend.
  • copter71, on 07/23/2008, -22/+6Buried - Who cares?
    • homedaddy, on 07/23/2008, -1/+10someone who has sex ocassionally?
      • TheThirdLevel, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1Which means it would never affect copter.
  • GuitarHeroDenn, on 07/23/2008, -3/+21Because cancer is the cool disease now
    • amoirae, on 07/23/2008, -7/+3Yeah, those pink tit cancer ribbons are all the rage.
      • amoirae, on 07/23/2008, -3/+5Was I supposed to call it knocker cancer? Hooter tumors? Fun bag deflators? What's the latest term from the humorless on this one?
      • satyarth, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2Dude, the 22.3 year deadline is not over yet. Its not funny.
    • socketman, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3But what about balding? Balding people should get cancer sympathy
  • xsecretfiles, on 07/23/2008, -4/+20I thought everyone had Aids?
  • KyloOb, on 07/23/2008, -5/+13"The largest number of new HIV/AIDS cases in American women is now among those between the ages of fifteen and thirty-nine" -- Surely the number between 15 and 40 is larger? I don't understand things like this, someone explain?
    • JonGalt, on 07/23/2008, -5/+1Your not meant to understand things like that.

      Read the title, thats not even meant to be understood.
    • anticom, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1They're attempting to skew the perceptions of the reader in favor of the articles thesis. For instance, they also tell you: "AIDS is the number one cause of death among black women age twenty-five to fifty-four" but they fail to mention the outrageously high rate of infection of young black males.
    • GXPlatinum, on 07/23/2008, -1/+0Perhaps a lot of 40 year old women are immune to AIDS and the researcher counts it against the total.
      • BabyWookie, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2By the time most women get to 40, no one wants to ***** them.
    • bffoley, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2That's statistics for you. They pick ranges that prove their points.
  • digiguy, on 07/23/2008, -2/+17What is sex?
    • Stupidumb, on 07/23/2008, -0/+10It's when you touch yourself
      • digiguy, on 07/23/2008, -0/+14can you get aids from that?
      • Stupidumb, on 07/23/2008, -0/+12I think so, but only if you do it really violently.
      • futureisours, on 07/23/2008, -0/+10if you have aids you can.
    • ledmonkey, on 07/23/2008, -0/+6When the nipple makes it's first appearance.
    • bffoley, on 07/23/2008, -0/+5Oh dear. Someone get a hot dog and a doughnut.
  • tramblings, on 07/23/2008, -4/+6Divine Caroline posted an article that's not about senseless inane subjects? Great article, I have to wonder if they hired an outside writer or something.
  • thwoom, on 07/23/2008, -6/+5that picture is hot
  • VyPR, on 07/23/2008, -7/+28Very few people get AIDS that couldn't have avoided it. Often lifestyle choices are a major factor. On the other hand, cancer can hit anyone, even small children. I have two small children who don't share needles or have unprotected sex. Which disease should I care about more?
    • Stupidumb, on 07/23/2008, -1/+17Vampirism
    • TheAkolyte, on 07/23/2008, -5/+3Lifestyle is based on envorinment, not choice. I guarantee your children will eventually do something to endanger themselves, and there is NOTHING you can do about it. Danger is fun, necessary, and more importantly, inevitable. All the helmets and protective padding in the world can't prevent it.
      • Stupidumb, on 07/23/2008, -1/+2So if you put a bike helmet on your dick, the female doesn't get pregnant?
      • VyPR, on 07/23/2008, -0/+8You're right. That's why I'm going to educate them and hope that they're wise enough to make the same good choices I made that have kept me HIV free. My job is to raise them to be independent, productive human beings, not to shelter them from responsibility and personal accountability.
      • anticom, on 07/23/2008, -2/+3"Lifestyle is based on envorinment, not choice."

        Everyone has control over their environment. Only in the extremest of circumstances would that logic pass. Maybe if you're the son/daughter of a heroin/crack addict it would be very difficult to escape that world, but for the vast majority of people lifestyle is completely based on choice.
    • WiretapStudios, on 07/23/2008, -0/+5Your children are using condoms already, nice work.
      • VyPR, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Nah, they use balloons. Smaller, cheaper, and more appealing to the Barney crowd.
  • BradOFarrell, on 07/23/2008, -14/+6I didn't know so many Africans were gay.
    • ChayesFSS, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2Not only Africans get the Gay Fever
  • tapeworm77, on 07/23/2008, -6/+18Aidsburger in paradise!!!
  • toconnor, on 07/23/2008, -2/+21Because there are only so many death threats that you can worry about at once. This month's winners are heat waves, hurricanes and jalapeno peppers.
  • xMotionx, on 07/23/2008, -8/+3I'm naked
  • clickwir, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4My theory is that most people either 1) don't hear about the negative aspects of it enough... or 2) are just plain tired of hearing about all the "breakthroughs" that come across big media, yet none of them seem like real progress.

    I'm in group 2. They might be making the slowest progress ever, but I've not heard of any real breakthroughs.
  • Egress99, on 07/23/2008, -3/+12Because banging without a bag is so much more fun.
  • BradOFarrell, on 07/23/2008, -9/+2Can I just say that I didn't know that so many Africans were gay? I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, I'm just saying, if they're giving everyone AIDS, and we're spending all this money on medicine and research, wouldn't it be better if they all just died?
    • mandarin, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2Ahhh the ignorant should'nt be allowed to talk...
    • TheThirdLevel, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0You don't need to be gay to have AIDS, *****.
    • Hoogs, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1I always wondered why having AIDS was tied so closely to being gay. I mean...you know...with the way things "go down", wouldn't gay people be LESS likely to get AIDS?
      • BabyWookie, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2You get the AIDs by taking it in the butt, like gays guys do.
      • Hoogs, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Really? I didn't know it worked that way. You learn something new every day I guess.
  • buddyw, on 07/23/2008, -5/+12"Wow, You have Aids? That's so retro."
  • Stupidumb, on 07/23/2008, -1/+6If you ignore it, it will go away.
  • FadieZ, on 07/23/2008, -4/+12AIDS is so '90s, cancer is way more awesome.
    • CiXeL, on 07/23/2008, -3/+3cancer happens to you. aids is caused by poor decision.
      • anticom, on 07/23/2008, -2/+1Correct me if I'm wrong, but smoking (cigarettes, weed, etc) is the number one cause of cancer. So, cancer is also a result of poor decisions.
      • FadieZ, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1Mine was hereditary.

        (What a twist to this comment thread...)
  • aolshove, on 07/23/2008, -1/+5I think the article should state, "The American Media No longer cares about AIDS". I think that the rest of the world considers mass media's interest level in a topic to be equal to the nations interest level. We all know that the media beats sensationalist stories into the ground until they can't squeeze one more cent out of the story and then they move onto something else. This doesn't mean that American's as a society don't still care in our individual lives.
  • rblancarte, on 07/23/2008, -1/+10I have to say that this is way wrong. HIV/AIDS is not ignored in the US. I would just say that protection at this point is common place. I would never think of having sex without a condom. We all know that sex has risks (even beyond HIV/AIDS), and we prepare for it.

    Though I will say, it should be of concern that we (the United States) has a higher than average infection and transmission rate than other developed countries.
    • Cerialthriller, on 07/23/2008, -5/+4we also have a higher then average number of people who wont use protection because its a sin against god or dont learn what condoms are in school because jesus says its a bad idea.
  • ColonelTribune, on 07/23/2008, -2/+4Here's a photo of Iskandar: http://www.worldywca.info/var/mf/storage/images/me ...
    • bawitback, on 07/23/2008, -1/+10i'd hit it, wait nvm
      • dondara, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1I'd hit it. Just need some condoms and some saran wrap. And no, not for a Cleveland steamer. Gah.
  • slayersotaku, on 07/23/2008, -2/+4Honestly I was surprised how low the number of women were, only 126,000. The news and educational material made it sound like over a few million had aids. Perhaps if they stopped the propaganda and talked like a normal person about it people would listen. Or do funny commercials like the old Truth Anti-Smoking ones where 1 in 3 people randomly explode.
    • orlyfactor, on 07/23/2008, -2/+2I know the guy who worked for Crispin, Bogusky, and Porter who wrote the initial ads. Brilliant guy! I'll ask him if he can write up something as funny for AIDS.
  • gquaglia, on 07/23/2008, -14/+11Why are we ignoring it? Because with few exceptions HIV and AIDS patients are mostly a gay and IV drug user disease.
    • rblancarte, on 07/23/2008, -4/+6Those few exceptions being the 80% of transmission in the United States being through Heterosexual sex right?
      • trousercustard, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1New York Times, July 24th 2008:
        "Thus far, only about 5 percent of the full-fledged AIDS cases in this country have been officially attributed to heterosexual transmission, but there are indications in some cities that heterosexual transmission is increasing..."

        "There has been very little documented heterosexual transmission of the AIDS virus from infected women to men in New York City. Of 634 heterosexual contact cases reported in the city through late 1989, 627 were women who acquired the virus from men and only 7 were men, all of whom had sexual contact with female intravenous drug users."

        http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0 ...
    • talk2spirit, on 07/23/2008, -3/+0This couldn't be further from the truth. It's attitudes like this that allows the disease to ravage the globe. Yuck...
    • tech42er, on 07/23/2008, -3/+1How's is living in the late 80's? You know, the Soviet Union's gonna collapse in a few years. And it turns out Reagan's been selling arms to Iran to fund the Contras in Nicuragua. And the whole Savings & Loan thing is gonna implode.
    • bastardo, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1Holy crap, how about you check some statistics and see that heterosexual aids has long surpassed ***** infections for years?
  • JonGalt, on 07/23/2008, -10/+3Ya, I ignore AIDS and HIV every time I think to put a condom on...Sensational, generalizing title demonizing "ignorant" Americans because we generally don't give a ***** if some tribal wacko in Africa is too brainless to try and better his existence instead of performing genital mutilation on his daughter then letting the tribe gang bang her in exchange for a blessing from Allah. Poor girl. Worthless adults that should have AIDS and hopefully do us all a favor and die quick.
  • briLo, on 07/23/2008, -3/+2We're too damn busy working to pay off our massive ass loans to companies that are going to go under!!!!!
  • CobaltBlue, on 07/23/2008, -1/+8I don't see how demanding a full range of contraception, as mentioned in the article, has anything to do with preventing AIDS. I'm pretty sure most forms of contraception don't do anything to prevent AIDS.
    • anticom, on 07/23/2008, -4/+1Contraception can be used as population control. If they can convince everyone that they're going to die if they don't use it. Of course, if you look at the population crisis in Europe you will see that using contraception is actually destroying their people.

      Also, I must correct you. Most people make the mistake of confusing HIV with AIDS and use it interchangeably. They are in fact very different. As far as I know, and I'm no scientist so read up, but you can't get AIDS by having sex. It's a complete breakdown of your immune system because you are doing too many drugs and are infested by all these STDs. HIV you can get by having sex, particularly bloody anal sex.
    • quiggibub, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1Shhh! Your logic has no place here!
    • tech42er, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Condoms do...
  • nuno86, on 07/23/2008, -4/+2Fake!
  • Bulbospongiosus, on 07/23/2008, -4/+2Whenever I here "AIDS" now I just think of that Team America song and laugh!
  • jpate86, on 07/23/2008, -0/+12Is this serious? Americans ignoring HIV/AIDS? Just like many other diseases and disorders, America does more research regarding these issues than any other nation. Medical research is just about the most expensive research one can do. America is no longer the economic superpower it used to be. We cannot cure these diseases on our own. It is going to take a worldwide effort of nations willing to take it as seriously as we do. Instead of people simply saying it is our fault, why not blame nations that are not contributing to the solution, yet they will reap the benefits once we do find the cure. People just have to face the fact that there are certain problems in our world that will take a worldwide effort to solve. America can't do it all anymore.
    • howea, on 07/23/2008, -1/+0Most of U.S. research into HIV/AIDS is profit driven. Same with a lot of other medical research. There's the usual "helping humanity" messages but most of the drugs are released at very high cost relying on overseas governments/organizations to subsidize them.
      The reason that there isn't the intense research into HIV/AIDS is there is a growing number of generic drugs, at lower prices, being made available ... it's just not profitable as it used to be.
    • jpate86, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Idiot. I am not talking about the development of drugs the remedy the symptoms of HIV/AIDS. If you re-read my post, I say nothing about AIDS medications in my post. I was discussing the search for a cure. Pharmaceutical companies have no interest in finding a cure. No that would not be profitable for them. They may give research grants so they look like they are helping, but this is done for PR reasons. Next time you reply to a post, make sure that you are actually replying to the topic at hand, instead of making an unrelated point.
  • Mier, on 07/23/2008, -6/+6Hmm..let me take a guess at this problem.

    Maybe if you didn't ***** every skank that came along you wouldn't have to worry about this problem. But that's my prudish puritan side coming out, too bad that bastard is right huh? But you don't have to worry some guys at UT might have found a way to kill the HIV virus and you can go back screwing skanks without fear except for getting one of those hag tag wearing ***** pregnant, ***** there he is again I despise that self-righteous prick especially when he's right.
    • cam0man, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4While I might not be as frank as you, the bottom line is the victims of this disease are spreading it. The cure is prevention and comes in the form of condoms. Stop spreading the disease and once all the victims pass away, it's been eradicated. The bottom line is that A=ACQUIRED, aside from random needle pricks, most victims have put themselves in a position to increase their chances of getting AIDs.

      Stop having unsafe sex and let the disease die off. IMHO, I'd much rather focus time, energy, and money towards illnesses affecting innocent children/victims than something which is an acquired illness.
    • Unexploded, on 07/23/2008, -3/+1You can get AIDS without being promiscuous, all it takes is once and it doesn't necessarily have to have anything to do with sex.

      Ever had surgery? Been to the dentist? Purchased a tattoo?

      You could be the most self-righteous, puritanical, celibate s.o.b on the planet, but say the wrong thing to the wrong person (your sentiment above comes to mind) and maybe some angry, medically-infected, internet-savvy boxer cuts a knuckle while feeding you your teeth and presto: welcome to the club.
    • Mier, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2That ***** you can't help because you're not in control of those situations. But 90% of the time you can say "hey did you sterilize that?" The 10% is for those people that get it from blood transfusion or blood products. It's about choice and that's what will determine who gets infected or not.
      • Unexploded, on 07/24/2008, -0/+0Yes, because naturally they're going to admit they didn't properly autoclave something or decided to cheap out and reuse disposable medical implements.
        http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2008 ...

        Choice plays a factor, for sure, but that's far from the whole story.
      • Mier, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1The whole thing is choice. They chose to go cheap and reuse needles. They will pay the price with their license, fines, and lawsuits. This disease is not airborne so it can come into contact with you only if you choose to operate in an area where there is that possibility.
    • bastardo, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1Many groups are at risk from aids that you'd never expect, like dentists. It's not just crackwhores.
      • Mier, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1A dentist has procedures to minimize the threat to a strict minimum. He's also got or should have the right of refusal. If you refuse to give him a clean sheet showing no HIV or AIDS then he can refuse to operate on your teeth. Just because I work on the highway doesn't mean I have to stand in the middle of the highway.
  • Grumps, on 07/23/2008, -5/+1Because then Americans thinks it will be harder to fool girls into sex.
  • SoopaflySAM, on 07/23/2008, -4/+3i am getting married because of the fear of STD's
    • Egress99, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2i got married for fear of a black planet....*****, wait, i'm getting public enemy and std's confused again.
      • WiretapStudios, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2'black man, white woman, black baby!'

        dugg for my favorite PE album.
      • Egress99, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1i'm glad some people are cultured around these here parts.
    • shiftless, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1But what happens when your spouse cheats on you? Say they do it in the butt and get AIDS.

      Honey, it was an assident!
    • jpwalsh1, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Marriage is an STD in an of itself.
      • shadeOfGrey, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2You sure you're not thinking of pregnancy?
    • PeeEqualsNP, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0So this person you marry will be required to be STD free? Not that that is bad, I just laugh at the people (men and women alike) who enjoy the freedom and pleasure of a many-partnered sex life. Then find a person they would consider marrying who led the exact same lifestyle, but were not as fortunate and acquired an STD. So now the person without the STD questions whether they want to marry the one with the STD even though they led the same lifestyle, but the other was unlucky. Maybe people should start cancer screening their future life partner prospects?
      • noisician, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1cancer isn't infectious

        on the other hand, do you really want to marry (for example) somebody who has terminal cancer and a 3-year life expectancy?
      • MadACR, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0do I get the life insurance?
  • FeloniusMonkey, on 07/23/2008, -0/+5Even though I've never heard of a vampire dying from a disease, they can probably still carry diseases. Always practice safe bloodletting, folks.
  • gridbread, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2What would help considerably is larger distribution of that swab test, the one that doesn't require needles.
    I think we would see more people being tested.
  • alphonseragusa, on 07/23/2008, -14/+11Q: Why Americans Are Ignoring HIV_and AIDS:

    A: Most don't have unprotected gay sex or use dirty needles.
    • rblancarte, on 07/23/2008, -1/+3We're saved!

      Any idea about solving the minority 80% of AIDS transmissions via Heterosexual sex, thus ending the disease?
      • alphonseragusa, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1CONDOMS???
      • quiggibub, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2Let's see...condoms, saying "no" once in a while, not sharing needles when shootinig up. Is that a good start?
    • bacchante, on 07/23/2008, -1/+2Right on brother. That's why we call it the Liberal disease.
      • tomarocco, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1A Liberal would waste a clean needle every time.
    • tech42er, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2Just so you know, the Soviet Union's gonna fall soon. How's living in the 80's?
      • perfectsilence, on 07/23/2008, -1/+2is it politically incorrect to say HIV/AIDS are primarily a disease for gay men? is it not true? I suppose it's possible for hetereosexuals to get it, but I would worry more about herpes than HIV/AIDS.
      • rblancarte, on 07/23/2008, -2/+2Not politically incorrect, just wrong.

        Look at the numbers, they don't lie, 80% of the new cases in the US are due to heterosexual encounters. The belief that this is ONLY a gay & drug user disease is a belief from the past. This is a mainstream disease that we can all be exposed to.

        Do I agree that people are more likely to catch some other disease? Sure, but protection from one usually takes care of them all.
  • use2bacanadian, on 07/23/2008, -3/+8Another ***** headline and unprofessional assessment of a scientific subject by a non scientific pop culture magazine. No country in the world does more research or gives more aid to foreign countries for AIDS than the US. I would like to know how the lady contracted aids in this story. Dos she share any personal responsibility for her own sexual promiscuity? Or is she just gong to blame it on the big bad US for not doing enough for the "world" to spend the billions of dollars for her benefit?
    • quiggibub, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3Come on now. You know people can't take responsibility for their actions. It would make them less of a victim.
  • 0biKwiet, on 07/23/2008, -2/+4Why? Probably because if you don't put your self in a potion to increase the likely hood of getting it, it is an insignificant risk compared to many other hazards.

    Africa had a large enough number of it's population infected that it's another story, but here, the danger in insignificant.
  • Pic0, on 07/23/2008, -4/+2I think I agree with the president's policy on AIDs.
  • krnldmp, on 07/23/2008, -2/+1Because most of them don't have it and know how to keep it that way.
  • Millsee, on 07/23/2008, -1/+2I guess no one gives a f--k any more...
  • b687fcf4, on 07/23/2008, -1/+10"The Indonesian woman was barely able to see over the podium at a recent conference..."

    No, she was easily able to see over the podium--she was standing on it. It was the lecturn that was giving her trouble.
  • socketman, on 07/23/2008, -9/+4Cause if you're gay, and you get it, well that's what you get for playing with fire. Same thing if you're sleeping with prostitutes or slutty girls.
    • Unexploded, on 07/24/2008, -0/+0Totally. Same goes for if you're catholic, or black, then you're just asking for it.
      Did you know that catholic priests die of AIDS at four times the rate of rest of the populace?
      http://tinyurl.com/6bj5fz

  • Hetman, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3What I find disturbing is the disaporinaite amount of female african americans who have HIV/AIDS. That seems to get ignored just as much as AIDS in general does. Not that there is much you can do about HIV. People know about it and they know how to prevent it.
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 88 of 88 discussions
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.