Research Continues

When ever I hear the acronym HIV, a surge of knowledge flows through my head. It surprises me when I stumble upon a conversation about the disease. Fortunately I have yet to have any experiences (that I know off) where I personally come into contact with an HIV disease. I'm curious to see how I will actually react to the situation knowing what I currently know about the virus. I'm not saying that I'm going out to look for it, but it would be interesting to converse with someone with the virus. I think that such a conversation would be a fruitful learning experience.

This week hasn't been very eventful when it comes to the HIV learning experience, although my other classes have sure been keeping me busy. I'm new to the whole 500 kids in a class idea, and I'm finding it hard to get the useful one on one teacher-student help. I guess this is something I'll just have to get use too, just like how a person with HIV must learn to manage the life changes that result from having the virus. I am unable to get the images of those three movies I watched out of my head. Some of the scenes have completely changed the way I see HIV.

The question of the week this week was very strait forward in my eyes. At first the answer seemed apparent, but after thinking a bit longer about the situation I realized that the decision I made would be a rather difficult one to follow through with. I decided that I would tell the other parent about my child's condition due to moral reasons. However after thinking about the scenario and the facts, it makes me think that there would be no harm in not telling the family about my child's HIV condition. No harm no foul right? After all the bite didn't break the skin of the child, and it is unlikely to transmit HIV through untainted saliva. These thoughts did run through my mind, but were overcome by ideals of right and wrong. If I were the parent of the bitten child, I would want to know. This is why I know I would tell them everything about the situation.

Did you know...

Research toward finding a cure for HIV continues. Another experimental study is available for testing and needs volunteers to continue its research. Newly diagnosed people 18 years or older are asked to participate in a study that tests an investigational drug in the class HIV integrase inhibitors. The drug is called Efavirenz, and will be combined with other drugs (called NRTI, nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors) to test the effectiveness of the combination. The study is going to last about 2 years at no cost to the volunteers. (HIV)

Web: HIV. (NA) Retrieved October 28, 2009, from http://www.spring1study.com/howdoiqualify.html

Wow, Oprah talks about HIV.

This week was rather interesting, especially due to the fact HIV managed to find make its way into my day even when I wasn't looking for it. As many others have also noticed, Oprah did a show on the HIV topic. Now I wasn't watching Oprah, however my mother was, and knowing that I was enrolled in this course she quickly called me out to come and watch. Although I was reluctant to come out and watch the show, I was quickly intrigued in after hearing about the story that transpired.

This was a shocking story that had myself and my mother completely stunned. Hearing that a single man transmitted HIV to several different women over a rather short period of time. The scary thing about this is that none of these women had any knowledge that their current lover was HIV positive. Of course most of them decided not to use any kind of protection during intercourse, in an effort to keep the romance alive. For me, the choice to have sex without a condom is a no brainer, especially when the person your with is someone you just recently met.

One thing that kind of threw me off is when a woman in the crowd stood up and told us that it is harder for a man to get HIV than a woman. I thought the chance was about the same for both of the individuals. I suppose that has to do with the physiological differences between men and women, and the chance of virus making it to the specific areas. All I can do hope that when the moment presents itself, I make the right decision when it comes to using protection or not.

Now I wasn't there at the beginning of the show, so I'm not sure if the man knew he was HIV positive or not. However if he did know he was HIV positive, one thing that I can't get through my mind, is how a that man would knowingly have unprotected sex with someone even if he had the HIV disease. The feeling of playing a game of risk with someone else's life is not something I could morally do, which makes sad to think that this man has absolutely no respect for others. I feel that people like this, that play games with the lives of others, need to be punished accordingly.

Did You Know...

"There is a rising concern about the effects of HIV/AIDS among adolescents and young adults between the age of 13 and 24 in the United States." (HIV) An estimated 10,000 young people have died due to the vulnerability caused by AIDS. The proportion of young people with AIDS has gone up almost 4% in a 5 year span. This indicates that HIV is spreading throughout the population. Something that all young adults need to be aware of, and stay protected from. (HIV)

Web: HIV/AIDS. (2009) Retrieved October 21, 2009, from http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/HIVAIDS/Understanding/Population+Specific+Information/hivadolescent.htm

Very Dull Week

This past week has been rather unfruitful, and at times seemed to be barely moving. Having to deal with the burdens of my other three classes, work, and friend drama, I haven't spent much time the past couple days worried about this class. I'm looking forward to next week for that week off of writing papers, could use the break. Still working on getting this week's assignment done, module three - testing and counseling. I'm really glad to have got that nerve racking experience out of the way. Getting tested for life changing diseases is exactly my strong suit. Although now after getting my results back, and confirming that I am negative, I wish to be tested for more. I think it would be nice to get myself fully tested in order to acknowledge and understand myself completely. Unfortunately the test I took to look for HIV, could not be used to test for other diseases. That would have saved me some time and money.

Well, for the next few days I be working on module three, and getting responses out to the other bloggers. Other than that I hope to continue to grow when it comes to my understanding of the HIV disease. I know the movies really made a tremendous contribution to my overall knowledge on the subject. I just hope that there are more learning materials to come that are just as enlightening as the movies.

Did You Know...

This week on did you know, How many contractions occur in college? What about HIV in Germany?

According to the CDC, 50% of all new HIV contractions occur among people under 25 years old. Considering that college students usually fit in that age bracket, this tells me that college students appear to be most at risk. One major problem that aids the spread of HIV is the fact that most sexually active students report not using a condom. Which is unfortunate because a condom can reduce the chance of contracting a STD by 70 - 100%. (Access)

As for the laws associated with Germany's HIV confidentiality, they closely resemble that of the U.S. when it comes to laws. The status of your condition is kept confidential unless you do something that would provide reasonable cause to make it otherwise known to the public. One german law states that if any person maltreats or harms the health of another, they can be convicted, and sentenced to up to 5 years in prison, or pay substantial fine. (Germany) If you are a threat to the well being of another person, I feel it is the job of the government to take care of the issue.

Access My Library. (2009) Retrieved October 14, 2009, from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-201608565/hiv-risk-behavior-among.html

Germany. (n.a.) Retrieved October 14, 2009, from http://www.gnpplus.net/criminalisation/germany.shtml

It's movie time!

This week the HIV course has been all about watching movies, and best believe that watching movies is one of my favorite things to do. I work at a movie theater, so this assignment was right up my alley. To my surprise, I didn't enjoy these documentaries as much as I would normally. It wasn't that the films were bad, it was the fact that they were so realistic and strait forward. These films took my understanding of HIV to the next level. The documentaries changed my perspective toward HIV once again, having an idea of what a person and their family has to go through while affected by HIV made it that much more real for me.

Whether its a gay, strait, male, female, young or old, the virus will affect everyone just the same. The films reviled some of the most intricate details of people's life under the effect of HIV. Starting from when they just contracted the disease, up until point of death. This really struck me, seeing the aftermath of such a disease is mind blowing. Seeing first hand how fragile the human body can be, really makes you self conscious about life. The documentaries almost stuck fear into my heart as I saw even the most innocent youngsters die to this merciless virus. I'll be writing more about my reaction to the films after I complete the movie assignment. For now, what I have seen have altered my opinion on the subject matter forever. HIV affects not only you, but all those whom you have influenced.

On a lighter note, my HIV test came back on monday, and it was negative! Just being in that office gives your nervous system a run for your money. Although, it was funny, when they gave me the results back I noticed that they had misprinted my age and gender. This error ended my excitement quickly, and I asked the councilor to make sure these results were mine. After confirming that they were, I was happy to bid that place a final adieu.

Did You Know Time!

Since all my previous segments of Did You Know, are basically covered by module 2, I've decided that I'll be changing my Did You Know segment to exploring HIV in college students.

Now that we are all on the same page; Did You Know... that according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) 1 in 500 students are infected with HIV. (College) That statistic blows my mind, especially when it comes to the fact that infected people may not know that they are HIV positive until many years down the road. That means that this virus is capable and has the potential of spreading so easily. Especially among the college environment, where young college students are so likely to try new things on a daily basis. Lets say that UCF has about 50,000 students, that would mean that its estimated that 100 students would be infected with HIV. If you ask me that number is much too high, something more needs to be done, and not only by the school system, but by the students themselves. (College)

Web: College and University Blog. (2009) Retrieved October 7, 2009, from http://www.stateuniversity.com/blog/permalink/College-Students-and-HIV-AIDS.html