Bittersweetness

I cannot believe it is the end of the semester! This course flew by so fast. On one hand, I am so happy that this semester is over but on the other hand I walk away from this course with somewhat of a heavy heart. I viewed this class as a stepping stone that would bring me closer to my goal of graduating,Teach and Linda had other plans for me, thanfully.

I became so emotionally involved in this class that it was overwhelming at times. When I was watching the movies for our assignment, I was crying through them. I somewhat felt the devastating affects of HIV and AIDS and that was shocking to me. I never thought I would actually feel something emotionally when I was taking this class. I am so glad that I took this course because this is one that will be ingrained in my brain and in my heart years after I have graduated and I cannot say that about most of the classes I have taken. Witnessing first hand the effects of the disease was such a turning point for me.

I could never express fully how this class touched me and how thankful I am for this course. Many colleges do not have anything like this and it is sad. I feel like everyone should be educated in a way that this course offers. It is not just the science of the disease, the statistics and the emotional impact need to be brought to light and this class did that for me more than I could have imagined. Throughout this course I found myself talking to anyone who would listen about the statistics and facts I had learned. I found myself talking to my parents about how more awareness should be fostered with teenagers and middle school students. Whenever I told people I was taking this class, they were shocked that there was actually such a course offered. I wish other colleges had the opportunity that us as UCF students had when taking this class.

Did You Know?
A St.Louis inmate who is HIV positive was denied HIV medication for 17 days. This individual had been treated by his doctor before incarceration. Even though his doctor faxed over his medication and dosage information, the St.Louis inmate was still deprived.

Reference:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_44e09b6a-b7e0-5db2-99e9-b8a882f36059.html

H.I.V Discrimination

In Beijing, a 22 year old man was unable to get a teaching job after he passed all of the necessary tests because he has HIV. He took the local education bureau to court where he lost his case. There is a 4 year old law in China that states "no institution or individual shall discriminate against people living with H.I.V., AIDS patients and their relatives” (Jacobs, 2010). This law was passed in order to protect individuals with HIV from discrimination against them by potential or current employers. Even with this law in order, the judge sided with the education bureau's choice. In China, medicine for HIV and AIDS is accessible but individuals with the disease are shunned and often barred from jobs in universitites, state jobs and private corporations (Jacobs, 2010). It had been reported that the fear of being ostracized kept roughly 740,000 HIV individuals from seeking treatment (Jacobs, 2010). Even with this close minded thinking, apparetnly the Chinese government lifted a ban last year that prevented HIV infected foreigners from entering China (Jacobs, 2010).

This is a horrbile and saddening situation. It is so unethical to keep someone from having a job just because they have HIV. I do not understand how the judge could side with the education bureau when they have a specific law in place against discrimination of people with HIV! Does the law mean nothing at all? What's even more sad is that this man is so youg, he is only 22 and he has no job prospects to pay for his medecine. How can China lift a ban letting foreigners with HIV into their country, but not give their own citizens jobs? I also am shocked at how many people did not receive treatment out of fear. These people would rather let their disease go untreated than face the harsh judgement and stigma that come along with being HIV positive. That is truely sad.

Did You Know?
In Harare, Zimbabwe government officials are finally buckling under pressure to give inmates a sound healthcare delivery system. Program director Dr.Charles Sunday said, "We are currently working towards formulating an HIV and TB policy framework specifically for prisons. We have already set a team of health experts going around prisons to come up with a situational report" (Moyo, 2010). These reports will be used when coming up with a HIV/TB policy (Moyo, 2010). Dr.Sunday also said that due to HIV related illnesses, the mortality rate in prisons are very high (Moyo, 2010).

Reference:

Jacobs, A. (2010, November 12). Chinese law against hiv discrimination fails in court. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/world/asia/13china.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Moyo, Y. (2010, November 14). Hiv/tb policy for inmates. Retrieved from http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35534:hivtb-policy-for-inmates&catid=52&Itemid=32

Fighting HIV through text messages?

I read something today about efforts in Kenya to help those with HIV improve their health. A study done by the University of British Columbia got 538 HIV positive patients between 2007 and 2009 to be in their study (Graber, 2010). Half of the patients would receive weekly text messages and were asked to respond within 48 hours (Graber, 2010). These text messages had nothing to do with reminding them to take their medicine. These messages would simply ask "How are you?". Recipients would respond back that they are doing well or that they are having problems. If there was a problem or no response then a clinician would follow up with the patient. "The ones who received the texts were 12% more likely than the non-recipients to have undetectable levels of the virus a year after being infected" (Graber, 2010). The participants who were text ed said that they felt like someone cared about them which helped them to take better care of themselves. I love that Kenya is using a technology that is so prevalent in today's society. Although I don't know how prevalent cell phones are in Kenya, they are more than a common part of Americans lives. If it worked in Kenya it may be able to work in the U.S. Everyone in the U.S. pretty much has a cell phone and texts, it offers the perfect opportunity to reach out to those with HIV and help them take better care of themselves.

On a side note, since I have been keeping up with it, Vivid Entertainment (a porn production company) will resume filming this week. Vivid, as well as some other production companies stopped filming after an adult star tested positive for HIV. Steve Hirsch the Vivid co-founder stated, "We will, of course, continue to require recent test results for all performers in our movies and will continue to take all necessary precautions to assure their health and safety" (SFVBJ, 2010).

Did You Know?
"Forty-eight states, including the District of Columbia, do not offer pregnant women screening for HIV/AIDS" (Elan, 2010).

References:
Graber, C. (2010, November 10). Text message outreach improves HIV patients outcomes. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=text-message-outreach-improves-hiv-10-11-10


SFVBJ.(2010, November 8). Cameras roll again for vivid films. Retrieved from http://www.sfvbj.com/news/2010/nov/08/cameras-roll-again-vivid-films/

Elan, S. (2010). Shackling pregnant women spurs prison reform push. Retrieved from http://www.womensradio.com/articles/Shackling-Pregnant-Women-Spurs-Prison-Reform-Push/7166.html

Zambia's Fighting Effort

I was pretty suprised to find an article about Zambia putting up an effort to fight HIV. I was suprised because of the way they are going about it. Zambia has come up with a 10 year program to fight HIV through male circumcision (VOA News, 2010). Many people there are opposed to this program because they say there is not enough evidence to support that circumcision make a male more suceptible to HIV (VOA News, 2010). Religious groups are unhappy about the program as well. "But scientists around the globe and leading groups fighting the disease say studies show that circumcised men are less likely to become infected. They say it’s likely that cells in a man’s foreskin are vulnerable to the virus and that susceptibility is reduced, but not eliminated, when the foreskin is removed" (VOA News, 2010). Personally I have never heard of this correlation but it is interesting to hear. It is also very uplifting to see Zambia making a conscious effort to fight HIV.

Reference:
VOA News, . (2010, November 3). Zamibia to fight aids by increasing male circumcision. Retrieved from http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/southern/zambia-AIDS-prevention-circumcision-3Nov10-e2a-106633344.html

Tainted Blood

I found this article with todays date on it (October 25, 2010) but the actual incident happened in 2008 so I'm not sure if this case was just discovered now or it is just now being made public. I am a little confused about that but either way it is horrific. Back in 2008, HIV positive blood was given to a patient who had just received a kidney transplant (Enriquez, 2010). The blood was donated from someone in Missouri and given to the patient in Colorado (Enriquez, 2010). According to the CDC, this was the first case in 8 years of HIV being transmitted through a blood transfusion (Enriquez, 2010). The scariest part of this for me is that the blood from the donor tested negative. This is because the donor was "tested during a 9 day eclipse period" (Enriquez, 2010). I do not know what this "eclipse period" means but apparently later on the HIV was seen in the plasma of the blood. The CDC said that the donor didn't reveal any high risk sexual practices and that it may have been undetectable anyways because the virus was at an early stage (Enriquez, 2010). The blood from this donor was also given to a heart patient in Arkansas who died 2 days after the blood transfusion (Enriquez, 2010). It could not be determined if this heart patient contracted the HIV.

I am shocked that this happened. Like I said before, it is so scary that the blood was tested and yet showed up negative for HIV. I'm just wondering how this can be avoided in the future. Did this happen because of negligence or was it simply unavoidable? It is not like the blood wasn't tested, it seems every precaution was taken, I am just dumbfounded. I can't even imagine what the kidney patient is going through. They had to wait to receive a kidney to live and now they have been infected with HIV. If I were in their situation I would want to sue but like I said, on what grounds did this happen? Hopefully this sort of thing doesn't happen again, the CDC did say it was the first time in 8 years and that HIV infection through blood transfusion is rare but it is just petrifying to hear.

Did you know?
HIV positive incarcerated woman have "high rates of cervical cytological abnormalities, sexually transmitted diseases, and certain gynecological infections" (Onorato, 2001). Vagnial infections are "slightly more common anibg HIV infected incarcerated women than non-infected incarcerated women" (Onorato, 2001).

References:

Enriquez, J. (2010, October 25). HIV-tainted blood given to kidney donation patient. Retrieved from http://seerpress.com/hiv-tainted-blood-given-to-kidney-donation-patient/11025/


Onorato, M. (2001, May). Hiv infection among incarcerated women. Retrieved from http://www.thebody.com/content/whatis/art12954.html

Following Up

Since I found an article about it I decided to sort of do a follow up to my last blog. Last week I wrote about how 2 major adult video production comapnies had shut down because an adult film star tested positive for HIV. Luckily so far it seems that "patient zero" (the HIV positve adult film star) has not infected anyone (Tate, 2010). Only 1 round of tests have been conducted so far and so far, everyone that has come into contact with patient zero has tested negative. (Tate, 2010). I am so thankful and shocked that no one has been infected. After reading about how in the adult industry there is a lack of condom use on set I thought for sure another person would have been infected. There is so major luck on the side of these adult film stars. Hopefully this will teach everyone in the industry a lesson and condom use will become more common. A persons life is more important than selling an adult video so hopefully everyone gets over their lack of condom use and starts to practice safe sex.

Did You Know?
Cook county prisons in Chicago have received a $7 million grant to study HIV in inmates (AP, 2010). The National Institutes of Health have given the University of Illinois at Chicago this grant in order for them to find better ways to treat and test for HIV (AP, 2010). The researchers will come up with a system to test every inamte as they enter prison for HIV unless they opt out of taking the test (AP, 2010). The researchers aim is to reduce HIV transmission and increase detection of HIV (AP, 2010).
References:

Tate, R. (2010, October 21). Hiv positive porn star miraculously didn't infect anyone else. Retrieved from http://gawker.com/5669223/hiv-positive-porn-star-miraculously-didnt-infect-anyone-else

Associated Press . (2010, October 21). Uic gets $7million grant to study hiv in inmates. Retrieved from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-uic-hivgrant,0,4794583.story

XXX = HIV?

I came cross an article today that was sort of unexpected. News broke today of 2 major porn production companies in California shutting down production as a result of a porn star testing positive for HIV. I was shocked to read this because I always thought that there were strict rules about testing in this industry. In a place were individuals frequently have multiple sexual partners I just thought that testing would be strictly enforced and this issue could be avoided.

Wicked Pictures and Vivid Entertainment have shut down production and are desperately trying to find everyone this HIV positive individual has come into contact with so they can do testing (Shahid, 2010). The individual, who's identity and gender are being kept under wraps, resides in California (Shahid, 2010). Apparently, this isn't the first time an HIV positive porn star has caused the shut down of production companies (you would have thought the industry learned from their mistakes the first time!). Last year a woman tested HIV positive directly after filming and in 2004 14 people were said to be infected by an HIV outbreak that briefly shut down production studios in California (Shahid, 2010). Darren James, the individual responsible for the HIV outbreak in 2004 blamed the industry for "failing to protect actors from being infected" (Shahid, 2010).

"Under law, porn actors are required to test negative for HIV and any other sexually transmitted diseases within 30 day of filming" (Shahid, 2010). With this said I came across another interesting point, "Officials in L.A. have blasted the adult film industry for the lack of condom use on porn sets" (Shahid, 2010). This lifestyle just seem SO high risk to me. After learning that HIV sometimes will not show up for 6 months, this fact to me almost nulls the law of being negative for HIV within 30 days of filming, you could test negative but still be positive as we've all learned from doing module assignments. Perhaps in this industry no matter how careful, it is always going to be high risk. I just hope that this isn't another outbreak and that no one else is infected but honestly after reading about the lack of condom use on porn sets, my hopes are low.

"Down Low"
Last week Oprah did a show about men who were "down low''. It is funny that Teach brought this up becasue my mother was actually watching this episode and I caught bits and pieces of it. After doing a little research, I found out that "down low" is "slang for bisexual men who don't identify as gay and conceal that part of their lives- and the supposed link to HIV rates among black women" (Wright, 2010). Oprah interviewd a woman who sued her "down low" ex-husband for giving her HIV.

Did You Know?
A study of a womens prison in New South Wales, Australia interviewed 199 inmates. 36% of the inmates reported having sex with another inmate, most of which was oral sex, and only 4% reported the use of a dental dam (CDC, 2010). This is horrible! I understand protection may be hard to come by in prison but is just seems like these women do not even care that they are putting themselves at risk.

Sources:

Shahid, A. (2010, October 13). Porn star tests positive for hiv, wicked pictures and vivid entertainment studios postpone filming. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/10/13/2010-10-13_porn_star_tests_positive_for_hiv_wicked_pictures_and_vivid_entertainment_studios.html?r=news/national.

Wright, K. (2010, October 11). More on oprah and the truth about \"down low\" black men. Retrieved from http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/10/more_on_oprah_and_the_truth_about_the_down_low.html.

CDC.(2010, August 31). Sexual practices and dental use among women prisoners. Retrieved from http://www.thebody.com/content/whatis/art58266.html.