Sweat drips from your forehead, your knees tremble, your heart skips a beat, the scent of sickness fills the air, your throat burns from the nauseous feeling deep in your stomach, the room is spinning, your thoughts race to your potential future of hospital beds and tears, but then your mind returns to the past and you realize one simple mistake you made cost you your future. The door creaks as the doctor steps into the room, the first word he says is “Sorry” and your heart hits the floor because you know the next words out of his mouth are “You have tested positive for HIV.”I know that no one out there wants to heard those words , but my question to you is do you truly understand what HIV/AIDS is and how to prevent it? Another question is how do you treat people who do have AIDS and do you believe some of the myths about AIDS?
HIV is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that leads to AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. I know what you are thinking right now; I do not want to read a blog full of medical jargon that makes no sense to me. So I will make it simple. There are two types of HIV, HIV-1 and HIV-2, HIV-2 is mainly in Africa, but HIV-1 is the one you should be concerned with because it causes thousands of deaths a year in the United States. When you have contacted the virus you may have no immediate symptoms, but even though you feel healthy your immune system says different. HIV kills cells called T- cells that are crucial for fighting diseases. As time goes on your immune system has difficultly fighting off simple contagions and a simple flu virus can be deadly. There is currently no cure for AIDS, but there is medication to help prolong life, although even with medication the end result is an early death. How HIV is transmitted is what you should really pay attention to because there have been many incorrect ways of transmission spread in society. The top four ways it is spread is by unprotected sex with a person who has HIV, having multiple sex partners, sharing needles or syringes for drug use, and being born to an infected mother. Some of the ways that it is not spread or the chance is near to none include: receiving blood transfusions because blood is always cleaned and tested, contact between broken skin and fluids from a person with HIV, kissing a person with HIV, air or water, saliva, sweat , or tears, insects, and casual contact. Oh and the one that really makes me laugh is; no you cannot contract HIV from a toilet seat. Also discrimination that only homosexuals have AIDS is completely untrue because heterosexuals have the same risk.
Now that you know how it is transmitted; you need to know three important things. GET TESTED, USE PROTECTION, and DO NOT DO DRUGS. You would think these things are very simple to handle and yet we are still spreading HIV. First and foremost, get tested, right now you are a simple needle pinch away from knowing your status. Everyone should be tested before having any kind of relation with another person. It is a confidential test that you can ask your doctor for. Once you know your results ask your partner to do the same. Secondly, you should always use protection whether you are in a homosexual or heterosexual relationship, and by protection I mean latex condoms. And we all know that we should not do drugs right? YES because they ruin your life and if you share needles you are potentially adding HIV to your blood stream.
You now know what HIV is, how you can get it, and how to prevent it so now I want you to think of a time when either you or your friends used a person with AIDS as the punch line of a joke. You should know that no one would deliberately ask to get HIV, so do you think that it is funny to have a future that includes pain, suffering, and ultimately having your life cut short? They did not ask for it and neither did the person that gave it to them, yes, their life styles may put them at risk, but every human makes mistakes and they pay for them with their life. Also being a homosexual does not mean you have AIDS stamped on the bottom of your foot, people are just more comfortable pointing the finger at them than saying “I got HIV from my girlfriend.” So I am asking you to stand up and take control of your future and realize what you say in other people’s expense is called Hate. “He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” – Harold Wilson 
The beginning of the post was fantastic. It really portrayed the nerves of someone in that position. I’ve heard a lot about HIV but never really knew that it could be a flu that killed them. The part on transmission was also very informative. I’d have to admit that I really did believe a few of the ways of transmission that you claimed had little to no chance were real. Something interesting was from that picture that claimed that fourteen thousand people contract HIV everyday. I never would have suspected it to be that high. In general this post really made me more aware how prevalent HIV is.
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