Posted on 09/21/2006 9:49:28 AM PDT by jmc1969
My reaction as well. I think that the estimated 250,000 may think about getting a test, but haven't. I had blood transfusion or two back in the early '80s. I went about 10 years ago to a local clinic in Chicago and got tested for a very low fee. I figured it was an incredible long-shot, but that a simple test would allow me to not have to worry about it.
Results came back fine in a couple of days, so no worries since.
The only problem with tattoos is that most of those subject to contracting AIDS don't have eyes in the back of their heads....too many times they are infected with the disease and never see it, uh, coming.
And after your 'tests' you get a nice tattoo on your arm of your ID number.
I guess you would then advocate 100% virginity testing? ;-)
Where did her husband get it? Gay sex or intravenous drug use or adultery with a intravenous drug user? It isn't an airborne infection. Her husband had to perform a high risk act to acquire it. It is exceptionally unlikely for a monogamous, faithful heterosexual couple who avoid IV drugs to contract HIV.
Luckily, that kit doesn't have to be sold in stores.(g)
In most politicians, they aren't.
Who cares? She was an innocent victim. Not everyone who has bad stuff happen to them "had it coming" as a result of their own "reckless" behavior. A lot of conservatives can't grasp that idea, which frankly turns me off.
Ummm... you said in one breath that there was a "foolproof vaccine...a drug free life and a monogamous marriage" and in another told a story about a "straight Christian woman" who acquired HIV from her husband and died. So, clearly being monogamous and drug-free aren't "foolproof" either.
"That sort of thing just shouldn't happen."
Only in a "just world." But real life isn't just. It just is.
I agree that she was an innocent victim. The party that deserves the criticism is her husband. He engaged in reckless behavior and did care a whit about infecting his wife.
As you correctly observed, who cares. She's dead. He will die from it eventually as well. It's a shame that she took the hit for his behavior.
"No, but there's a foolproof vaccine...a drug free life and a monogamous marriage."
With YOU all the way!
"FWIW, I don't agree with "routine" AIDS tests for people (primarily because it's a waste of money for 99.9% of the population), but I DO believe that blood testing should be brought back for marriage licenses, and that an AIDS test should be a part of it. I was blessed to know a straight Christian woman who became infected by HIV after getting married to her husband. They never discussed how he got the disease, but he apparently had it before they were married (undiagnosed). He committed suicide shortly after learning the truth (he became extremely depressed when he realized that he'd essentially killed his wife), but she hung on for about 10 years before finally passing away a few years back."
They DO test for AIDS in New Jersey for a marriage license as well as another STD ... think it's gonorrhea.
"That sort of thing just shouldn't happen."
That is a tragic story. Christians know that all wrongs will be righted ... when we're up there ... .
What an absolute waste of health care dollars.
The whole goal is to act as if there is an equal risk of catching it when in fact your chances of winning the lottery are higher if you don't engage in risky behavior.
They are trying to avoid the stigma of testing high risk groups..
Assume $100 per test for 50 years.. $5000 in a life time x 270 million people Works out to be about 1.3trillion in wasted , useless testing.
It makes about as much sense as testing all women for prostate cancer.
Heterosexual black women that have sex with ex-cons is the largest growing group.
Wouldn't branding cauterise the mark without exposing another person (the tattoo artist) to needles and bodily fluids?
All of this is useless unless they were willing to quarantine the infected persons. We know that is never gonna happen. They will not punish the people who willingly and knowingly spread this disease, so it would be nothing but a waste of more taxpayer money as much as all the other AIDS awareness programs.
I can remember in high school, in the 80's, hearing about all the projections of how many people would be infected by the year 2000. However it still overwhelmingly effects the homosexual community more than any other. It's high-risk behavior and not ignorance that has caused it to spread.
Now some folks in the federal government want to govern those of us who already self-govern so as not to single out the ones who are responsible for all this mess.
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