Time to take AIDS seriously

Opinion

[5 Comment(s)]

World AIDS day is coming up December 1. As a warm up to this awareness day, many colleges are holding an AIDS week the last week of November. Although LSU is not officially doing anything similar, we should still take that time to be aware of and help others be aware of the serious danger that AIDS presents. 

A few years ago in 2004 it was reported by the CDC that Baton Rouge was tied with Miami for 2nd in the nation with new AIDS cases annually. That number hasn’t changed much in the last four years. This city seems to be lacking in a general understanding of HIV/AIDS and how to prevent it, even though it is so easy.  

Knowledge and prevention will start with us, the younger generation. Face the facts; this is a serious and deadly disease. There is no cure for it and no one knows how long it will be until one will be found or if one ever will. The best way to beat this disease now is for people to be aware of the risks and to know how to prevent the disease from spreading. 

I could sit here and ramble on a list of statistics about which race, gender, or sexual orientation is the most at risk for AIDS, but I don’t think that matters. Anyone can contract HIV regardless of any other factor.  

Obviously the most likely way to get HIV is through sexual contact. IV drug use is the next likely method, followed by tainted blood transfusions. To dispel a couple of myths, HIV cannot be contracted through sharing a drink with an HIV + person or from being sneezed on or sweated on by an HIV + person. There isn’t a big enough viral load in saliva or sweat to spread the virus. Also, the virus has to enter the blood stream; it can’t get through the unbroken skin. There has to be an open sore or cut for HIV containing fluid to get in to. These kind of open sores or cuts happen pretty frequently with sexual activity, and semen and vaginal secretions contain some of the highest levels of HIV.  

The best way to avoid HIV is to abstain from sex, but c’mon. Telling people not to have sex is like telling the clouds not to rain. It’s natural and it will happen. There is a clear and simple way to prevent the transmission, and it’s the same thing that we’ve been told since we discovered how much fun the opposite sex can be: wear a condom. When used properly, condoms are 99.99% effective at preventing the transmission of HIV. That is not a gussied up or exaggerated statistic: HIV can’t penetrate latex. So when you have sex, please use a condom. It’s simple, it’s cheap, it’s effective, and it’s just plain smart.  

It also never hurts to communicate. Talk with your partners and find out if either one of you has even the slightest suspicions of any of your previous partners. An HIV test is not expensive, is available in almost any healthcare clinic and is covered by most healthcare plans if you have insurance. You can still be HIV + without showing any signs or symptoms since the virus is only getting cranked up in your body early in the infection. So, if you think there is any chance you might have contracted HIV, please get tested or, at the very least, use a condom. 

Now some of you might have heard this all before, but it can never be said enough. There might be no cure for AIDS right now, but that does not mean there is nothing that can be done. As I said, if any sort of change is going to come to this issue, it is going to come from us: the young generation. We’re the ones who are currently spreading the disease more than anyone else in this country, so it’s up to us to find the solution.

Originally Published: Issue 712 - November 12, 2008

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