Closing TIme..

I am not going to say that this will be my last blog, but this will be my last entry for the course. I had never experience blogging weekly, or blogging in general until this course, but it has been a very unique one. It game me a sense of power, as I could say practically anything that was on my mind; my thoughts uncensored. Although this semester is coming to an abrupt close, I will soon not forget the experiences I have had the opportunity to be a part of. Putting cotton balls in my mouth and trying to eat crackers, swallowing handfuls of M&M's, and staying up late to watch videos in the library are just of few off the top of my head. I had no idea the course was this intensive and I surely had no knowledge that I would be blogging to the world!

As I wrote this weeks QOTW, it reminded my about the AIDS clock we had to look up at the beginning of the semester. When I compared my initial count with a recent one I was absolutely shocked! The count had gone up by over 350,000 people! It has only been a few months and that is a massive number. It saddens me even more to see the number climb as I am still viewing the page. It really puts into perspective how fast this disease is spreading, and the amount of people already infected. Hopefully we can see that number decline in the coming years.

Until next time...(if there is a next time!)

I have grown so much in this class!

This course has been very interesting over the past few months, and I can honestly say that I can take something away when it ends.  Tonight I was able to attend the men's infected panel, and was able to hear the real life accounts from four men who are actually living with the disease.  It is really different reading about stories and then actually hearing people telling their story face to face.  It seems to have more of an effect on me.  I have never met anyone who was HIV positive (that I knew of) and was very curious to hear what they would have to say.  I didn't really know what I was going to ask, if anything, when I entered.  So I decided to sit back and listen to what they had to say to other's questions.  All of them had been living with the disease for a number of years, which made me very impressed with the medical advances in the HIV/AIDS field over the past decades.  They said that when they were initially diagnosed, their doctors basically gave them a death sentence because back in the 80's and early 90's it was a "terminal" disease.  Not much was know about the disease then, and even less was known about the treatment.  They are not on the cocktail of different medications, and seem to be living life to the fullest.  I was not able to join them at Logan's after the panel, I am sure that would have been a fun experience.

As the year comes to the close, I am sure I will not forget the lessons learned in this course.  The thrush simulation, blogging weakly, and swallowing M&M's whole are just a few of the experiences that stick out in my mind.  I took this course initially because I thought it might be one of my easier options.  I was wrong about the workload, but it ended being in my benefit.  It change my outlook completely on the disease.  I made me question some of my sex practices and put me in the shoes of and HIV infected individual in many of the assignments.  This course has really touched me, and I am thankful I had the opportunity. 

DID YOU KNOW>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

After attending the panel tonight, I heard someone ask a question about a HIV vaccine developed in Thailand.  I had heard nothing about it before tonight, so I decided to research the topic.  An experimental vaccine has been developed and tested in Thailand and had been given to 16,000 individuals.  It was a combination of two older vaccines that by themselves could not cut the rate of infection.  They concluded in the study that the people who were given the vaccine and not the placebo cut their chances of infection by 31.2%.  Honestly, I don't think these figures can be made into an accurate conclusion about the vaccine.  How do they know how much unprotected sex those people were having, in either group?   There are just too many variables involved to make any conclusive assumptions in my opinion.

Source:  HIV Vaccine 'Reduces Infection'. (2009).  Retrieved November 18, 2009 from BBC.com.  Taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8272113.stm.

HIV Reflection

These past few weeks have been pretty wild.  From T-Pain coming to bomb threats in the parking garage, its been crazy!  I wasn't able to go to the concert, but my friends and I went out to the bar after that night and we saw him out on the town!  I have to admit that it was pretty cool!  I haven't been out for a while, so being in an environment with so many drunk individuals got me thinking about some of the dumb decision college kids can make.  We preach safe sex practices in school and college but who knows how many people actually are able to make the right decision while intoxicated.  I know I have heard some horror stories from my friends after a night out with the guys.  Not a safe way to keep from getting any STD's or HIV at all. 

This weeks QOTW I thought was a very interesting one.  It dealt with "tracking" those with HIV/AIDS and even converting to a system where those infected will be exiled from the rest of society!  I could not disagree with these ideas more.  When first reading the topic, I immediately thought of if I was one of those people.  Even though I feel that I would be responsible in keeping my disease in check it would not matter to the government.  To them I would be just another person at risk of infecting the population.  Swept out of my home to live with others infected, my life would be so different.  How could this system actually work?  We build our own separate community in isolation?  I just don't see how taking people away from their families would not stir up controversy in the world.  It scares me to think that any government would resort to this.  I'm sure we can think of some better alternatives than that!

SOCCER SEASON IS ALMOST OVER!!

Finally the season is coming to a close. Our last game is at home this Saturday against ranked Tulsa, the we are done. We didn't do well enough to make it to the Conference USA tournament this year, but it's ok, we are a very young team. Hopefully next season will be better! Just thought I would let everyone know!!

I have found that this HIV course has been very different that any other class I have taken while at UCF. Honestly when I saw this course on my electives sheet I wasn't interested at all. "A class about AIDS?" is what I thought to myself. "No way that will be interesting". While reading down the other class electives, everything else sounded so boring, so I chose this course. This course has been so in-depth and so subject specific that it is not hard to retain the information learned each week. Everytime I hear the word HIV or AIDS now on television or conversation I feel like I need to give my "two cents" on the subject. I really think I will carry this information on.

This weeks QOTW dealt with the ethics of animal testing. Honestly, I think we should test on chimps if we are sure the test vaccines will harbor results. If we are getting valuable test statistics out of the animal testing, then I feel that it is ok. Would we rather risk testing on humans and potentially risk their lives? No I am not an animal hater by any means. If there is a squirrel in the middle of the road I swerve to avoid it. This is more than just the life or death of one animal. It could mean potentially saving hundreds of thousands of lives in the future. That is a risk that I feel is necessary.

DID YOU KNOw>>>>>>>>>>>>>
On Jan. 30, 2009 there was a lawsuit against a former professional baseball player, Roberto Olomar. His ex-girlfriend is suing him for $15 million because he illegedly lied about his HIV status in order to have unprotected sex with her. He refused to get HIV test, and doctors now say that he has full blown AIDS. She is not, however, suing because she has been infected. Although she has tested negative for the virus, she is suing on the grounds of "AIDS phobia", the constant fear of contracting AIDS. No decision has been made yet.

source: Netter, Sarah. Lawsuit Claims Baseball Star Olomar has AIDS, Lied About Status. 2009. Retrieved November 4, 2009 from ABC News.com. Taken from abcnews.go.com/sports/oncall/story

...And the work starts again...

That week off was awesome.  Spent the whole week not procrastinating because I did not have any assignments due!  Unfortunately, this week the class continues on the regular schedule.  Since I got the results back from my HIV test, I was able to convince my girlfriend to take an HIV test at our campus testing center as well.  She has been reading all my assignments for this class as I am doing them, so she has began to take an interest in the topics as well.  I was very proud when she went to get her test! I scared her and told her the needles were terrible (she hates needles), but then felt bad and told her no needles were necessary.  I hope she keeps learning as I am in this course.  More information means more educated decisions about the disease!

This weeks question of the week made me reflect on my future.  In the situation there is a possibility that my child would be ostracized and humiliated by his peers.  If I were to choose to let the principal tell the victims parents about my HIV positive son, he might not be accepted anymore.  I had to think long about this one.  It would be in my sons best interest to keep this a secret, but it would not be fair because of the chance the other child could be infected.  What if they were perhaps infected and I decided to keep this information secret?  It could severely threaten that child's life.  Maybe a lawsuit could even ensue on your family due to keeping this secret.  I finally chose to inform their parents of the risk.  I doubt any set of parents would be in bad enough moral character to let this delicate information spread through the entire school.

DID YOU KNOW>>>>>>>>>>>

Tommy Morrison, the boxer who had a false positive earlier in his career, was also a co-star in the movie "Rocky V" in which he portrayed a young and upcoming boxer named Tommy Gunn.  For those of you who did not watch the movie, Sylvester Stallone (AKA Rocky Balboa) kicked his butt in a street brawl at the end of the film.  Morrison tested negative in 2007 for HIV.

"Rocky V" co-star, boxer Tommy Morrison is HIV negative.  Retrieved October 28, 2009 from Not AIDS News.  Taken from http://notaids.com/en/theduke.

Slow week...

We finally have a week off! I hope I'm not the only one excited about this! On UCF Soccer news we beat Marshall on national television as our game sunday was on CBS College Sports channel! We won 1-0! So we are on our way to UAB this weekend for our next conference game... wish us luck!

Last week I got my test results back from my OraSure test....negative! What a relief! Although I felt like I had nothing to worry about when I first got tested, the long waiting period from the initial test to the results was the worst part. I found myself reflecting on my own personal choices in the past, making my wonder if I had done everything to protect myself efficiently from this virus. I have been dating my girlfriend for over a year now and I would have no idea how to tell her if I was positive. Surely she would be positive as well. All of these thoughts went in and out of my head during the waiting period. I thought about how drastically my life would change. Would I be accepted by my family? By my teammates and friends? I simply would never want to deal with these issues. I know it would not be the end of the world if I was HIV positive, it would just make things very complicated in my life.

DID YOU KNOW>>>>>

Magic Johson announced he was HIV positive in 1991 and immediately decided to retire from professional basketball. Despite his retirement, he was voted by fans to participate in the 1992 NBA All Star game. Although he was encourage not to play in order to not endanger other players if he were to have an open wound on the court, he decided to participate. He led the West team to a 153-113 win and was crowned All-Star MVP for the game. What an athlete!

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson#HIV_announcement_and_Olympics_.281991.E2.80.9392.29

Another Stressful Week...

Well, I am one week deeper into this course and the work keeps coming.... as to be expected though.  Last week was actually one of the more interesting weeks to me, I found the movies I watched to be very moving.  I picked "Silverlake Life", "Common Threads" and "The Age of AIDS" as my movie choices.  Honestly, I didn't think I was going to get much out of these videos, I really don't watch movies unless they are comedies:)  I found "Silverlake Life: The View From Here" to be especially sad.  It was filmed "home video" style making the content very intense to watch.  It depicted many things that were hard to watch: such as the main character Tim wither away to skin and bones.  One scene even cut from him talking to the camera in one scene ( in a very weakened condition) to the camera zoomed in on his dead body.  It was very disturbing.... 

For my country I chose the Philippines!  I managed to  find a whole section on the internet about HIV/AIDS laws on the internet.  Philippines  legislature states:

"Article 6 [edit]

Confidentiality will be protected on HIV status.

• All healthcare workers, and anyone handling health records will strictly preserve patient confidentiality on HIV status, and the identity of people with HIV.
• HIV status can be shared by health officials in three circumstances; officials of the AIDSWATCH council, Health workers who are involved in treatment and need to know for their own safety, and a judge if under subpoena for an official court case.
• HIV results may be given to the person tested, an official of the AIDSWATCH council, and a parent or guardian. It cannot be given to anyone else.
• Legal penalties can be provided for breaching confidentiality.
• People with HIV must inform spouses and sex partners as soon as reasonably possible."

They encourage individuals to tell spouses they are HIV positive, but I don't know how they could regulate this or punish this, as it is the person's option to choose the right time and place to tell them.  The prevalence of AIDS in the Philippines is very low at this point at time, but is on the rise.  Since it is such an isolated island, the numbers have been kept low.  

Did you know????

Less than 0.1% of the Filipino adult population is estimated to be HIV positive, compared to the .6% of the United States.  The figures may not seem that different, but considering that the U.S. has 3 times the population of the Philippines, it is an impressive statistic!

Until next week....

sources:

Adult Prevalence Rate.  2009.  Retrieved October 14, 2009 from Nation Master.  Taken from http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_hiv_aid_adu_pre_rat-hiv-aids-adult-prevalence-rate

Summary of Philippine AIDS Law.  2009.  Retrieved October 14, 2009 from Wikiversity.  Taken from http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Summary_of_Philippine_AIDS_law

Still growing...

These last two weeks have been hectic ones... Between the 8-page paper and watching 3 different movies this week, this class has had the biggest work load of any I can remember!  All the informations seems pretty interesting though, so it hasn't been too dreadful.  When I went through the list of the different disease for the last module assignment, I wasn't able to recognize many of them.  Maybe only "herpes simplex" looked familiar as I was scanning the list pondering my options.  I finally settled on some interesting ones.  While reading up on these I was surprised to find how diverse the symptoms for these disease could be.  Nobody really thinks about other diseases that could be associated with HIV/AIDS.  Since the body's immune system is such a weakened state, it is susceptible to all kinds of other diseases.  

The QOTW this week was also an intriguing one.  I had to think hard about this question.  On the one hand I would be saving a women's life with a possibility of being infected with HIV, or I could simply drive by or just let her die.  I feel like if I was actually to get out of the car and see somebody in need, I would not be able to turn my back.  I would be terrified though.  Its difficult to imagine the type of conditions and emotions you will be dealing with by just reading the scenario.  Your adrenaline will be rushing, and your composure will be shaken.  It's really easy to say "I would just do this if I was there".  I feel that so many thought would be rushing through my head that I wouldn't be able to think straight.  Seeing a crash, women trapped in the car covered in blood no less, who knows how efficiently I'd be able to handle things.  I suppose in the future these QOTW's will only be getting more difficult and controversial.

DID YOU KNOW....

There has only been one reported incident of contracting HIV through a collision during a soccer match.  I know I said there had been no substantial incidents in a earlier posts but I just came across this info today.  In this collision, sever skin wounds were had on the eyebrows of both players, causing profuse bleeding.  As a consequence thereof, one of the players is alleged to have contracted HIV, arising from traumatic contact with the other HIV seropositive player (HIV/AIDS and Sports).  

It had to be soccer!

Source: HIV/AIDS and Sports.  Retrieved October 7th 2009 from Science in Africa.  Taken from http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2003/february/sport.htm.

Blog #4

Since beginning this course roughly a month ago, I feel like I have grown drastically as person.  For the last reading assignment I chose AIDS Memoirs and I found it to be a compelling.  It is the diary of a mother who finds out she is HIV positive after having a hysterectomy.  Her life from that point is turned upside-down.  Before this course, I never really thought of HIV/AIDS apart from the symptoms or the social stigmas attached to it.  The mother tells of her money troubles from paying her extensive medical bills, her problems at work, and her difficulties breaking the news to her family.  Seeing how someone's life can change so drastically has made me question how I am living my life and some of the decisions I make.  I also felt like the QOTW this week was a very interesting one as well.  It really put into perspective the possibility of having HIV/AIDS in college, and having partners and close friends finding out.  I thought this would absolutely ruin my life, unless I either moved to another university or graduated.  

This disease scares the crap out of me, honestly.  I really cannot imagine my life with the disease, so I try not to.  I feel like it is easy to sympathize with others like the character in my book or hypothetical situations like we deal with in our assignments.  I don't think anybody can fully empathize until it happens to them.  All I can do now is try to educate myself as much as possible and make the right decisions regarding the disease.  I usually put it into the back of my mind after I finish the assignments or write these blogs, but it really does affect me while it is fresh in my mind.  This is a serious disease and I am so thankful I have HIV free.  Yet there are a few more months of learning left in the semester I am sure I'll be an HIV/AIDS expert by the time our final grades come out!

DID YOU KNOW....

While searching for my fun fact for the week I came across some interesting ones dealing with a HIV positive mother giving the disease to their newborn baby.  This was also fresh in my mind after reading the novel for the book report assignment.  What are the chances?

"What is the likelihood that an HIV positive mother will transmit her HIV infection to her newborn baby, if the mother does not receive any anti-retroviral therapy?"

---->>25%. If women receive a combination of anti-retroviral therapies during pregnancy, the risk of HIV transmission to the newborn baby drops to below two percent. (HIV and Women 2009)

"Which factor does not increase the likelihood that an HIV positive mother will transmit her infection to her newborn child?"

---->>Delivery by Cesarean section. A delivery by Cesarean section decreases the risk for HIV transmission to the newborn, and is strongly recommend for HIV positive mothers with high viral loads. HIV is transmitted by breast milk, and for that reason HIV positive mothers should bottle feed their infants. (HIV and Women 2009)

I thought there would be a 100% chance since the child grows inside the infected mother's body? You learn something new everyday!

source: HIV and Women. 2009.  Retrieved September 30th, 2009 from http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/HIV-and-Women-187490.html

Blog #3

Just like last week, I will start off with a little UCF Men's Soccer recap of the past week and upcoming week.  We played in the UCF Fall Classic 2 this past weekend, losing to Houston Baptist University 2-1 and beating Manhattan College 2-1 on Sunday.  Tomorrow we travel to FAU to play and travel to Memphis to play our first conference game of our season.  It's going to be a big week!  Also, Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing were both on the UCF campus yesterday!  Some of my teammates got to meet them, but I wasn't so lucky.  

But thinking about these two basketball legends got me to thinking about another basketball professional... one who is HIV positive...Magic Johnson!

Magic Johnson is probably one of the most well known professional athletes who is living with HIV today.  Although he has been living with HIV for over fifteen years, you wouldn't know it by looking at him.  He looks very healthy and doesn't look too affected by the virus at all. Johnson has been such a vital role in supporting HIV research along creating numerous charities to aid in promoting healthy HIV living.  I can recall that he was the first person I could ever remember that was infected with HIV.  My dad was talking all about it that day when he announced it to the world.  Also being a professional athlete, it really changed the sport and other sports.

Did you know??

-Johnson's HIV announcement to the world ranked as 7th in ESPN's top moments of the last 25 years (Magic Johnson, 2009)

Magic Johnson.  2009.  Taken from wikipedia.com.  Retrieved September 23, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson.

Well since my last post, I've had a pretty eventful week.  We had a game against Jacksonville University (my hometown) and we tied 0-0, to our dismay.  It was a hard fought game and it was raining like crazy so it wasn't that bad.  We have a home tournament this weekend with games this Friday night and Sunday morning, so come support us if you can! 

Sorry, had to throw this in...

My topic of research for the week has been HIV in sports, by recommendation from Teach.  I really didn't know what my topic was going to be, so this suggestion seemed perfect for me.  While surfing the internet, I came across a peculiar case of a boxer who had tested positive for HIV in 1996.  His name is Tommy Morrison, and he tested positive right before a fight over a decade ago.  He had been trying for over 11 years to petition to box again, because he claimed that the test was a false positive.  Since then, he has taken a number of tests, all of which have come back positive?  Since an HIV positive competitor  is not allowed to compete in the United States, his career was ruined.  Could this have been a mistake?  He was finally cleared to fight after his 11 year absence from the sport.  Relating this to myself, I would be devastated if my professional career was ruined with news like this.  This was his job, his main source of income, taken from him in a flash.  With such a prevalence of blood in this sport, its no wonder why the boxing organizations would be so cautious about this type of situation.  

The Organization I chose to research is called "Grassroots Soccer" in Africa.  Founded in 2002, they "train African stars, coaches, teachers, and peer educators in the world's most HIV-affected countries to deliver an interactive HIV prevention and life skills curriculum to youth."(Grassroots Soccer 2009).  Their mission is to use soccer as a tool to help youth world-wide to lead healthier lives.  As you all may already know, the 2010 World Cup will be held in Africa, and this only helps rally what this organization is trying to do in this country.  Soccer is the most popular sport in the entire world, making this a very effective tool to teach effective life-skills.  Here is the link if anybody is interested: http://www.grassrootsoccer.org.

Did you know?:

Even though there is a risk or transferring HIV/AIDS through bloods in sports such boxing or mixed martial arts fighting, there has never been a reported case this happening in any sport!

Until next week....

Sources:

 

Morrison Medically Cleared to Fight Thursday.  Article taken from ESPN.com.  Retrieved September 16, 2009 from http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2772386

What We Do. 2009. Taken from GrassrootSoccer.org.  Retrieved September 16, 2009 from http://www.grassrootsoccer.org/what-we-do/

First Blog!

Wow, this is my first time blogging! I never really thought that I would blog at any point in my life, but I guess if its a requirement for a class, then I don't really have a choice! First I'll introduce myself. My name is Matt Urbano and I am a Junior student-athlete here at UCF. I am on the UCF Men's Soccer team and really enjoying it! I am a Communication Sciences major and plan on being an SLP later down the line. Seriously though, everyone who reads this should check out the UCF Athletics website to check out our schedule and show your suppport at the home games! You might even get a free t-shirt or autograph! School is finally starting to wind up (homework and assignments that is), so time management is going to be very important in keeping up with practice, traveling to away games, and keeping my grades up.

Over the past 2 weeks I've dealt with some interesting concepts in this course. I have never heard of either thrush of PCP in the past, but doing the two simulations really put the severity into perspectice. To be honest, I have felt the affects of the PCP simulation in the past being an athlete. Doing fitness for soccer, I have felt the numb extremities and shortness of breath many, many times. Having this sensation on a regular basis would really suck. I am really looking forward to the next few assignments, as I don't know much about HIV/AIDS.

Ok for my first post? I'll keep working on it!