...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.