"If you knew I was HIV positive would you still treat me as an equal, would you still be my friend, would you still touch me, would you still love me?”
These are some of the thoughts that go through the minds of the millions of people worldwide who are currently living with HIV/AIDS. Despite the mass impact of the disease, many still remain ignorant to its definition, history, and effects, leading to the negative associations of those affected. I’m here to give you a brief enlightenment of HIV/AIDS in an effort to to lessen the misconceptions and stigma of HIV/ AIDS. First, we need to understand the basics.
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It’s a virus that attacks and takes over the T-cells (white blood cells) in the body which …show more content…
AIDS is the final stage of HIV and going without treatment will lead to death. This is why knowing your status is so important. HIV is treatable and manageable, but you can’t treat what you don’t know.
Now that we have a knowledgeable foundation let’s delve into an abbreviated history of HIV/AIDS.
AIDS was first discovered in 1981. It began with several reports of young, homosexual men with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) and Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) which was unusual to find in young people who didn’t have a history of an ineffective immune system. Doctors began to find an immunodeficiency in injecting drug users (Can you see where the misconception of HIV being exclusive to homosexuals and druggies came from?). This correlation of homosexuals and drug users with the disease led clinicians to believe that it was blood borne or sexually transmitted.
Mark King, a gay struggling actor at the time, lived in West Hollywood during the rise of the epidemic. He was diagnosed in 1985.
King recalled, “People were disappearing. A bartender would be there one week- end and was gone the next. And if you saw somebody at the supermarket that you hadn’t seen in months, you were, ‘Oh, thank God! You’re still alive!’ It was just this fellowship of grief and tragedy and
These are some of the thoughts that go through the minds of the millions of people worldwide who are currently living with HIV/AIDS. Despite the mass impact of the disease, many still remain ignorant to its definition, history, and effects, leading to the negative associations of those affected. I’m here to give you a brief enlightenment of HIV/AIDS in an effort to to lessen the misconceptions and stigma of HIV/ AIDS. First, we need to understand the basics.
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It’s a virus that attacks and takes over the T-cells (white blood cells) in the body which …show more content…
AIDS is the final stage of HIV and going without treatment will lead to death. This is why knowing your status is so important. HIV is treatable and manageable, but you can’t treat what you don’t know.
Now that we have a knowledgeable foundation let’s delve into an abbreviated history of HIV/AIDS.
AIDS was first discovered in 1981. It began with several reports of young, homosexual men with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) and Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) which was unusual to find in young people who didn’t have a history of an ineffective immune system. Doctors began to find an immunodeficiency in injecting drug users (Can you see where the misconception of HIV being exclusive to homosexuals and druggies came from?). This correlation of homosexuals and drug users with the disease led clinicians to believe that it was blood borne or sexually transmitted.
Mark King, a gay struggling actor at the time, lived in West Hollywood during the rise of the epidemic. He was diagnosed in 1985.
King recalled, “People were disappearing. A bartender would be there one week- end and was gone the next. And if you saw somebody at the supermarket that you hadn’t seen in months, you were, ‘Oh, thank God! You’re still alive!’ It was just this fellowship of grief and tragedy and