The New Intimacy

For a class project: Questions about HIV and AIDS

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Contributor: Ghost Ghost
As a homework assignment, we were told to "interview six or more people about AIDS" and were given some questions to focus on. So, I was hoping some of you would like to answer some of the questions, or add your own thoughts. Thanks!

1) Do you know, or have you ever known, anyone with HIV or AIDS?

2) Have you ever known of someone who has died of AIDS?

3) How many people in the US do you think have HIV? (Just take your best guess, apparently!)

4) How many people in the US have died of AIDS or AIDS-related causes? (Again, just take your best guess!)

5) What is the medical treatment for AIDS?

6) How his HIV transmission prevented?
02/29/2012
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Contributor: Jul!a Jul!a
I'm not sure how much help my answers will be, but here goes.

1) I know one person that I know of with HIV.

2) I don't know anybody who has died of AIDS.

3) I will guess 35% or so.

4) Hmm, 25-30%?

5) I don't know the specifics, but I know that it's a lot better than it was even a decade ago.

6) The best way to prevent transmission is to practice abstinence. However that's not all that practical of an answer. Always use a condom, and always get tested before having sex without a condom.
02/29/2012
Contributor: Ghost Ghost
Quote:
Originally posted by Jul!a
I'm not sure how much help my answers will be, but here goes.

1) I know one person that I know of with HIV.

2) I don't know anybody who has died of AIDS.

3) I will guess 35% or so.

4) Hmm, 25-30%?

5) I ... more
Thanks, Sam. I'm not even sure what the point is of our interview (to fulfill the curiosity of our guest lecturer?) and I think any answers will be helpful!
02/29/2012
Contributor: Ciao. Ciao.
Quote:
Originally posted by Ghost
As a homework assignment, we were told to "interview six or more people about AIDS" and were given some questions to focus on. So, I was hoping some of you would like to answer some of the questions, or add your own thoughts. ... more
1. I don't personally know of anyone with HIV/AIDS

2. Not personally

3. ~1 million if I'm remembering right

4. That I'm not at all sure of, maybe 200-300,000(?), those rates are probably a lot lower than they used to be.

5. There are a bunch of retroviral drugs that can be used to combat HIV and reduce its impact. There is no "cure" for HIV, and AIDS itself is really only used for those people who have progressed beyond a certain immune count. The biggest mortality concern with HIV/AIDS is secondary infections like pneumonia which can be much more deadly when dealing with a weakened immune system.

6. HIV transmission is mainly through sexual contact (typically penetrative anal/vaginal intercourse) or blood contact. Condoms can reduce risk, as can regular testing for you and your partner(s). Blood transmission is typically a higher risk amongst drug users.
02/29/2012
Contributor: ap-the-aper ap-the-aper
Quote:
Originally posted by Ghost
As a homework assignment, we were told to "interview six or more people about AIDS" and were given some questions to focus on. So, I was hoping some of you would like to answer some of the questions, or add your own thoughts. ... more
1) Yes.
2) No.
3) 20%
4) Does that mean percentage of Americans who have died from AIDS related things out of *all* Americans who have died or just out of Americans with AIDS? If it's out of all American deaths, I'd say 19%. If it's out of Americans with AIDS, I'd say 80%.
5) A lot of very expensive prescription drugs.
6) Practicing safe sex (or abstaining all together), making sure not to share needles with other people, not coming in contact with other people's blood (and other fluids).
02/29/2012
Contributor: Ghost Ghost
Quote:
Originally posted by ap-the-aper
1) Yes.
2) No.
3) 20%
4) Does that mean percentage of Americans who have died from AIDS related things out of *all* Americans who have died or just out of Americans with AIDS? If it's out of all American deaths, I'd say 19%. If ... more
I'm not exactly sure what this questions (#4) implies. I simply gave the wording I was given! Thanks for the answers! (and also Boink!)
02/29/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
1) Not to my knowledge! (I don't know how 'out' the average person I went to class with, for example, would be about it, but I don't know any close friends or present/former partners with it.)

2) Nope.

3) I'm going to go with something like 0.75% of the total population of the US? So three people in four thousand. That gets me 2 336 939 for an answer. *shrug*.

4) Cumulative since the seventies? Oh, I'm just going to with approximately what I came up with having it currently dying per year, which now that I think about it, is dumb, because people can probably have HIV for years without dying. Soooooo, change it to 60,000---which I just pulled out of the air.

5) Antiretroviral drugs, which apparently turn your skin sort of blue-ish. That's about all I know.

6) Condoms for sex acts with untested partners (a clean sex history for six months is needed before you can guarantee that a negative test result really is negative. Not becoming blood brothers with people or sharing intravenous needles. Not testing blood types in high school biology classes. Basically caution around bodily fluids that carry it, specifically semen and blood.
02/29/2012
Contributor: Positwist Positwist
1) Yes, HIV.

2) No.

3) Around a million... 1.3 million, I think?

4) Since the beginning of the epidemic? I'm not sure, but I think it's significantly less than the number of people currently diagnosed. I'll take a stab at 500,000.

5) You know, I have no idea. I'm familiar with HIV care, but not AIDS.

6) For the individual, practicing safe sex, avoiding used needles, etc. Generally avoiding contact with other people's blood unless you know their status (which isn't definitive!).
02/29/2012
Contributor: PeaceToTheMiddleEast PeaceToTheMiddleEast
1) Yes I have known someone with this disease.

2) The person I knew died from it.

3) 36.1 million people have HIV/aids.

4) About 21.8 million have died from it.

5) I think it is prescription drugs.

6) Practice safe sex, get tested every 6 months, have your partner tested, used protection or abstinence.
02/29/2012
Contributor: Beck Beck
Quote:
Originally posted by Ghost
As a homework assignment, we were told to "interview six or more people about AIDS" and were given some questions to focus on. So, I was hoping some of you would like to answer some of the questions, or add your own thoughts. ... more
1. I did know someone with Aids.

2. He did die from a sickness he got while infected with Aids, so Aids played a part in making his immune system not work right.

3. I will say 1.5 million.

4. I will say 200,000-400,000 have died.

5. I don't know any specific medications, but I know they are prescription medicines. Treatment is now better than ever, so those who get Aids can still live heavy lives, granted they don't have a drug resistant strain.

6. The best way to avoid getting HIV is to stay abstinent, avoid sharing needles, and avoiding contact with bodily fluids from any infected person. You can effectively have sex with a person who has HIV and not get HIV by use of a condom. Be safe, get tested, and have all your partners tested.
02/29/2012
Contributor: Gracie Gracie
1)yes
2) yes
3) 18% of the population (these are wild guesses)
4) 5 million
5) a mixture of various medications, including anti virals
6) avoid contact with body fluids, especially blood and sexual fluids This is why condoms are important.
02/29/2012
Contributor: Ghost Ghost
Thank you guys! This has been very helpful.
03/02/2012
Contributor: SubmissiveFeminist SubmissiveFeminist
1) I do not know anyone who has told me they have HIV/AIDS.
2) Not personally, no.
3) I have no idea, yikes. Millions.
4) Just under a million?
5) AZT.
6) Sexual fluids and blood of someone infected with HIV needs to be kept out of contact with any other person's body. Women who have HIV can pass it to their children in-utero. I wouldn't know how to avoid that. Can blood transfusions be screened for HIV? That, too. Sorry if these answers suck.
03/14/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Ghost
Thank you guys! This has been very helpful.
Will you share your prof's answers with us? Or what was being proved by our answers?
03/14/2012
Contributor: Ghost Ghost
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
Will you share your prof's answers with us? Or what was being proved by our answers?
Apparently this assignment was just to see the level of knowledge "out there in the world". I also included in my assignment a topic I saw posted a while back about "bug chasing". Our guest lecturer said that people on this forum are clearly more knowledgeable than the general public, and compared to the answers most people were given (who interviewed people around our campus), I have to agree.

I actually didn't write down the statistics he gave us about incidence of HIV infection and number of deaths, sorry. It wasn't going to be on the exam, lol!

Oh, and just to be clear, I didn't give anyone's online name or anything. Just quotes. And I also didn't give the name of the forum I was using.
03/14/2012
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Ghost
Apparently this assignment was just to see the level of knowledge "out there in the world". I also included in my assignment a topic I saw posted a while back about "bug chasing". Our guest lecturer said that people on this forum ... more
Huh, I'm a little surprised to hear that. I definitely don't think I've picked up any more information since high school health class, so I would have assumed that the knowledge we all put up here was about on par with the general public.
03/14/2012
Contributor: aliceinthehole aliceinthehole
Quote:
Originally posted by Ghost
As a homework assignment, we were told to "interview six or more people about AIDS" and were given some questions to focus on. So, I was hoping some of you would like to answer some of the questions, or add your own thoughts. ... more
1. yes, i know someone with HIV. she's had it for years, and believes she may've gotten it via prostitution and/or intravenous drug use.

2. not yet.

3. how many people have HIV? alot i'm sure. hmm... 5% of the population?

4. how many have died in the US... shit. millions i'm sure. i'm not good at guesses like this... i'm tempted to use google.

5. a very, very expensive pill, as far as I know.

6. condom use, not sharing needles, not accepting blood from an HIV/AIDS positive person, avoiding swapping bodily fluids with someone who is infected.
03/14/2012
Contributor: Ghost Ghost
Quote:
Originally posted by Antipova
Huh, I'm a little surprised to hear that. I definitely don't think I've picked up any more information since high school health class, so I would have assumed that the knowledge we all put up here was about on par with the general public.
Well... part of the problem seems to be that sex education has taken a turn for the worse, and many of the people being interviewed (by classmates) were younger than you (I assume) and I. Most of the answers showed that those people hardly even think of AIDS as a threat to them (except for the gay males interviewed) and don't know much about the implications of the disease.
03/15/2012