Irony

This week has definitely been interesting one in regards to the aspect I have found this class to be playing in my personal life. This past Friday was when I went to Miracle of Love for my HIV test. With much searching and driving in circles, my friend and I were finally able to find the quaint little household turned business called Miracle of Love. We felt like we were at some sort of private resort rehab from the looks of the outside. Once inside, the lady at the desk gave us free handouts, free condoms, magazines, and even a free DVD on AIDS and black women. We were the only ones there and waited less than ten minutes before Iris took me back and went through the drill with me. The entire process was pretty much effortless as there was no wait and even no fee! I don't know how many people go seeing as there was no inside, but I would hope and recommend this place to anyone because it is free and the environment and people are comforting and genuine.

On another note, I finally got around to watching Common Threads yesterday in the library. I had already previously rented Silverlake Life and ended up crying at the end as I'm sure most people do. What I enjoyed so much about Common Threads is that it tries to break the notion that HIV/AIDS is restricted to homosexuals. Instead, it evokes stories of all those affected, both gay, hemophiliacs, and drug users alike. Overall, the emotions that I felt from watching this movie wasn't just sadness, but anger. Much of the footage is from the 80's, the time when AIDS was just being discovered. During this time, people were unbelievably discriminated against; houses were being burned down, people were being mugged and killed, and the Reagan administration didn't even address AIDS until after thousands had died. On top of that, the administration was against sex education despite the need to inform children about AIDS based on the fact he may advocating sex. He should have been worried about saving lives.

But to now get to the point of the title of my blog for this week: Irony. I say this, because this week I found out that someone in my immediate family has been seeing someone who is HIV positive. While AIDS/HIV does exist and we have often times run into people who are positive without even knowing it, it was incredibly unexpected to think that someone I love dearly has put themselves knowingly at risk for this disease. I call it ironic because of the circumstance in addition to my enrollment in this class. Needless to say, we discussed it thoroughly and considered the risk at hand. Since my return date for my HIV results are coming up, we have decided to go together so that she may get tested as well. While none of this pleases me, I am happy about one thing: the timing. Had I not been enrolled in this class, I would not have been able to comfort or educate her in any manner besides my support really. I would not have been able to tell her about the window period, about ALL of the types of transmission, or the finite details of how the virus works.


Did You Know...HIV Risk of Different Sex Practice?


Perhaps one thing that spurred on this topic is the referral to AIDS as a "gay disease." I was interested to find why homosexuals were at such a greater risk for contracting HIV more so than heterosexuals. From anatomy and biology, we learn that the skin all over your body has different structures and makeup (stratified, simple, transitional, pseudo stratified, etc.) depending on its location. From this we can ask, why is anal sex much more risky than vaginal sex? This is because the skin and mucosa lining in the rectum has fewer cells than the vagina and can be damaged more easily (especially since things aren't meant to go in). I found statistics from the Center for Disease and Control Website that matched this inference.


This information is AIDS cases by transmission up to 2007



Type
Male to Male Contact: 487,695
Drug Injection: Male:175,704 Female: 80,155 (255,859 total)
Male to Male Contact + Drug Injection: 71,242
Male to Female Contact: Male: 63,927 Female: 112,230 (176,157 total)
Other: Male: 12,108 Female: 6,158 (18,266 Total)

From this I calculated the percentage that people contract HIV from male to male (anal) and male to female (vaginal). Accordingly, 48% of all estimated cases are homosexuals, 6% of heterosexual men, and 11% of heterosexual women. While the percentage for heterosexuals seem small, the percentage of those infected by drug use (24% total men and women) is not accounted for transmission via intercourse. Obviously, these numbers are in accordance with the fact that anal intercourse is the number one high risk behavior. Oral sex is least risky with only 4% (Avert.org). In addition, an article from About.com: AIDS/HIV claims that female heterosexuals are more at risk than male heterosexuals. This, much like the recipient of anal sex, is caused from the tearing of the mucosa lining in the woman allowing direct entrance into the bloodstream. These statistics support this inference as well as 11% of heterosexual woman are infected compared to the 6% in men.

Overall, AIDS is not a "gay disease", but rather the behavior that puts you most at risk. From a biological standpoint, having anal sex is the highest at risk behavior simply because of the skin tissue found there.

Reference List:
Cichocki, M. About.com:AIDS/HIV (2009). Retrieved Feb 24, 2010
CDC: Center for Disease and Control. (2007). Retrieved Feb 24, 2010 from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm#exposure.
Picture: bp.blogspot.com/.../s320/homosexual-gay.gif