mausBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,191 posts
Location: Sihanoukville, cambodia


Posted:
Heard about this on the National news last night...



https://www.avert.org/ukaidsnews.htm



eekGenuinely shocked and scared me.

St.Ives is about 10 minutes down the road from where i live,and it just shocked me how something so serious is not more widely known about amongst local people.



Supposedly,St.Ives is now the worse place (based on population ratios) in England.. eek



What shocked me even more was that i was watching the news with my friends 14 year old son.After the report he turned to me and asked me what it was.



Obviously i told him all about HIV, the different types etc. and we even went on the internet together and did some research together to make sure he fully inderstood what it all meant.



An hour or so later he was happy with his answers,and was very glad he asked.



frownIt disgusted me somewhat though that his school had not taught him about the subject in depth before.

We all know that kids do things younger these days...sex being one of the main ones,and i was suprised that his school had not done more to warn them of disease related risks of unprotected sex.



I understand that schools have a lot they need to fit into their curriculum,but i just hope that this means they will make more of an effort to educate the younger people.





I also rang the local council earlier to find out whether we had a support clinic/drop in centre in the Penwith district,so that people of all ages could learn about HIV gain support etc.



The answer i was given-" Unfortunately, our public support benefit has been unable to stretch to such a facility at the moment,however there is one in Truro."



20 miles away....what about the people who have disabilities,can't afford to pay the £7 it costs on the bus to get there, etc.



Even more disgustingly,it only runs on friday mornings-CR*p!!!





Anyway,was just wondering what peoples thoughts on this were...whether you have a similar problem in your are etc.







Rant officially over......for now...



angry frown

GnorBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
5,814 posts
Location: Perth, Australia


Posted:
can you talk to local youth places and do some workshops or find if they run them. Drug and sex awareness are so important for our kids

Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?

Im in a lonely battle with the world with a fish to match the chip on my shoulder. Gnu in Binnu in a cnu


mausBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,191 posts
Location: Sihanoukville, cambodia


Posted:
Tell me about it!



Am gonna continue looking into it.

Admittedly i don't know the disease that well myself,but there is a local health centre about a 5 minute bus ride out of St.Ives so i'm gonna get in contact with them and see if there is anything they can do.

blu_valleySILVER Member
fluffy mess
197 posts
Location: Brighton, United Kingdom


Posted:
I was extremely shocked when I first came over to the uk to find out how 'relaxed' the school system/government/people in general are about HIV compared to South Africa. We had it drummed into us daily. (Fair enough, there are many superstitions regarding HIV and Aids in South Africa, and the place is rife with it, but it could be A LOT worse).


It scares me just how little people actually know about it. Just from speaking to people about it. One of my good friends didnt know you could contract it from oral sex and was at very high risk at that time. A lot of people have laughed at me whith all my 'safety mumbo-jumbo', until I've sat down and taken them through it properly. And fairly recently there were a few people who told me that they didn't belive it was real, that it was some sort of ploy by the government to controll unwanted pregnancies... HOW SCREWED UP IS THAT?!!

Ive seen the long term effects on a large scale back in South Africa,there are whole hospital wings of people just waiting to die from it, babies being born and waiting to die from it. It's very real, and very unpleasant, and I hope to God the rest of the world wises up soon.

"I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence.." - Oriah Mountain Dreamer


BirgitBRONZE Member
had her carpal tunnel surgery already thanks v much
4,145 posts
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland (UK)


Posted:
I suppose the information is there if you go looking for it... but not everybody does, or wants to. In school it gets mentioned and explained, but noone (at least at my school) bothered with details like oral sex... I remember asking a teacher, being the scientist that I am, if 1 x unprotected sex meant you DEFINITELY get it off your partner if he had it, and the teacher just dismissed it as a stupid question... whether that means he thought you did or you didn't, I still don't know.

I've seen people on tv claiming you could get rid of it with a good diet, or boys saying they only sleep with good-looking girls cause sick girls are ugly, a big brother housemate saying she never sleeps with men who use condoms because only a man who is sick would want to use a condom...

Those people can't be convinced by reason, unfortunately. You can show them 200 statistics and let them talk to someone who's HIV+, and they'll still say "huh huh but you're gay!" or something like that.

What really did shock me though was that Big Brother showed that remark "only sick men use condoms" unfiltered and uncommented. They KNOW how many kids and stupid people watch it!!!

I've also met a woman who claims HIV is an invention of the pharma industry to sell expensive drugs. Unfortunately people like that will always find an ear with the population, simply because they shout louder than anyone else.

In Tuebingen where I studied, the AIDS support group would come regularly to uni and give out flyers and condoms, they had a cafe running and a little condom shop for all needs. They were also present at Christmas markets etc... but again, you needed to speak to them. And there's always people who won't because life is just so much easier if you're ignorant about some of its dangers.

I do think to a large extent you have a responsibility for your own life. You can't expect schools to tell you everything, but to point out the dangers and show where more materials are available. Unfortunately, with AIDS, it's not as easy as with, let's say riding a bike without a helmet, cause if you make a mistake you're risking other people's lives, too.

"vices are like genitals - most are ugly to behold, and yet we find that our own are dear to us."
(G.W. Dahlquist)

Owner of Dragosani's left half


linden rathenGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
6,942 posts
Location: London, UK


Posted:
i saw that on st ives - its not too surprising considering its one of the top destinations for a lot of teenagers for parties etc over the summer

as for education i got quite a good one thankfully smile we got a yearly run down on all of it from about year 7/8 (cant really remember that far back tongue) which is about 12

unfortunatly with anything like this there are always consipirasys and general morons - perhaps its natural selection devil

back


IgirisujinSILVER Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,666 posts
Location: Preston, United Kingdom


Posted:
My 'sex education' in secondary school was comprised of how the sperm travels to its final destination the egg through the those funny sounding tubes. Thats all they botherd to tell us. Then two lessons later we had fully moved onto osmosis and plant respiration.

St Bedes in Blackburn is a crap school tell all your parents to send there kids to St Marrys.

Chief adviser to the Pharaoh, in one very snazzy mutli-coloured coat

'Time goes by so slowly for those who wait...' - Whatever Happend To Baby Madonna?


UCOFSILVER Member
15,417 posts
Location: South Wales


Posted:
all my parents? eek
and um.. surely their kids... would be me? umm
anyway.
Did no one in your class ask any questions, didnt anyoe go "hang on, we cant possibly have covered everything in an hour long lesson, I should ask about that" ? shrug
I know we kicked up a fuss until our school did something.

and gnor, I think kids are a little too aware of drugs and sex wink ubblol

IgirisujinSILVER Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,666 posts
Location: Preston, United Kingdom


Posted:
Not really all we cared about in shcool was dinner break and hometime, we were just teenages back then not even like 16 yet so we werent exactly responsible. all the more reason we shoulda gotten a better sex education

Chief adviser to the Pharaoh, in one very snazzy mutli-coloured coat

'Time goes by so slowly for those who wait...' - Whatever Happend To Baby Madonna?


BozBRONZE Member
sober
109 posts
Location: Bury St. Edmunds, suffolk, United Kingdom


Posted:
surely you should've done it in pse or whatever they call it these days, rather than biology?

*produces sandwich- is happy*


oliSILVER Member
not with cactus
2,052 posts
Location: bristol/ southern eastern devon, United Kingdom


Posted:
i think that pretty much all you need to know about hiv is that if you have sex (or mingle other bodily fluids, saliva is okay) without a condom with a person who is potentially diseased (and most people come in this catagory) then you might get hiv. once you have hiv it is serious and there is no cure. YOU DO NOT WANT HIV<- thats my understanding of it anyway... dont really see why you need any more education than that unless it is of particular personal interest. shrug

Me train running low on soul coal
They push+pull tactics are driving me loco
They shouldn't do that no no no


CrazyHippyChickSILVER Member
errrrrr what?
198 posts
Location: cloud 9, United Kingdom


Posted:
the sickest things i ever saw on hiv and ads was a documentury interviewing african men who either had hiv or aid. Their attitude and ignorance made me cry. Despite the fact they knew they had a disease they contnued having unprotected sex some believing sex with a child could cure them others just blatently sleeping with girls with the attitude they had it and didnt see why they should use protection.

I'll come back as fire and burn all the liars and leave a blanket of ashes on the ground.
I could write the new bridget jones diary only mine would be more bizarre, funnier, dirtier more unbelievabe and bloody true!


BozBRONZE Member
sober
109 posts
Location: Bury St. Edmunds, suffolk, United Kingdom


Posted:
 Written by:

YOU DO NOT WANT HIV<- thats my understanding of it anyway... dont really see why you need any more education than that unless it is of particular personal interest.



because kids are kids. telling them 'you don't want hiv' is going to do about as much good as telling them 'smoking is bad for you'

we may be sensible well informed grown ups, but there's plenty of people out there who aren't

*produces sandwich- is happy*


animatEdBRONZE Member
1 + 1 = 3
3,540 posts
Location: Bristol UK


Posted:
The good thing about monogamy is that the chances of getting that are dramatically reduced... wink



My HIV education was pretty much the same as Oli's, And my sex education was done before I went to secondary school... My mum was good enough to give me and my siblings books about it when we were about 9 yrs old...



 Written by: Brit_Joe



St Bedes in Blackburn is a crap school tell all your parents to send there kids to St Marrys.





Guessing you went to St. Bedes, then?



rolleyes



wink

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.
Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Water can flow, or it can Crash.
Be Water My Friend.


BEZERKERenthusiast
237 posts

Posted:
maus - if you're serious about trying to get more info made available to people and perhaps making suggestions....



My partner (HiV+ for 11 years) is involved with an organisation called PSB (Positive Speakers Bureu) that is funded and supported by ACON (AIDS Council of NSW) - we live in Australia.



What she does through this organisation is get to high schools, camps, professional development courses for adults and even (yes, amazingly some employers are THAT switched on) to speak to corporations about awareness etc. It involves her telling her story, explaining the illness, updating on current local statistics (and world wide) plus demonstrate that whilst it is not an illness that anyone would want, it isn't the end of life for people who are positive - for example we have 2 kids and Elaine enjoys a pretty healthy lifestyle.



The goal obviously being that she helps pass on her experiences to youth and help them not make the same mistakes along side of raising awareness. The disease still has a lot of stigma attatched to it.



The reason I mention it is maybe it's worth persuing this with your local government support organisations to see if this kind of service is already up and running. And if not, maybe the suggestion may get the ball rolling.



Interestingly, positive hetero women are the most saught after because most teens will relate better to her story than a gay guy telling his. Elaine is often requested by name or reputation for this very reason so also might be worth mentioning. *disclaimer* I'm certainly not belittling or insulting the validity of gay men telling their stories just that certain demographics respond better to someone they feel they can relate to better.



Anyway....might be worth your while. You seem quite passionate about the knowledge and education regarding this illness.
EDITED_BY: BEZERKER (1147135051)

mausBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,191 posts
Location: Sihanoukville, cambodia


Posted:
Bezerker-
Many Thanks for your comments,it's given me a few things to think about.

And i think you're right in that a hetero sexual would be more suitable for this particular place as the "epidemic" as they put it is coursin through young hetero sexual people, and thankfully the homosexual population down here seems to be doing a damn fine job of looking after themselves!

Spent about 3 hours online/on th phone last night trying to find something in that area and there appears to be VERY little.
I also discovered that there was a support and information clinic in that town about 3 years ago...aimed at helping/informing young homosexuals specifically men about the dangers of unprotected sex and various STD's.

What i want to know is why the hell they think its not needed anymore!??

Anyway,thanks to all for your comments and for taking this seriously.

smile

BEZERKERenthusiast
237 posts

Posted:
Very sad to hear about the lack of activity in your area mate. Makes me appreciate at least theminimal stuff we have going on over here in Sydney. Although it's pretty woefull in other capitals of Australia from what I've heard.

I say good on you for even caring let alone following it up on any level. I'd give you one of these hug if you were at arms length - O.B.E.S.E. cheer leader or no tongue

Full kudos to you clap

mausBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,191 posts
Location: Sihanoukville, cambodia


Posted:
You're very lucky for what you have over there,It upsets and infuriates me that just because its a small cornish fishing town its not worth bothering about in the eyes of the council. frown

Although its sad it has got to the stage it has,i just hope that now people will realise just how serious it is and get off their arses and do something about it!

I've have never known anyone with HIV,and i hate the stigma that surrounds it.
In my eyes a disease does not make you any different from anyone else,i jusy wish that a few others down here felt the same way.

Hopefully soon though.

Thanks again...its appreciated!

smile hug

SeyeSILVER Member
Geek
1,261 posts
Location: Manchester, UK


Posted:
My mum is a nurse who specialises in teaching pse (including sexual health). She is also one of the only people in the country who has detailed specific plans for teaching it to kids with severe learning difficulties (downs syndrome etc).

I guess that I am lucky in that sex was never a difficult subject with my parents while growing up.

Maus - If you'd like to know what the council's supposed responsibilites are in relation to this I'm sure she'd be happy to speak to you smile

mausBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,191 posts
Location: Sihanoukville, cambodia


Posted:
Thanks Seye....may well take you up on that!

However it appears if you whinge enough you do eventually get there.

They're gonna start a new community support clinic,which will be run by local doctors at a surgery just on the outskirts of St.Ives.

It seems i'm not the only one that was extremely bothered by all of this,and thankfully not the only one moaning as the council has agreed to subsidise some of the costs.Not all...but some,so its a start.

Thanks for kind words and support guys.Tis appreciated!!

biggrin grouphug biggrin

DrBooBRONZE Member
I invented the decaffinated coffee table.
453 posts
Location: Cornwall, United Kingdom


Posted:
I used to work with people with HIV and sexual health issues and found it a fascinating area. The total ignorance I encountered was astounding, not just with regards to HIV, but STDs such as Hep and chlamydia.

If I have one piece of for anyone considering embarking upon an intimate relationship of any kind, it is...wrap it up, or make sure it's wrapped. Before you even contemplate going near anything with it, or letting it go near you, make sure you're covered....
Sadly too many kids these days don't think this is necessary - their concerns seem to be mainly about pregnancy. There is a misnomer that they don't have to put anything on until the last minute, as their safe from all the nasty things until then. So so not true.

 Written by: maus

They're gonna start a new community support clinic,which will be run by local doctors at a surgery just on the outskirts of St.Ives.




Good. At least that's something
MY only concern is that the problem is that the community support clinic run by doctors is likely to be medically rather than social support-orientated.

I just rang Kernow Postive Support, who are the voluntary agency covering all of Cornwall. They have drop-in centres (one of which must be the one you mentioned in Truro, Maus) as well as peer support meetings. It's not much, but they have little funding, and it is hell to try and cover the whole county the size of Cornwall.
I think I'll volunteer to help out, maybe eventually we can move things so that there are more facilities for people down here living with HIV - sounds like we'll be needing them.

Boo x

I intend to live forever - so far, so good.

If it costs "a penny for your thoughts", but people give you their "two-pence worth", who is getting the extra penny?


mausBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
4,191 posts
Location: Sihanoukville, cambodia


Posted:
Certainly does hun!

I'm not gonna be able to do much for the next couple of weeks or so,as i'm completely stacked with work/gigs etc.
But next time i'm over we'll have a chat about it and see if we can sort somethin.

Good to have you on board hun,and hope the necks not to sore!

You booked that room with the "special" chair yet!? ubblol

DrBooBRONZE Member
I invented the decaffinated coffee table.
453 posts
Location: Cornwall, United Kingdom


Posted:
redface
No

wink

Boo x

I intend to live forever - so far, so good.

If it costs "a penny for your thoughts", but people give you their "two-pence worth", who is getting the extra penny?


faith enfireBRONZE Member
wandering thru the woods of WI
3,556 posts
Location: Wisconsin, USA


Posted:
HIV's ancestry traced to wild chimps
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Thu May 25, 8:56 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Twenty-five years after the first

AIDS cases emerged, scientists have confirmed that the

HIV virus plaguing humans really did originate in wild chimpanzees, in a corner of Cameroon.
Solving the mystery of HIV's ancestry was dirty work. Scientists employed trackers to plunge through dense jungle and collect the fresh feces of wild apes — more than 1,300 samples in all.
Before that, it took seven years of research just to develop the testing methods to genetically trace the primate version of the virus in living wild chimps without hurting the endangered species.
Until now, "no one was able to look. No one had the tools," said Dr. Beatrice Hahn of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She led the team of international researchers that reported the success in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
"We're 25 years into this pandemic," Hahn said. "We don't have a cure. We don't have a vaccine. But we know where it came from. At least we can make a check mark on one of those."
Scientists long have known that nonhuman primates carry their own version of the AIDS virus, called SIV or simian immunodeficiency virus. But with one exception, it had been found only in captive chimpanzees, particularly a subspecies that in the wild populates mostly West Africa.
It was not known how prevalent the virus was in chimps in the wild, or how genetically or geographically diverse it was, complicating efforts to pin down the jump from animal to man.
Hahn's team tested chimp feces for SIV antibodies, finding them in a subspecies called Pan troglodytes troglodytes in southern Cameroon.
Chimps tend to form geographically distinct communities. By genetically analyzing the feces, researchers could trace individual infected chimps. The team found some chimp communities with infection rates as high as 35 percent, while others had no infection at all.
Every single infected chimp had a common base genetic pattern that indicated a common ancestor, Hahn said.
There are three types of HIV-1, the strain of the human virus responsible for most of the worldwide epidemic. Genetic analysis let Hahn identify chimp communities near Cameroon's Sanaga River whose viral strains are most closely related to the most common of those HIV-1 subtypes.
"The genetic similarity was striking," Hahn said.
The first human known to be infected with HIV was a man from Kinshasa in the nearby country of Congo who had his blood stored in 1959 as part of a medical study, decades before scientists knew the AIDS virus existed.
Presumably, someone in rural Cameroon was bitten by a chimp or was cut while butchering one and became infected with the ape virus. That person passed it to someone else.
The Sanaga River long has been a commercial waterway, for transporting hardwood, ivory and other items to more urban areas. Eventually, someone infected made it to Kinshasa.
"How many different transmission events occurred between that initial hunter and this virus making it to Kinshasa, I don't know. It could have been one, it could have been 10, it could have been 100," Hahn said. "Eventually, it ended up in an urban area, and that's where it really got going."
Somewhere in all that spread, the virus became more deadly to people than it is to chimps, who seldom are bothered much by SIV.
The research seems to settle any question of HIV's origin, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the

National Institutes of Health's AIDS chief.
When tracing a virus' evolution, "it's important to get as close to the source as you can," he said. "It's of historic interest."

Faith
Nay, whatever comes one hour was sunlit and the most high gods may not make boast of any better thing than to have watched that hour as it passed



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