Do you think their is still a lot of fear and ignorance re: people who are HIV positive in countries like the U.S.?
by 
Namaste formerly future_health_educator
ANSWERS: 4
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Yes, I do think that there still is. Many people seem to forget that people who have HIV do not have, or may not ever develop, full-blown AIDS. HIV is only transmitted through the exchange of intimate bodily fluids, or sharing needles, but not spread by casual contact. It's unfortunate that some people choose to remain fearful and ignorant. I had a friend who died of AIDS. I think it would have crushed him if he had to spend the last years of his life without any of his family and friends, because of ignorance and fear.
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Yes. HIV should not be a very big deal. If you get tested and you're negative, just don't sleep with or exchange needles with people who are positive. If everyone did that, HIV would die out. People are ignorant, though. The government and schools have not done a very good job educating the masses about how to prevent it. Testing should be free, quick, and painless. There should be needle-exchange programs. And our government should not be on an anti-condom rampage. Abstinence programs have not proven to be effective.
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Absolutely. I work in emergency medicine, and we encounter people with infectious, contagious, communicable diseases (I mean, YOU NAME IT!) on a regular basis. Of course we know the risks, but we are also educated enough to know that it's not as easy to contract as a lot of people are led to believe. The average person might run if someone sitting on the other side of the table mentioned they had HIV.
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Unfortunately, yes. There is still much ignorance about the way HIV is contracted. I remember a case in Georgia last year where a trailer park owner refused to let a kid with HIV use the swimming pool or shower. Even if the kid had a minor cut, the virus would be inactivated after a few minutes in the open air. Then there was the guy in Texas who was given a 35 year sentence for spitting at a police officer, just because he had AIDS.
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