Week 9: Bob Skinner

1. The thing that surprised me the most was the amount of medication he had to take. I also didn't realize all of the things that he has to do in regards to exercise and nutrition.

2. Bob's experience with HIV is definitely different from the majority of people around the world. Most people around the world that have the disease are heterosexual. This differs from Bob in the fact that he is homosexual. Another difference is the treatment and facility avaliable to him compared to that of the majority of HIV and AIDS patients around the world.

3. The route of HIV transmission in rural areas that Bob talked about is the one between wives and their husbands. This occurs because men possess all of the power in the relationship in these areas. If the wife tries to get their husband to use a condom to prevent HIV transmission, then it is assumed by the husband that the wife thinks that he has been unfaithful or that the wife has been unfaithful.

4. Treating HIV is rural areas is difficult because of the lack of treatment centers and the transportation to get to and from these centers. Most of the people in rural areas have to walk to and from these clinics so going routinely can be very difficult for patients. A lack of funding and trained physicians also accounts for some of the difficulty experienced by rural HIV patients trying to receive treatment.

Week 10: Review of Term

This term as a whole went very well. Many of the things that I thought I was going to learn, I did learn. These things were the different STIs and the different aspects like symptoms and treatments pertaining to them. Another thing that I planned on learning was the biology of the HIV lifecycle. The main thing that was covered that I didn't expect was the social aspect of all of the diseases. I never connected the low economic status of many countries with the fact that many people that make up their workforce are unable to work because of some of these diseases. The thing that I found most useful about the class were the discussions on all of the STIs. It is important to know the risk factors, prevention, and symptoms of these diseases so we can avoid them. Since many people in college are sexually active, I do agree that this class is worth teaching at the college level.

Week 8: HIV Origins

Two theories on the origin of HIV are that of the Hunter theory and the Conspiracy theory. The Hunter theory comes from the practice African bush meat hunters. It is known that SIV is carried by certain types of primates. The theory is that somehow this disease was transferred to the hunters of these primates either by consumption of the meat or through cuts on the hunters that came in contact with the simian blood. The virus then adapted itself to live within the human body. The Conspiracy theory states that the HIV virus was man made by the government to wipeout large numbers of African Americans and homosexuals. The hunter theory is very plausible. This theory also is backed by data. The conspiracy theory is entirely based on speculation and the only data avaliable leans toward disproving the theory. People that believe this theory ignore the similarity between SIV and HIV, along with fact that people have been contracting the disease since the 1950s. Although knowing how the disease originally spread to the human population is an important fact, it really will not do much for fighting the disease today. However, knowing how HIV came to be a human disease may help stop other animal diseases from becoming virulent in humans.

Week 7: White Privilege

The article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack describes how being white in our American society automatically grants us things that minorities do not get to experience. Most of the advantages that are experienced by white Americans go unnoticed by them, mainly because they are so common for a majority population to experience. Some examples of things that are brought up in the article by Peggy McIntosh are the fact that white Americans can if they want arrange to be in the company of their own race and they can turn on the television and see their race widely represented. Another example is if a white American receives employment from an affirmative action employer, their coworkers will not assume they got the job only because of their race. I agree that most of the things brought up in the article are true. For several different reasons these attributes of being a minority in the predominately white American culture come true. A main reason is the fact that racism played a large part in founding our country and continues even today, although many people and organizations are making large strides in reducing it. This racism definitely comes into play with the treatment of HIV/AIDS patients. These treatments are expensive and in a society where most of the wealth lies with white Americans, it can be hard for minorities to afford medicines such as antiretrovirals.

Week 5: HIV/AIDS Info

Over the years I have learned many things about AIDS. This disease is caused by a virus which attacks our immune systems, weakening us which provides the opportunity for other diseases to infect that normally would not. AIDS is spread through many difference means including through blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and needle sharing. At this point there is no cure although there are a variety of treatments that can allow a patient to live a long and fulfilling life. Many of these are cocktail methods which mix a variety of drugs to hit the virus in several different ways to help keep it from multiplying. These drugs attack important points in viral replication such as docking with the host cell membrane, turning its RNA into DNA, and integrating its genome into the host DNA. Most of the information that I have learned about AIDS has come from either biology or health courses that I have taken since the beginning of high school. I would like to learn more about the actions taken to education people around the world about the risks of spreading AIDS and different aspects of AIDS prevention. The most surprising thing that I have learned so far came from the video seen on Monday of this week. I never thought about how many children are left as orphans when their parents are both killed by the disease. These children are in many cases left to fend for the themselves unless they are lucky enough to have family members able to care for them.

Week 4

One of the largest global disparities in STIs is that of information and education. When people are not educated about the diseases that they have or could possibly contract, there is no way to keep it from spreading. Lifestyle changes must occur to keep diseases such as STIs from spreading. In many places around the world things such as condoms are available, however, the people either do not know how to use or they are stigmatized. They assume that if their spouse wants them to use a condom then they are not being faithful. This is taken so seriously in some countries that women have been beaten and even killed over the suggestion of using protection.
In the USA, for the most part we have access to the information we need about STIs and their means of spreading. We know that many of these diseases are curable and are not something that will ruin our lives. We also know how to prevent them from spreading and their is always a risk when engaging in sexual behavior. However, even within the United States these diseases are still prevalent. While lack of knowledge, in some cases, is still the reason for spread of disease in the USA many other reasons still affect spread of STIs. A main one is that most people that have these diseases either don't know or do not show any symptoms. People are still human and will make mistakes in judgement no matter how much information they have available to them.

Week 3: Youtube Video on Herpes

The video that I chose to talk about was found on youtube and entitled Dark Knight PSA: Herpes. In the video, Batman with the company of the Joker explain some simple yet important aspects of herpes. Although this video is mainly meant to just be funny, there is some true information in it. One important thing that Batman explains is that even though you have herpes and exhibit no symptoms, you can still pass it to your partner. Batman also suggests to get tested, get tested often, and be honest with those that you love when it comes to herpes. This video does not use fear and it does not give any false information, mostly likely because it is a very short video. The video is playing off on the new found popularity in Batman and the Joker and is likely targeting young adults who frequent the internet. This is important since young adults are a major risk group for this disease. In some ways I would say that it is an effective way to reach the target audience since these characters are very popular with this age group. The media plays a very important role in prevention of STDs. It is an easy way to get messages to large masses of people in a short amount of time. Information is one of the most powerful things in our lives, and informing people of the risks of diseases like this is something that the media can do effectively.

Week 2: Tuskegee Syphilis Study Apology

In the Tuskegee Syphilis study, nearly 400 poor African-American men from Macon County, Alabama were openly deceived and deprived treatment for syphilis to be used to study the course of the disease until termination. They were told that they would receive medical care at no cost when in reality the researchers did everything in their power to keep the men from the simple doses of penicillin that would cure the disease. Several of the participants in the study died as a result of the disease while many more were permanently left physically or mentally crippled. In the apology, President Clinton openly stated that these men were betrayed by our government and that although the government is supposed to protect the rights of its citizens, in this case they were trampled on. He also noted how important it is that we remember this event in our history so that we can make amends and go forward as a nation.
My reaction to the apology is mixed. On one side it is hard for me to take an apology for something like this that was made so long after the study ended seriously. It took our government over 20 years to apologize for this act that was so obviously a violation of these peoples right guaranteed to them in our constitution. The fact that the study lasted as long as it did is deplorable and to add an apology so long over due can only be described as pathetic. On the other hand, it is important that our government is willing to publicly state that it was wrong and that they commit to making sure things such as this never happen again. They say that if you can not learn from your history then you are doomed to repeat it. Thankfully, with the government's dedication to biomedical ethics, something like this will never happen again.

Week 1: MDR TB

This podcast was about the epidemic tuberculosis and specifically the multi-drug resistant version that is much harder to treat. TB is a very treatable disease that can usually be cured in 6 months. However, if people misuse their antibiotic treatment then MDR TB can result. We should be concerned about this because once MDR TB occurs then the cost of medication is more expensive and treatment will last as long as 2 years. Although this is a rare disease in our country we still have to be concerned about it. This is an epidemic which means that it occurs everywhere in the world. All it takes is for one person traveling to the states from a foreign country where the disease is more prevalent to infect mass amounts of people. An important thing to remember about antibiotic treatments is that most of them do not actually kill the bacteria that have infected a patient, they only slow them down to allow the body's own immune system time to take action. People may begin to feel better and stop taking their medication even though they are directed to take it until it is out. When this happens, bacteria that had a resistance to the antibiotic have a chance to reproduce and spread through the body, rendering the previously prescribed treatment useless. Direct observation treatments are the best way to make sure that patients are not misusing their antibiotics. This type of treatment can and is used for various other diseases to make sure that drug resistant forms do not emerge.