I think, honestly, I'm more afraid of Tuberculosis than HIV/AIDS. I was an EMT for a couple of years and we had to go through all the pathogen/havards training; got immunized for Hepatitis-B, learned that HIV external to the body died easily whereas Hep-B was pretty tough. Got trained on the Darth Vader mask - I think I'd have terrified any patients treating them while wearing the Positive Pressure Respirator thing that we were supposed to use if we suspected Tuberculosis. And that stuff is airborne, and there's more antibiotic resistant Tuberculosis out there, and...well.
Maybe it's a side effect of the fact that the US is sex-phobic anyways, and HIV is viemed primarily as an STD. Kinda like the difference between the public view of genital herpes vs. oral - HSV-I is infecting people genitally these days and HSV-2 is getting passed orally, the dag-nabbed virus* is the same, but somehow the stigma is different.
Anyways. Regrets for ranting in your rant, or maybe solidarity in ranting, or something.
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Date: 2002-04-11 11:42 am (UTC)I think, honestly, I'm more afraid of Tuberculosis than HIV/AIDS. I was an EMT for a couple of years and we had to go through all the pathogen/havards training; got immunized for Hepatitis-B, learned that HIV external to the body died easily whereas Hep-B was pretty tough. Got trained on the Darth Vader mask - I think I'd have terrified any patients treating them while wearing the Positive Pressure Respirator thing that we were supposed to use if we suspected Tuberculosis. And that stuff is airborne, and there's more antibiotic resistant Tuberculosis out there, and...well.
Maybe it's a side effect of the fact that the US is sex-phobic anyways, and HIV is viemed primarily as an STD. Kinda like the difference between the public view of genital herpes vs. oral - HSV-I is infecting people genitally these days and HSV-2 is getting passed orally, the dag-nabbed virus* is the same, but somehow the stigma is different.
Anyways. Regrets for ranting in your rant, or maybe solidarity in ranting, or something.