Reflection on course

I can’t believe it’s already week 10. This class is one of the more interesting classes I have taken here at Oregon State. This class is what I expected; it was fun as well as interesting learning about how to protect myself from STIs. What was covered that I was not expecting was the unethical studies done in the past. I was every eye opening and I learned that the rights we have today was not always there and had to be earned. The most useful was learning about how to protect myself from different types of STD’s. Coming into this class, I did not know that there were so many different kinds of STD’s that can be spread, but this class cleared up any false facts I had about them. One thing I did find the least useful was the stuff we did in the beginning of the term about ethics, although I think it would more closely relate to someone who is going into the medical field. I also found the biology talk about HIV really hard to follow, since I am not a Biology major and don’t really have a background in it, I found it just hard to follow. And yes I think this is an important topic to be taught at a university level since lot of university students are sexually active.

BOB

I learned that as an HIV positive person, he can still live a simi-normal life. With the help of drugs I was surprised that a person can live that long. He was diagnosed in 1990 and is still living 19 years now. I learned that he had to completely change his lifestyle quitting drug use and alcohol. It makes sense because now that he is HIV positive he needs all his strength to stay as healthy as possible. I also learned that money is tight with the anti viral drugs costing him so much money, so his spend habits had to also change. I think Bob’s experience is similar with others around the globe in the fact that once you find out that you are HIV positive, you have to change your lifestyle to be able to live longer like Bob. You have to eat healthy and exercise to keep your body as healthy as possible to try and keep away from infections.

Bob said HIV is transmitted in rural regions via heterosexual intercourse. When a male is asked to use a condom by a women, they might be beaten or even killed just because of them asking. So it is due to gender inequality of females.

Living with HIV in a rural region is tough because of the lack of money and health care. In rural areas there are no clinics and health care providers to administrator treatment to the infected. Another reason is because of the cost of the drugs. Someone living in rural regions might not be able to afford it.

Where's the evidence?

I think the most plausible of the few are the hunter theory and the contaminated needle theory. I am I person of evidence, without evidence it would be hard to persuade me something is true. In this case there has been evidence that HIV came from SIV. They found that it was the same strand of virus. And since it is a blood disease, it would not be rare if your cutting open a monkey to accidently cut yourself and blood contact is made. I would explain how there are different strands of the disease. I also know that sharing needles can cause HIV to be transferred. Studies have shown this and proven this so it would not be unlikely that it was originally spread that way. There have also been evidence that IV user that share needles have had a greater rate of the disease as compared to clean IV users. Again there is hard evidence that HIV can be spread this way as compared to the conspiracy theory, there is just no evidence of this so it is hard to believe.
I think it is important to learn how the disease was transmitted to humans. I believe by knowing the source it would help finding a vaccine for the disease. Knowing that by injecting monkeys with the HIV does not have the same effects on them as humans, it would be smart to find out what in their bodies can cause the HIV virus to not advance to AIDS. There has to be something that is stopping it from advancing, and by finding the cause of the disease it would bring use one step close to finding a cure.

White Privilege

The article by Peggy McIntosh talks about racism. It was interesting in the fact that she refers to the word “white privilege” drowning what she really means. But in fact it really means how the white population has an advantage over minorities, because of this white people take what they have for granted and don’t fully appreciate it. She also made some interesting points by talking about how people buy band aids to match their skin color just so they would not be harassed. Although it seems like this article was written quite a while ago because some of the I can statements she has, you just don’t see any more.
I agree with some things she says. Since I am Chinese but born here in America, I can full relate to some of the points she makes. Some of the typical stereotypes I deal with are that the only thing I eat is rice. When you are applying for a job or university it seems like Caucasians have the upper hand. When you open the paper or TV you would usually see one race represented.
Points that I would disagree with are that when we hire people here in the United States, there has been a law put in place so that it has to be a fair hiring process. Although I believe that some people are subconsciously raciest. I believe that all people start out a non raciest but it’s the people around them that influence them to be who they are. Another thing I would not agree on is how she was saying we should lower the mens standard. Maybe it’s because I’m bias being a male, but why would you lower a standard to meet others? It does not make sense.
I don’t really see privilege of all sorts affecting the spread and treatment of HIV/AIDS. It seems like it is more of a social economical issue than a racial one because if you look at who has AIDS now, it’s all types of races. I agree with addressing it as a larger system will help talking about sexual health. Sometimes it is good to step back and look at the larger issue instead of just being narrow minded and only paying attention to only the details.

What I know about HIV/AIDS

As of right now I know the basics about AIDS like how it originated from chimps, and how it is a global issue. The kinds of information I have heard about AIDS are people first started showing signs of it in the homosexual community in San Francisco. It was not known that it was a disease that could be spread through the blood at first. The disease works by attacking the body’s immune system, by not having an immune system it would fall at basic everyday diseases. But what causes AIDS is the HIV virus. The disease as of today does not have a cure for it, but there are drugs that can suppress it. In basic health classes is where I learned this information. I am hoping to learn how AIDS affects people in different countries. Maybe in a geographical sense or a economical issue. What has already been surprising to me from the videos seen on Wednesday was how it really affects IV drug users. To me I keep forgetting that AIDS is such a big issue with drug users. It seems like there is a stigma that AIDS is passed along predominately by sexual contact but that’s not true, it can be from blood and IV users. The video seen on Monday really showed how it affects the people in different countries since they don’t have as much help as people that live in wealthy countries, they are really stricken by disease. I feel that as an American living in the richest country in the world, we have the best doctors and clinics that other third world countries only dream about having. By having such a superior resource, we should be able to cut down on the HIV positives people in the population with the education and resource available.

STI, greater than a geographical issue!

Most disease that happens in this world is distinguished in a geographical trend, which seems to happen mostly in the southern hemisphere of the world. Areas like Africa, and parts of Asia are the hardest hit when it comes to sexually transmitted infections. But why does it happen in that region of the world? Why does Australia not lead the way since it is more south than any of the other countries mentioned above? The answer is it has nothing to do with geography, but the class of the country. That is why diseases are prevalent in poor and developing countries and not in rich and prevailing countries like the United Sates. The ability of getting help for diseases is not easy for people in poor countries. It is just not available, there are few or even no clinics as well as doctors for struggling countries, therefore the rate as well of the possibility of sexual transmitted diseases are greater. What causes me to look at STIs differently than other around the world is mostly education. In other developing countries there is no education for STIs like here in the United States. It would not be on the top of their list to educate people about STIs developing countries have a lot more important issues to worry about. In the United States we can afford to educate our population on STIs, whether it’s through a commercial or through the public education system when you educate people and they have the knowledge to protect themselves, it is fighting the spreading of the disease. This theory is very true looking at the rate of diseases in rich countries vs developing countries.

Canadian HPV commercial

The video I watched was a Canadian commercial for HPV. The commercial warned people how HPV can be transmitted even if you have one partner you can still contract the virus and not see any signs. It was also mentioned in the video that HPV can lead to genital warts and cervical cancer and can be spread through interment contact, which matches what we the CDC had about HPV. I feel it does use fear as a way to grab viewers attention. By saying the word cancer, since it is such a deadly disease, it really tells the viewers that this is not to joke around with, and it could lead to cancer. In the 30 second clip it did not really give false information, everything said seems to be correct based on what the CDC has to say. This commercial is aiming at college students. The people shown in this video are in their early to mid 20’s and looks like they can be regular college students. I think this is an effective way to reach the college (mid 20’s) age range since they watch lots of TV. I think launching commercials is a great way to spread the word about STI prevention. By doing that people who are not as well educated about STI’s would get a little 30 second clip about the disease. By effecting one person to get checked that can save a whole group of people from contracting the disease, as showed in class how fast STI infections can spread. It has also shown on college campuses that spreading the word really does help in preventing and getting checked for STI’s. It would be a wise choice to spread the word before it’s too late.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgd4J8-Pem8

Clintons apology to the Tuskegee victims

The Tuskegee Syphilis study was a study done in the mid 1900’s that targeted southern African Americans by the United States government. The participants knowingly had Syphilis and were kept in the dark about the cure for it when it became available during World War II. The participants were told they had “bad blood” and they were tricked into the terrible experiment since they had the trust of their local Tuskegee hospital. The reason for it was so scientist can see what the long term effects of the disease was. Eventually in the 70’s this was uncovered by journalist and therefore put to a stop. On May 16, 1997 president Clinton give a formal apology speech to the family, children and the men themselves saying how the government betrayed their own citizens and they study was racial and unethical for them to do. Clinton announced five steps to try and repair what has been done. First was apology to the family and the men and to build a Tuskegee memorial. Second increase community involvement so the government can again regain the trust of the community. Third strengthen the researchers in bioethics. Fourth enhance understanding of ethical issues and clinical research. extending the charter of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission to October of 1999. My reaction to the apology was it was long over due. The study was ended in 1972, and the apology was given in 1997, that’s 25 years later! I felt that an apology should have been given a lot earlier. If someone had an horrific experience they had to live through, they would want to forget as soon as possible and not bring up the memories anymore. But having it 25 years later, would bring up terrible memories again. I felt Clinton did a great job listing the 5 different things that could be done to try and mend the wounds caused by the United States government. Not only building a memorial for the victims but also awarding grants to the school where all of this happened. Overall it was a great apology speech and the ending was excellent and true saying how the men and their families only they had the power to forgive, and saying this was a lesson for America will never forget.

Small Pox used as a weapon???

I think small pox can indeed be used as a weapon in these modern times. With small pox eradicated since the 1970s and vaccinations no longer done, the world’s population is very vulnerable to a bio-terrorist attack by the use of small pox. There are 2 heavily guarded locations around the world that still carry this deadly strain of virus one is the United States and one in Russia. The reason of having the deadly virus still around is for research and creation of new vaccines purposes. Scientist have found that small pox can be reversed engineered from small pox victim’s DNA to its deadly from and then re introduced to a living host, to where that person would spread it to the community. Since it’s an air born disease it would be hard to stop from spreading. This will affect the wellness of the world’s population making it a Public Health issue. Although this sounds scary, I believe that the chances of that happening is very tiny. These places with the virus are heavily guarded and terrorist are not likely to break in and steal the virus, but this is not a “small” matter, prevention steps should still be taken to prevent a catastrophic event like small pox to be used as a weapon.