Studies show tat the number of AIDS cases in Canada is doubling each year. There is no known cure for this still-mysterious disease and men and women and children can be infected with it.
And while AIDS is spreading, the medical establishment and the government are telling people not to become alarmed about AIDS.
Networks of doctors, nurses, scientists, government officials and volunteers, are working to prevent unreasonable fear of the disease while trying to stop if from spreading.
Clearly, our medical and government officials are doing a flip-flop on the issue of AIDS.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a relatively new disease which makes the body vulnerable to rare diseases. When it was first diagnosed in 1978, the disease was confined to homosexuals, including Haitian Homosexuals. But as more and more cases were reported, heterosexuals, especially bisexual men, intravenous drug users and hemophiliacs, and, later on, children, had become victims of AIDS. Today, through blood transfusions and sexual contact, AIDS is threatening to spread further. (The U.S. Center for Disease control in Atlanta claims that up to one million Americans have been exposed to or infected with AIDS).
The government has put out pamphlets, films, and educational sessions to keep the public informed about AIDS. At the same time, some media personnel are trying, rather unsuccessfully, to shift attention away from homosexuals as the source of the disease.
The government and the medical establishment are also in a dilemma. They acknowledge AIDS as a serious health threat and are worried about its spread but they do not want to cause panic among the public or appear to criticize the lifestyle of homosexuals, drug-users – any group that seems to be high risk.
Through blood transfusions. Last May, it was reported that an entire family had contracted AIDS. Patrick and Lauren Burk of Pennsylvania both suffer from AIDS. Patrick, 27, a hemophiliac, contracted AIDS when he received his regular injections of clotted blood. He unwittingly passed it to his wife who was pregnant at the time. The Burk’s son, Dwight, also has AIDS, probably contracted at birth.
The U.S. Public Health Service has suggested that all blood centers use a recently-devised test to screen donations of blood. The test isn’t perfect – it may indicate that some people have AIDS without them being infected. Canada has not begun to use this test as yet, because government officials feel such a test may cause unnecessary worry.
Vaccination ?
Another U.S. study conducted in April suggested that all people should be vaccinated against the disease – when such a vaccine is developed.
Because of the increasing spread of the disease, homosexuals fear that this will cause “large scale discrimination.” So the AID’s Committee of Toronto wants a revision of the Human Rights Code (Ontario) to include sexual orientation. They want the public to know that AIDS is not spread through casual social contact. (AIDS is spread through contamination with bodily fluids such as blood and semen).
Local AIDS researchers in Quebec want their government to require doctors treating patients suffering from AIDS to report the case to health authorities.
Currently, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Ontario require physicians to report statistics on AIDS victims to health officials.
Health officials believe the spread of the disease may be prevented if certain steps are taken – avoiding sexual contact with persons suspected to have AIDS, avoiding sexual contact with multiple partners, refraining from giving blood if you may have AIDS, using caution when handling hypodermic needles and ordering blood transfusions only when medically necessary.
No cover-up
The main priority of the government and medical officials must be to stop the spread of AIDS. The public should be informed responsibly about the disease without any cover-up. It only confuses people more to say that AIDS is a serious health threat and then say few Canadians are at risk of catching the disease. AIDS will spread even more as long as the public is kept in the dark.
