2025 & Ignorance...

 

This article isn't professional but it has a point.  The piece is about a woman who lost her "best friend" after revealing was HIV+.  I put those words in quotations because a person who genuinely cared for another might freak out, but not abandon a person over a virus.

This wasn't in the olden days of HIV/AIDS.  This was 2021, decades into the fight against HIV.  The woman in this piece details her situation & what she wish had been different.  

It's the 2020's & ignorance & stigma are alive & well.  The problem is they always will be with us.  Stigma is a result of ignorance, hate, control...  A + diagnosis threatens those things.  They can't punish a virus, so they go after the person.  I think it's time to stop fighting stigma & just help people learn how to handle those situations as best they can.  You can't control other people.

That's all for now, take care.

Cya...

Beyond Ignorant...

 

This UK article  shows that a lot of people are far past ignorant.  Some have embraced a stupidly dangerous level of stupidity.  The UK has seen over a 36% surge in HIV cases.   UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) & Newfoundland Diagnostics ran a poll & found some disturbing things among the men's answers.

• 73% have never tested for HIV
• 37% were having regular unprotected sex
• 34% believing they are unlikely to contract HIV 
• 25% claimed they couldn't contract HIV.
• 20% could not be bothered to test for HIV
• 15% had never had access to a HIV test 

These were some of the findings from their survey of over 2,500 men.  They found among heterosexual  men, few had adequate access to PrEP, education, awareness or any other resources concerning HIV.

Newfoundland Diagnostics is pushing for testing to become more common & at home testing to be readily available.  The firm believes due to the US's freeze on aid there could be a global rise in HIV & in turn could impact the levels in the UK.

This was a good read.  That's it for now.  Take care.

Cya...

Eclipse, Cats, Rain & Misc...

 

The eclipse happened & it was neat to see.  The powers that be in our town & surrounding areas highly overestimated the number of people that'd be out.  If anything, that's the least amount of people I've seen out on a Monday morning in a long time.   So much for Arkansas' state of emergency.  Still it was an experience.

Our older cat Millie turns 8 this month.  We don't exactly when.  The youngest will be 6 months soon.  Where are all these smart, graceful cats people talk about?  We keep getting clumsy, awkward doofuses.  We love them, but smart, elegant or graceful are not words we'd use to describe them unless we were being sarcastic.

It rained a lot last night.  Somewhere just over 3".  It was loud & bright.   I didn't sleep well through that storm.  It wouldn't find a rhythm. 

For the miscellany;  I forgot yesterday was National Native American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.  There are more articles out about how British, heterosexual adults got a rude surprise in finding out they weren't somehow exempt from contracting HIV.  Lastly, there's been quite a few pieces over HIV in young people.  This isn't surprising.  They test to have the least understanding of the illness.  This is entirely due to awareness & education programs being taken away from their age groups via schools other outlets. 

That's all for now, take care.

Cya...

Angry, Embarrassed, Relieved...

 

The plumber finally came.  He told us the problem wasn't a hard fix & had it handled fairly quickly.  He also told us it had probably been there a while & we hadn't noticed.  The noise we heard in the pipes was most likely the city cleaning lines.  It may not have had anything to with our house.

While I am relieved, I'm also angry.  If the city had given notice, we might have considered the noise we heard had been them.  If my family had taught me a fraction of the practical skills they had, then I might have been better equipped to handle the situation.   My family taught me precious little.  What I do know, I gleaned watching people or learned via trial & error.  Now, the net & youtube make things a lot easier. 

I'm angry, because the 1st guy that came made this seem like a huge problem.   He would've probably tried to replace the entire line.  Which would've possibly cost 1,000s.  

I'm embarrassed for my lack of knowledge.  I do my best not to be so ignorant about things.  Still there are areas I know nothing about.  I can do research to try, but it doesn't always work.  Especially, not when I'm rattled, stressed & panicking.  

For now it's handled.  It'd be nice if nothing else craps out for a long while.  The people of this house need a serious moment to catch their breath & recuperate. 

That's all for now, take care.

Cya...

Everything Else...

 

Since this blog was about living with HIV in rural Oklahoma I'd like to point a few things.  While most of the points I make tend to deal with that topic, often I can't find articles I'd like to discuss.  When I do find  interesting articles, they're usually very general topics, like new meds or ideas about HIV.  

In the past, if I've found pieces dealing with rural areas, they're just as apt to be overseas & therefore not very applicable to my situation.  HIV in small town America isn't a popular subject.  Even though a lot of HIV+ people came from these places.  As for Oklahoma, there's been less than an article a year concerning HIV in this state.  I've keyworded the state 19 times during this blog & only a few are dealing with articles.  The rest are about politics & COVID. 

Being HIV+ in a rural area isn't easy.  There are hardly any resources & it isn't necessarily the safest thing for people to know your status.  People often talk about the things those living rural areas should be doing, like using public transit.  What they don't seem to register is that those options are not available in small towns or countrysides.  Ignorance isn't just affecting the virus transmission, it impacts the treatment & care of everyone no matter what their situation.

Some might think that how I haven't managed to discuss more local, rural & even small town issues is a failure for the blog.  But, in reality, it is what it's always been, out of sight, out of mind.  Urban people & organizations just don't think about small towns.   It isn't writers like me who have failed.  It's the mentality of this society in how it treats everything outside a metro area, like it doesn't or shouldn't exist.

Cya...

Science Won't...

 

I've come across a few articles lately, that while aggravating, are accurate.  Science won't end COVID, it  hasn't & won't end HIV.  HIV may be incurable, but we've had the means to test, treat & contain it for decades.   Hasn't meant a damn thing in ending  HIV.  It's lowered the fatality rates, but the virus continues to be spread even now.

The same is true with COVID.   We've had the means  to lessen the spread & impact of this virus for a bit now.  It isn't ending this outbreak.

Yes,  science will impact the spread of these illnesses.  But, not enough.  It takes money, a lot of money.  Even with the funds, it takes the willingness of the population.  The group has to be willing to listen, learn & face the problem in a logical manner.  Little of this was accomplished with HIV.  Even less headway has been made with COVID.  Violent, angry indulged ignorance has been the chosen path for many when facing COVID & those trying to fight it.   These people choose violence, hate,  idiocy & conspiracy theories over the facts.  Again, they have made a virus an ideological matter.  A thing of religion & politics. 

Science can't & won't end HIV or COVID.  There are too many stupid, violent indulgent people in the world.  Do your best to keep yourself safe, no one  else will.  Take care.

Cya...

The New Virus

I wasn't going to post about the coronavirus, it's not HIV, but here we go.  Let's start here, the CDC's site over the virus.  Or the wiki page over the virus's current state.  Now, is a time to be informed, not embrace scary rhetoric.

There are 2 reasons I'm writing about.  Google either & you'll find them in abundance.  1st, that idiot, Trump, has put Mike Pence in charge of handling the matter.  The same asshat that botched Indiana's HIV outbreak due to his conservative ideology & indulgent assholeishness.  That's not good.

2nd, things are getting very retro about the virus.  It's like when HIV 1st appeared.  There's a lot of fear, anger & ignorance.  Some people are targeting those of Asian decent (any) & accusing them of being responsible for the virus.  The "Other" has come back into play.   Those people are spreading the disease, not us.  It's their fault.   Asians are the new Gays.

Read the links.  Mike Pence is a dangerous fool & shouldn't be in charge of anything.  Viruses don't discriminate.   They simply effect what they can.  It's how they survive.   Stop putting value judgements on the spread of illness.

Take care.

Cya...

Well Duh...

I wasn't able to find a good link.  There've been some reports from New Mexico of  HIV transmissions after vampire facials.  I'm sorry people, but this was playing with blood (even if it was your own) & it was never a good idea.  These were "spa" settings not doctor's offices.  There was no reason to believe these people would adhere to the proper level of sanitation.  There's no evidence to support the efficacy of these facials.

If these people did contract HIV this way, they should've known better.  The people offering the service should've known better.   The state should've known better. Failure & ignorance were abundant in this setting.

Take care.

Cya...

PS - Goodbye April

Still Needing The Info...

No citations today.  The topic is easily Googled.   There are a constant flow of articles detailing the failures of the fight against HIV.  Even in the age PrEP & accessible regimens.  

The culprit usually comes down the, "Not me" attitude.  Various reports show 10 - 33% of gay/bi males under 24 haven't been tested for HIV & are horribly ignorant of the virus.  Those that somewhat understand the virus, feel they're not risky enough to  contract it & if they do they can just take meds.  They think it's like having a long term cold.

The untested numbers drop drastically once past the age of 24 & outside the general demographic.   Still, that's a huge number of people ignorant about HIV & untested who are sexually active.   This is not a case for PrEP or treatment as prevention.  This is the very reason why education & prevention are still relevant.  Only by making these young men aware of the situation is there a chance of getting them to practice safer sex behaviors & get tested.  

Take care.

Cya..

What's What...

Everywhere in the news today are reports concerning Bill Gates & Donald Trump.   During an interview on MSNBC's, All In With Chris Hayes, Gates revealed at an earlier meeting Trump had to ask him the difference between HIV & HPV.    Trump had to ask twice.  

Not only did the president not know the difference between these 2 illnesses, he promptly forgot when it was explained to him.  Either the man just didn't care about the issues or he has a serious memory problem.  Considering him & his age, it be either or both.   No matter, any scenario with a sitting president not knowing the basics about these 2 widely public viruses is cause for concern.

Cya...

Not Testing...

"Despite public health efforts to expand opportunities for HIV testing, in 2015, more than 50% of adults aged 18 to 64 in the United States had never been tested for HIV outside of the mandatory testing done for blood or blood product donation," the researchers wrote in the study.

This quote was taken from a CNN piece  based on CDC statistics.   It tells how younger people, 15 - 44, were fairly unlikely to be tested for HIV unless it was required.   The reason, these people felt they were at no actual risk in contracting the virus.  As usual, men more likely to remain untested, but women were shown to be closing that gap. 

An odd point, was that education had an inverse affect on testing between the genders.   The higher a man's education, the more apt he was to be tested for HIV.  The opposite was true for women.   It didn't explain why.  Perhaps, men grew to understand the risk better & women thought they were better educated & therefore knew how best to avoid the disease.

It's simple.  Unless you're already HIV+, if you are sexually active, you should be getting tested for the virus regularly.  There's no other responsible option. 

Cya...