Aum Gung Ganapathaye Namah

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma-sambuddhassa

Homage to The Blessed One, Accomplished and Fully Enlightened

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

AIDS Awareness

A Collection of Articles, Notes and References

Reference Chapter 3

(Revised: Wednesday, January 12, 2005)

References Edited by

Praise the Buddha

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

- William Shakespeare

Copyright © 2002-2010 Praise the Buddha

The following educational writings are STRICTLY for academic research purposes ONLY.

Should NOT be used for commercial, political or any other purposes.

(The following notes are subject to update and revision)

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8 "... Freely you received, freely give”.

            - Matthew 10:8 :: New American Standard Bible (NASB)

 

6 For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people?

or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?

- Esther 8:6 :: King James Version (KJV)

 

A No Sex Campaign

How to Fight AIDS?

·        No Sex

·        Be Celibate

 

Contents

Color Code

Educational Copy of the References (F-N) with Personal Review

 

Color Code

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Color Code                                                               Identification

 

Main Title                                                                  Color: Pink

Sub Title                                                                   Color: Rose

Minor Title                                                                Color: Gray – 50%

 

Collected Article Author                                       Color: Lime

Date of Article                                                          Color: Light Orange

Collected Article                                                      Color: Sea Green

Collected Sub-notes                                              Color: Indigo

 

Personal Notes                                                       Color: Black

Personal Comments                                             Color: Brown

Personal Sub-notes                                              Color: Blue - Gray

 

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Orange

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Lavender

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Aqua

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Pale Blue

 

Personal Notes Highlight                                     Color: Gold

Personal Notes Highlight                                     Color: Tan

 

HTML                                                                         Color: Blue

Vocabulary                                                               Color: Violet

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Educational Copy of the References (F-N) with Personal Review

FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.

Being educational in nature, some of the articles have personal reviews. Thought-provoking questions on morality, righteousness etc.

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Reference

Ghosh, Pallavi and Arya, Pooja. (Thursday, September 26, 2002) Threat of AIDS looms large in Himachal Pradesh. India: NDTV.com.

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Aids&slug=AIDS+threat+looms+large+in+Himachal&id=30103&callid=1&category=National

 

Threat of AIDS looms large in Himachal Pradesh

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Pallavi Ghosh and Pooja Arya

 

Thursday, September 26, 2002 (Darlaghat):

 

After Manipur and Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh could be the next state with alarming AIDS figures. Truck drivers are at a very high risk. The biggest problem: most people do know about AIDS, but they don't know what precautions to take.

 

Truck drivers like Mukesh Kumar are among the high-risk groups of HIV/AIDS in a state where the AIDS clock is ticking fast.

 

In the last five months alone:

 

  • Hamirpur has reported 35 AIDS cases.
  • In Kangra, the numbers have gone up from 9 to 17.
  • Bilaspur, Solan, Kinnaur and Mandi have registered between 20 to 25 cases.

 

One reason could be the absence of awareness among the high risk groups. Mukesh says he is aware of the problem, but does not know what precautions to take.

 

There are 4,000 reported HIV positive cases. Many more go unreported, yet the authorities prefer to underplay the problem.

 

"It is not that alarming, our state falls under low prevalence state. It is on the basis of studies, which show that it is below 1 per cent," said Dr C D Sharma, State AIDS Control Society, Himachal Pradesh.

 

As a result, there are few facilities to monitor and prevent the spread of the disease.

 

Though the first case of AIDS in the state was detected five years ago in Hamirpur, there are only three AIDS detection centres for the entire state and few health workers.

 

A walk through the streets of the capital did not show even a single poster on AIDS.

 

With the numbers of high risk groups like migrant workers and truck drivers increasing by the day, monitoring centres and awareness programmes need to be started urgently or else HIV/AIDS could turn into a nightmare for Himachal.

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Reference

Haney, Daniel Q. (Tuesday, February 11, 2003) Chat Rooms a Meeting Place for Risky Sex. USA: Newsday.com.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-aids-chat-rooms0211feb11,0,3195380.story

 

Chat Rooms a Meeting Place for Risky Sex

 

By DANIEL Q. HANEY

AP Medical Editor

 

February 11, 2003, 3:16 PM EST

 

BOSTON -- Chat rooms on gay Web sites are becoming a common place for arranging risky sexual encounters, a survey found, as experts worry about a possible upswing in HIV infections.

 

Research released Tuesday suggests that for some, the Internet serves the same hazardous purpose as gay bathhouses did in the early 1980s, when the AIDS virus first spread rampantly among homosexual men.

 

"The Internet is a new venue associated with high-risk sex," said Sabina Hirshfield. "It is a quick and easy way to meet partners."

 

The AIDS epidemic has leveled off in the United States over the past decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 40,000 new HIV infections occur annually. Nevertheless, a variety of new data raise concern that AIDS may once again be increasing.

 

The report by Hirschfield and colleagues from the Medical and Health Research Association of New York City was among several on the spread of AIDS presented at the 10th Conference on Retroviruses in Boston.

 

Her report was based on online surveys filled out by nearly 3,000 men using the Web site gay.com, which describes itself as "the largest gay media property in the world." They were mostly white, college-educated men from all over the United States, and half were under 30.

 

The survey found that 84 percent said they met sex partners online, and about two-thirds had recently had anal sex without condoms. About one-quarter of the men said they had had more 100 sex partners during their lives.

 

While federal officials are not convinced that HIV is spreading more rampantly these days, several clues suggest it may be. The CDC's Dr. Ronald Valdiserri noted that in 2001, for the first time in eight years, the number of newly diagnosed AIDS cases rose a slight 1 percent. Furthermore, data gathered from 25 states found the number of newly diagnosed HIV infections increased 8 percent between 1999 and 2001.

 

"We are concerned, and we are looking very carefully at these trends for what they might do in the future," he said.

 

Possible reasons cited by experts for an increase include the much higher number of Americans living with AIDS as a result of lifesaving medicines, fading memories of the ravages of the disease in earlier years and a sense that HIV can be readily treated.

 

One of the CDC's goals is to make sure that HIV-infected people know they have the virus so they will get treatment and be careful not pass it on to others. The CDC estimates that one-third of the 900,000 people living with HIV know of their infections.

 

However, new data from Baltimore suggest that the percentage who know their status is growing. Doctors at Johns Hopkins University's emergency department routinely offer HIV testing to patients. Charlamaine Henson said the number unaware of their infections dropped from 63 percent in 1988 to 26 percent in 2000 and 19 percent in 2001.

 

Another study from the University of North Carolina found that newly released prisoners may be especially likely to spread HIV through risky sex. Dr. David Wohl and colleagues surveyed 86 HIV-infected men and women and found that one-quarter had sex without condoms with their regular partners within a month of their release. Half of these people believed that their partners did not have the virus.

 

"Prisons in many ways facilitate the transmission of HIV," Wohl said. "Our experience is that when people get out of prison, there are two things they want to do, and one of them is get a Big Mac."

 

Much research suggests that people are most likely to pass the virus on to others soon after they catch it, since their virus levels are especially high then. A study from Uganda found that nearly half of HIV transmission between heterosexual couples occurs during the first five months after one partner gets the virus.

 

Dr. Maria Wawer reported that among these African couples, who did not use condoms, there was an 8-in-1,000 chance of passing on the virus with each sex act during those first five months after infection. The risk then dropped to 1 in 1,000 but climbed again to 5 in 1,000 in the 15 months before the infected person died of AIDS.

 

* __

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Medical Editor Daniel Q. Haney is a special correspondent for The Associated Press.

 

* __

 

On the Net:

 

Conference: http://www.retroconference.org/2003/

Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press

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Reference

Hax, Carolyn. (Friday, September 27, 2002) Tell Me About It: She can't help thinking of his nine other women. USA: The Sacramento Bee.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/story/4566220p-5585397c.html

 

Tell Me About It: She can't help thinking of his nine other women

By Carolyn Hax

Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Friday, September 27, 2002

 

DEAR CAROLYN: My wonderful boyfriend and I recently had the Stupidest Possible Conversation a Couple Can Have -- going over our respective sexual histories. We didn't delve into too much detail, but I found out that he's slept with nine women before me. And this really, really, really (as in, I'm losing sleep over it) bothers me.

 

I believe sex is a wonderful, beautiful, almost sacred thing. I don't necessarily believe in waiting until our wedding night, but I can't imagine giving something so personal and special to a stranger like my boyfriend has.

 

Am I making this into a much bigger deal than it really is?

-- Saddened

 

DEAR SADDENED: Correction, this was the Smartest Possible Conversation You Two Could Have, precisely because it might have exposed a deal-breaking difference in values. If you're throwing around terms like "our wedding night," you were (over)due for a delve into each other's past loves, and lusts. They matter. They help show who you both were and who you since have become.

 

Except now you have the image of him with nine other women to keep you up at night, when right now you need a general idea of his sexual mores keeping you up at night. Citing exact numbers was both too much detail and stupid.

 

Ask what his values are now, period. Clearly you are horrified by what they were when he was 19. Fair enough. But maybe it took a bout of meaningless sex to knock him into the spiritual despair that led to the questioning that led to the belief in sex as a gift that led him to you. In the house that Jack built.

 

In that case, your values would be in perfect alignment, just by way of different paths. Or, he was out for an even 10 and you were right there and not ugly; his experience can also have put him on a wildly divergent path that crossed yours only by chance.

 

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About the Writer

---------------------------

 

E-mail "Tell Me About It": [email protected]; fax: (202) 334-5669; or write: "Tell Me About It," c/o Washington Post Style Plus, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. Chat online with Carolyn Hax today at 9 a.m., at www.washingtonpost.com.

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Personal Review

A vital difference between traditional Eastern culture and the modern Western culture, be it a man or woman -

 

I believe sex is a wonderful, beautiful, almost sacred thing. I don't necessarily believe in waiting until our wedding night, but I can't imagine giving something so personal and special to a stranger like my boyfriend has.

 

Many a young man or woman who moves from a traditional culture to the Western culture face “culture shock”. The above “open-ness” in life-style of Western man and woman being one of the many reasons for the shock. Imagine a person, being brought up in religious orthodoxy, with taboos etc. On sudden exposure to an environment of sexual open-ness, he or she faces mental shock. Not only East, any traditional environment. There are cases where Latin American women from South America, brought up on chastity values, on moving over to USA, undergo culture shock when faced by issues like the promiscuous sexual relations of man as well as woman outside marriage.

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Reference

Jayarajan, Gireesh, Edited by D'silva, Pamela. (Friday, August 02, 2002) AIDS on Rise in Trivandrum. Trivandrum, India: IJT News.

http://www.ijtnews.org/aug02/aids.html

 

August 2002

 

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AIDS on Rise in Trivandrum

Trivandrum: Kerala Health Minister P. Sankaran’s revelation that Trivandrum has the largest number of AIDS patients in the State has taken the city-dwellers by shock.

 

The finding is based on a sample survey done by the Family Health Institute, Trivandrum, on behalf of the Kerala State AIDS Control Society (KSACS), the Government anti AIDS umbrella organisation which monitors and co-ordinates the anti AIDS campaign in the State.

 

According to the survey results, the total number of AIDS cases in the State is 890 and HIV positive cases 70000 to 100000. Of these about 90 AIDS cases and 7000 HIV positive cases have been reported from Thiruvananthapuram district.

 

This is evidence of prostitution and other unhealthy practices in the city. Prostitutes throng the busy centres such as East Fort, Statue, Thampanoor and Palayam day and night.

 

Hariharan, who is working as a volunteer with Soma, an anti AIDS NGO in the city, says: “There are about 200 sex workers who stalk the streets everyday as well as many unseen ones. These women constitute a high risk group and are potential transmitters of the dreaded disease”.

 

About 6.6 percentage of these sex workers are already known to be afflicted. "Efforts are being made by the KSACS to create awareness among the high risks groups about AIDS. This is mainly done through NGOs eight of which like Soma, Thrani and Maithri are active on the scene in the city”, says George Joseph, an official at KSACS. These NGOs are encouraged to undertake social marketing of condoms, besides free distribution. They also carry out ‘targeted interventions’, a peer-based approach that enables and sustains behaviour change among the high risk groups. 

 

Although the KSACS and NGOs claim the activities to be effective, the overall results are not so convincing. A local sex worker from the Palayam area claims that most of their customers are averse to the idea of condoms and, as elsewhere, the customer interests are paramount.

 

“There is no need for too much of concern”, says Dr. N. Prasannakumar, Assistant Director of Health Services (AIDS), “the statistics are based on a sample survey and is not completely reliable. It may also be that the capital city shows a high incidence of AIDS because it hosts a medical college leading to reporting of a higher number of cases as being from the city."

 

Gireesh Jayarajan

Edited by Pamela D'silva  

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Personal Review

  1. Trivandrum has the largest number of AIDS patients in Kerala State.
  2. As of August 2002, based on survey results

Kerala State             Trivandrum District

Total number of AIDS cases 890                                         90

HIV positive cases                   70, 000 – 1, 00, 000             7, 000

(Note: the statistics are based on a sample survey; not completely reliable)

    1. So, the actual figures, are they higher?
    2. Supporting Factors:

                                                              i.      Less morality in society

                                                            ii.      Higher incidence of extra-marital sex

                                                          iii.      Sex seen as a sign of “manhood”

                                                          iv.      The prevalent attitude among young boys and girls, young men and women to explore the “forbidden fruit” (Refer jokes)

  1. This is evidence of prostitution and other unhealthy practices in the city.
    1. Unhealthy practices?

                                                              i.      Does that mean lack of moral values, for men and women?

1.      When such is the state of moral values in any society, is it surprising that the number of AIDS cases is increasing day by day, in any society?

a.      It also means that to counter AIDS, one should personally cultivate certain do’s and don’ts. Certain personal rules. Moral values. Righteousness. If a person, whether man or woman doesn’t have that basic self-restriction, there is no point in fighting AIDS. Just suffer the consequences, the pain etc of being infected, or of being affected.

b.     So what is the point in giving sex education to school children, boys and girls, when there is an absolute lack of morality in society?

c.      Teach moral values, moral science as part of curriculum. Then comes the next problem:

                                                                                                                                      i.      You may preach “empty words” of moral values in schools. BUT is that what is actually seen in society?

                                                                                                                                    ii.      How will the little children correlate the concepts of morality, acts of righteousness etc with what is taught in schools and what is actually experienced in society?

1.      What genuine answer can a moral teacher give to such a discrepancy, such a contradiction?

  1. Prostitutes throng the busy centres such as East Fort, Statue, Thampanoor and Palayam day and night.
  2. There are about 200 sex workers who stalk the streets everyday as well as many unseen ones. These women constitute a high risk group and are potential transmitters of the dreaded disease. About 6.6 percentage of these sex workers are already known to be afflicted.
  3. behaviour change
    1. What is that?

                                                              i.      No Sex

                                                            ii.      Be Celibate

  1. …overall results are not so convincing
  2. According to a local sex worker,
    1. most of their customers are averse to the idea of condoms
    2. the customer interests are paramount

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Reference

Kumar, Manish. (Sunday, October 06, 2002) Bihar family boycotted after members die of AIDS. India: NDTV.com.

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=AIDS&slug=Bihar+family+boycotted+in+fear+of+AIDS&id=10313&callid=0&category=National

 

Bihar family boycotted after members die of AIDS

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Manish Kumar

 

Sunday, October 6, 2002 (Patna):

 

In a shocking incident, a family in Hathauri village of Muzaffarpur district in north Bihar has been living the life of an outcaste as three of its members died of AIDS.

 

Dayal Singh is a devastated man today. While poverty prevented his family any access to treatment, the prevailing myth that AIDS spreads through social interaction ensured that they were boycotted.

 

"No one from the village came to see us. Even the men were not offered water. We somehow managed to perform the last rites," says Indu Devi, widow of one of the victim.

 

The villagers also suspect that at least three members of the family, including two daughters-in-law and a three-year-old child are HIV positive.

 

"My child is always sick and I am worried. I never get any help," says Neelam Devi, another victim's widow.

 

Even the Rs 1.5 lakh, sanctioned by former Health Minister CP Thakur, has yet to reach the family.

 

Meanwhile, the locals have barred any contact with the family.

 

"We are afraid, so we blocked the route to their house. We are apprehensive about getting the disease ourselves," says Ramnaresh Paswan, a villager.

 

And it is this lack of awareness which the state government has to get rid off, if it wants to fight AIDS.

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Reference

Leeman, Patrick. (Wednesday, May 01, 2002) Deadly new AIDS symptoms surface in KZN. South Africa: Independent Online.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=13&click_id=13&art_id=ct20020501203020377R5252396&set_id=1

 

Deadly new Aids symptoms surface in KZN

 

May 01 2002 at 08:30PM

 

By Patrick Leeman

 

The epidemic of HIV/Aids in KwaZulu-Natal is expressing itself in ominous new forms, a local academic has discovered.

 

Urging the medical fraternity to be extra vigilant, Professor Runjan Chetty, professor of pathology at the Nelson R Mandela Medical School of the University of Natal in Durban, said a recent study had discovered new symptoms of the deadly disease.

 

One new form was the bulging or distension of the large arteries to the head, neck and limbs, often causing stroke-like symptoms and loss of feeling in the lower limbs.

 

Prof Chetty said this was an entirely new development in the manifestation of the disease. He has just returned from a meeting in Canada, where he presented a paper on the new medical phenomenon.

 

He said the presence of huge swellings, often causing ruptured aneurysms, were the first symptoms of HIV/Aids in the 16 patients observed with this condition. A total of 40 patients with the manifestation had already been seen.

 

Professor Chetty said most of the patients who were studied did not have any clinically obvious signs of HIV infection and none of them were being treated for HIV/Aids.

 

He said that two-thirds of the patients who were presented with these symptoms were male and ranged in age between 18 and 38.

 

He said a colleague, Dr Nelson Moodley, from the Department of Surgery, was embarking on a PhD to determine the cause of these aneurysms from an immunological point of view.

 

Professor Chetty said another strange manifestation regarding HIV/Aids had been noted by his team. Where the patient had already become HIV-infected, and the immune system compromised, TB was now masquerading as an inflammatory condition in the form of non-specific abscesses.

 

He said this development was presenting major diagnostic "pitfalls" for the medical profession.

 

If these abscesses were not treated as TB-induced and were instead treated as inflamed raised areas, the patient could die from TB.

 

Professor Chetty urged the medical fraternity to be extra-vigilant in discerning both of these conditions.

 

The swellings, he said, represented a "new" variation in the outbreak of HIV/Aids, and the abscesses caused by TB an "old" variation.

 

This was because TB was an old illness and was re-emerging in a highly dangerous way, alongside HIV/Aids.

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Personal Review

Main Points

  1. One new form was the bulging or distension of the large arteries to the head, neck and limbs, often causing stroke-like symptoms and loss of feeling in the lower limbs.
  2. the presence of huge swellings, often causing ruptured aneurysms
  3. most of the patients who were studied did not have any clinically obvious signs of HIV infection and none of them were being treated for HIV/Aids.
  4. two-thirds of the patients who were presented with these symptoms were male and ranged in age between 18 and 38.
  5. Where the patient had already become HIV-infected, and the immune system compromised, TB was now masquerading as an inflammatory condition in the form of non-specific abscesses.
  6. this development was presenting major diagnostic "pitfalls" for the medical profession.
  7. If these abscesses were not treated as TB-induced and were instead treated as inflamed raised areas, the patient could die from TB.
  8. the medical fraternity to be extra-vigilant in discerning both of these conditions.
  9. The swellings, … represented a "new" variation in the outbreak of HIV/Aids, and the abscesses caused by TB an "old" variation.
  10. … TB was an old illness and was re-emerging in a highly dangerous way, alongside HIV/Aids.

 

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http://www.geocities.com/praisethebuddha/misc/aids/refer/chap3.html

 

Published on internet: Wednesday, December 04, 2002

Revised: Wednesday, January 12, 2005

 

Information on the web site is given in good faith about a certain spiritual way of life, irrespective of any specific religion, in the belief that the information is not misused, misjudged or misunderstood. Persons using this information for whatever purpose must rely on their own skill, intelligence and judgment in its application. The webmaster does not accept any liability for harm or damage resulting from advice given in good faith on this website.

 

Reference Chapter 2                                                                                      Reference Chapter 4

 

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“Thou belongest to That Which Is Undying, and not merely to time alone,” murmured the Sphinx, breaking its muteness at last. “Thou art eternal, and not merely of the vanishing flesh. The soul in man cannot be killed, cannot die. It waits, shroud-wrapped, in thy heart, as I waited, sand-wrapped, in thy world. Know thyself, O mortal! For there is One within thee, as in all men, that comes and stands at the bar and bears witness that there IS a God!

(Reference: Brunton, Paul. (1962) A Search in Secret Egypt. (17th Impression) London, UK: Rider & Company. Page: 35.)

Amen

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