Essay on The Stigma Attached to HIV and AIDS

Ever since the first cases of what eventually came to be known as AIDS were diagnosed in the early 1980s, people with HIV/AIDS have been stigmatized. Over time, there have been many misconceptions about this disease. Even though there have been many discoveries, and treatments for HIV have improved over time, there are still many people who understand very little about this disease. This lack of understanding, along with fear, misinformation about how the disease is transmitted, and “moral” judgments made about the types of people who contract HIV, all have led to stigmatization of, and discrimination against, people who are living with HIV/AIDS. Understanding the stigmatization of people with HIV/AIDS is an important social justice issue because that stigmatization can result in people with HIV being insulted, rejected, gossiped about, excluded from family and social activities, fired, and even jailed. People with HIV are no different from people suffering from other chronic diseases. Instead of being alienated, they have a right to be treated with fairness, respect, and dignity.

In human societies there will always be issues or problems that occur which cause some form of reaction from those who feel that their values or societal equilibrium is being threatened. Stanley Cohen and Jock Young led the way in explaining the notion of moral panics and how they are formed and their consequences on society. There have been numerous of these moral phenomena over the years, which have gripped society in a vice lock of terror and more often than not, ignorance. This essay will discuss the concept of the moral panic and look at the case of HIV/AIDS which caused a huge conflict of morality within society. This essay will also analyse the failings of health organisations, politicians, and the

Since it is a disease contracted on one’s own, it is oftentimes seen as the fault of the person living with HIV or AIDS, therefore causing others to feel as though they should not be held responsible for such accomodation. Furthermore, there is a strong correlation between the stigma of HIV and other marginalized groups, such as queer and people of color. For a long period of time there was a general misconstrued idea that this disease only affected gay men or those who were economically disadvantaged and seen negatively, including minority groups.

In the 1980s, a mysterious disease began to take the lives of Americans. With the cause unknown, a fear grew among Americans. An unusually high rate of people was becoming sick with strange and rare diseases. When experimental treatments failed to work, people died. This mysterious disease is what we now know as HIV–Human Immunodeficiency Virus. In the past thirty-five years, the HIV has taken many turns in history. Although we do not hear about HIV and AIDS now, it is still a prevalent issue in the United States and in the world.

Looking at the specific disease of HIV/AIDS, there is a captivating negative stigma surrounding anyone infected or possibly infected because others are fearful. This stigma is so potent because the disease usually starts from a homosexual and then spreads, attacking

When a person finds out that someone has AIDS they assume they can get it. Yes AIDS are contagious but it is not contagious by contact. You can only get it through blood and unprotected sex. People with AIDS are often mistreated. People without AIDS treat them differently because they are not as healthy as they are. People with AIDS are bullied, and because of that they may commit suicide. Most may just move residences and jobs because they do not want more people to find out other than the people that may have already found out. “To avoid rejection and humiliation, Central Americans living with HIV may change residence, avoid seeking services in nearby health centers, or fargo medical attention altogether” (Gonzalez). In some people's eyes a family member may have AIDS but they think they are still healthy because their love for them. All people should be treated the same with or without AIDS. We are all still human and nobody with AIDS should be mistreated. Even though the person may have made a bad decision on whether to have protected sex or not they should still be treated equally. Some people don't even get through sex, they get it through birth because of the mother may have had it. That is one cause of an early death. Not all of people who has a mother with AIDS have been born with the infection. Sometimes they just don’t get the infection through birth which is a good thing. But to the kids that may have AIDS

3- More than 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV infection, and almost 1 in 6 (15.8 percent) are unaware they have the virus.

The early days of the AIDS epidemic challenged the cartesian nature of biomedical culture. With its emphasis on empiricism, the superior biomedical mind could normally make sense of the inferior patient’s bodily concerns. In the early 80s, though, the scientific method seemed to be failing with AIDS, with no clear biological etiologic agent being identified, and rumors circulated. As the biomedical mind struggled to define and categorize AIDS, the moralistic nature of medical authority revealed itself. Instead of pathology residing in the biology of a patient, it appeared to transcend the patient’s biology and reveal deviant sexual behavior. Instead of being able to treat or study the disease, the diseased bodies were quarantined. Even when it was understood that AIDS had a viral cause, biomedicine’s quarantining practices became subtler, but still perpetuated the social stigma of AIDS patients. In this essay, I examine the nature of AIDS stigma through the lens of two biomedical professionals’ memories of the first decade of the epidemic. One such professional is Dr. M. Robert Hill, M.D. He is a retired internist of 68 years, who used to work at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in Town and Country, Missouri, and treated several AIDS patients before antiretroviral therapy was discovered. The other ethnographic source is Dr. Daniel Hanson, a current Immunology lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis, who was completing his second postdoctoral fellowship in immunology at

“At the end of 2013, an estimated 1.2 million persons aged 13 and older were living with HIV infection in the United States, including an estimated 161,200 (13%) persons whose infections had not been diagnosed (cdc.gov).” Many people report never experiencing any symptoms and don’t even know

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 20 million of infections (including HIV) occur each year.

Human immunodeficiency Virus also known as HIV is a sexually transmitted disease. It attacks your body's immune system. The virus destroys CD4 cells, which help your body fight diseases. HIV damages your immune system and it leads to acquired immune deficiency syndrome also known as AIDS. AIDS is the final stage in HIV, and it’s a disease where severe loss of the body's cellular immunity occurs. The disease lowers the resistance to infection and malignancy. Anyone can get HIV/AIDS. Men, women, and children, of all different races and descents can get infected with the virus. People who are gay or straight can also be infected with HIV/AIDS. There is currently no cure for HIV/AIDS. HIV treatments may reduce

At the beginning of the outbreak when there was insufficient knowledge about AIDS, there were numerous false rumors spreading like wildfire about the syndrome. Such as that one could incur AIDS from just touching another, or misrepresenting AIDS as only a threat to homosexual men. This mindset caused many people to isolate themselves, especially those with AIDS, and to spread false knowledge. The mass false knowledge that was being spread all over the country created an obstacle for those with sexual illnesses then and sexual illnesses now. It created a stigma that surrounded those with sexual illnesses and continues to surround them today, even though society has become more accepting of the fact because there is supplementary information about the topic available

Many individuals are afraid to get tested for HIV and are afraid of the stigma associated with HIV when disclosing their status to partners. They are often subject to their own psychological and other social stress which often hinders appropriate management of the infection. This is not always without reason as disclosure of an HIV status can lead to exclusion from ones family, friend-circle or dismissal from the workplace. However disclose to a family member, partner or friend can provide psychological and later physical support. Also the fear of individuals they love finding out that they are HIV positive may lead to anxiety or isolation. Non-disclosure can often affect healthcare and management of the persons’ disease as the fear of dependents finding out will require the individual to hide taking the medication and use personal funds to pay for treatment to avoid the medical insurance company from informing co-dependants (Alonzo & Renolds 1995).

Most of them do not know they carry HIV and may be spreading the virus to others. Here in the U.S., nearly one million people have HIV infection or AIDS, or roughly one out of every 250 people. At least 40,000 Americans become newly infected with HIV each year, and it is estimated that half of all people with HIV in the U.S. have not been tested and do not know they are carrying the virus.

HIV, or the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus which damages and kills cells of the immune system. It attacks the T-cells, key cells of the immune system, and uses them to make copies of itself. After being infected with the virus it progressively interferes and eventually destroys the immune system's ability to fight the anti-genes. HIV may develop into the syndrome AIDS, the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV is an STD - a sexually transmitted disease - and therefore most commonly it is spread through sexual contact, and the virus mainly enters the body through the penis, mouth, lining of the vagina or vulva during sexual activity. HIV can also be spread through sharing syringes or needles with someone who is infected with the