Hi,
I am the director of an AIDS Services agency in Philadelphia. This IS disturbing news, but, on the same token, not a complete surprise. Despite the lack of attention paid to HIV/AIDS, it has continued to spread. Moreover, despite our knowledge of how to prevent the spread of HIV, people continue to have unprotected sex, often abusing drugs while doing it. Some people on antiretrovirals misuse them, resulting in resistent strains. So it was just a matter of time before we witnessed a 'super' version of HIV. The AIDS epidemic is not confined to Africa. It is a worldwide epidemic (that includes this country) and recent policies of the current administration to cut entitlement programs such as Medical Assistance, HUD, substance abuse treatment and, ACTUALLY CUTTING AIDS PREVENTION FUNDING, will only exacerbate the incidence of HIV/AIDs in this country. Many poeple don't realize that when George Bush talks about changing Social Security, but not for people 55 years old and older, he is speaking about reducing or eliminating benefits for the disabled (including people living with HIV/AIDS) widows and surviving children. It continues to amaze me that we have the ability to create formitable commercial marketing, flooding the world with propaganda, or sales ads: we can even convince people to spend $70,000 for a Toyota by calling it a Lexus. Imagine the dent we could put in slowing the spread of HIV/AIDS in this country if we just used a fraction of that ability. In closing, its unfortunate that it takes horrific news like this new strain to start a dialogue about HIV/AIDS. I cannot describe how difficult it is to get people to talk about it, let alone change their behavior or, miraculously, offer support to an agency like mine. Over a billion dollars each was raised in a few weeks in response to the Tsaunami crisis and 911 respectively, yet every day 8,200 people die of AIDS every single day. In fact, 15 people have died since I started writing this response. If you would like to know more about my agency please visit www.bebashi.org

Posted By winketb