Embattled AIDS poster girl fights on

Embattled AIDS poster girl fights on

By Cecilia Quiambao

MANILA (JP): The sky is falling in fast for Sarah Jane
Salazar, the brave, street-savvy AIDS poster girl of the
Philippines who dared nurture love despite the stigma of the
fatal disease.

One month after giving birth to a love child, the 24-year-old
found herself in jail for her unlawful relationship with a 16-
year-old boyfriend who is below the age of consent.

She subsequently lost her child to a foster home.

Now, her doctors say she has developed full-blown Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

The former prostitute shot to fame two years ago when she
became the first HIV-positive person to go public in the country,
giving a human face to a dreaded disease that threatens the young
and sexually active Philippine population.

Amid an outpouring of public sympathy, she became the health
department's most effective spokeswoman against AIDS, relating
her first-hand experience as she cautioned the country's youth
about the dangers of unprotected sex.

But she quickly became her own worst enemy. She got
into vicious fights with neighbors, hooked up with a high
school delinquent, had repeated unprotected sex with him and
bore his son.

The youth's mother, Lea Atizado, lodged a complaint of child
abuse against Salazar last year, but the two women reconciled
after Salazar gave birth.

"I just want them to be happy," Atizado said last month.

She apparently neglected to file an affidavit of desistance
with the police. The arrest warrant was served late last month and
Salazar was unable to pay the 300,000 peso (US$10,345) bail bond.
The judge eventually allowed her to leave the prison to stay in a
halfway house for people with AIDS.

The compromise came with a stiff price; she had to give
up her baby.

"I'll fight for my baby, so that when I'm gone, the baby will
long remember me for the love that I've shown him," Salazar said
last month.

"Even though I have committed a lot of mistakes in life, I
want to show him all the love and care that I could give him."

Despite these words, she agreed to give up her son last week
without much of a fight.

The infant is now in the care of Precious Jewel, a non-
governmental organization that cares for people with AIDS.
Salazar's son will be put up for adoption if he is not infected
with HIV.

There was no other choice. Health Secretary Carmencita Reodica
revealed early this month that Salazar had full-blown AIDS. Her
CD4 cell count, a gauge of the number of healthy cells, was down
to 58 and she had begun taking antidepressants and antibiotics,
in addition to the clinical therapy aimed at prolonging her life.
This costly drug cocktail, all at government expense, includes
ritonavir, AZT and DDC.

Reodica said Salazar was also undergoing counseling from
psychiatrists assigned by the National Center for Mental Health.

Her boyfriend, free of HIV as of the latest tests, had
contracted an unspecified viral infection and was undergoing
treatment, according to Edna Santiago, who runs the AIDS ward at
state-owned San Lazaro Hospital where the halfway house for AIDS
patients is located.

Doctors do their best to prevent patients at the facility from
contracting opportunistic infections like pneumonia and
tuberculosis, Santiago added.

AIDS destroys the human body's immune system, rendering
it defenseless against numerous viral and bacterial infections.
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus is transmitted mostly by sexual
contact and blood transfusions, but it can take nine years or
more before full-blown AIDS develops.

The disease is so far incurable and is almost always fatal.
The Philippine government estimates there are up to 20,000 HIV
cases in the nation's population of 70 million.

Salazar's care is thorough. "We are conducting blood tests
and daily physical examinations," said Eric Tayag, the chief
epidemiologist of the health department.

Salazar did contract tuberculosis but it was treated
immediately to free her lungs from infection, he added.
Antibiotics are keeping her free from infections for the time
being.

"She is taking all these medications to prolong her life
survival," Tayag said. "But she is OK."