The AIDS virus laid bare in layman's language

AIDS By Dr. Sally Halim Msc. (OM) Published by Yayasan Obor Indonesia, 1995 pp. 41

JAKARTA (JP): Categorized as a rapidly spreading disease for which no cure has been found, AIDS is a topic that fills people with dread the world over.

Books have been written in every language, including Indonesian, but the bulk of them make sense only to people in the medical world and are rarely targeted at or easily understood by the layman. This is the main reason why the writer wrote this book.

AIDS makes informative reading because it is written in an easily digestible form made all-the-more interesting because of the revealing illustrations.

Through reading it readers will learn that the disease progresses in three stages. The first is known as HIV positive, so called because a person has been infected with the HIV virus. The condition comes to light only after a blood test. Stage two is when the infected person shows signs indicative of AIDS. Stage three, or the terminal state, is reached when the patient is suffering from full-blown AIDS.

In general AIDS patients display the following symptoms:

1. Severe weight loss, up to 10 percent within a three-month period.

2. Chronic diarrhea lasting more than a month for no apparent reason, irrespective of medication.

3. Frequent fevers, with temperatures rising to 38 degrees Celsius or more, lasting for a lengthy period and accompanied by nightly sweating for no apparent reason.

4. Fatigue, shortness of breath, and coughs lasting more than a month.

5. Swelling of neck glands, armpits, and thigh glands for no apparent reason.

6. Reddish blue spots on the skin.

7. Spreading skin rash.

8. White spots on the mouth, or the contraction of sprue.

9. Repeated bouts of herpes zoster.

10. Chronic herpes simplex, progressive and aggressive.

11. Lung infections typical of a reduced immune system, also known as pneumocystis carinii.

12. Toxoplasmosis of the brain (pp. 22,23)

HIV is usually contracted in four ways. First, through sexual contact. Eighty-seven percent of reported cases are caused by sexual contact. Second, through unsterilized needles or other sharp objects like acupuncture and tattoo needles, or other cutting objects used by an HIV-infected person. Third, through a transfusion of HIV-contaminated blood, and fourth, through an HIV-infected mother.

Therefore, AIDS cannot be spread by sharing a home with an AIDS sufferer for instance, or by a kiss on the cheek, a handshake, sharing a meal, body contact or exchange of clothes. The disease cannot be spread by the presence of an AIDS patient either, or through sneezes, coughs, nor by swimming in the same pool, eating the same food, having the same drink, or by an insect bite.

Persons very vulnerable to AIDS are:

1. Those engaging in promiscuous sexual activity, frequent change of partners, in either homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual partnerships.

2. Drug addicts sharing the same needles;

3. Spouses of HIV-infected people;

4. Babies born of HIV-infected mothers

5. Recipients of HIV-contaminated blood

6. People receiving injections using unsterilized needles (p.27)

The book recommends dissemination of information as the most effective method of preventing AIDS. In advanced countries the number of AIDS cases reportedly decreased after intensive information on the disease was made available, making an expert quip that the most effective vaccine against the disease had to be information.

According to the author, such information could be spread through the press and electronic broadcasters. These two powerful media could rightly inform the public of the dangers that epitomize AIDS. One of the most popular broadcasting media in the country is television, with accessibility to a majority of the population. Through this channel, information about the prevention of AIDS could be driven home to every Indonesian. Instructions should underscore morals, it should strongly promote a lifestyle of steady partnerships to fight the rapid spread of AIDS.

It would be supportive if the mass media started an informative column on AIDS and its prevention in a way that would whet the audience's interest, says the writer.

Sensationalism should be kept out of the information, particularly if it deals with the subject of HIV-positive cases. Information should also be of a highly instructive quality and easily comprehensible to the average people. It should be effective as well as being up-to-date with the latest developments in the search for a cure. It might even be more effective if such efforts were to reflect cultural and religious values, the author notes.

-- Daniel Samad