Posts Tagged → hiv
4th of June 1981
You can thank the guy on the right, the guy on the left is just there ’cause white people look smart.
That was the year AIDS was born, well not born more like first recognised as a disease. Since then we’ve found out that it’s cause by 2 viruses HIV1 and 2, it kills white bloods cells (CD4- T lymphocytes … what all the soaps refer to as CD4 counts is the concentration of CD4 cells in a sample of blood) and that it originated in 2 different species of monkeys and subsequently mutated and became a virus that can attack humans (in a similar fashion to the way H1N1/swine flu did last year), we’ve also managed to make cocktails that stop the disease from progressing (the famous anti-retro viral cocktail) and people are now able to live full, long, healthy lives in-spite of or more aptly with HIV.
But we’ve yet to see a cure for it ….. a real sure fire end to it all ….. some silver bullet ….. 28 years and still we wait for an end to this pandemic (and yes, the WHO have officially declared it a pandemic despite the fact that we apparently don’t suffer from it in Kuwait). However there is a light at the end of the tunnel, a glimmer of hope if you will, we finally have an HIV vaccine that may actually work.
And no, it’s not made by some norwegian nobel prize winner living in the US and working in some Ivy league school on his third PhD; it was made by a group of run of the mill doctors in Thialand.
When I say made I mean they combined ALVAC HIV (prime) and AIDSVAX B/E (boost) (two different drugs developed by the US military research fund then abandoned because they thought they would never work) and gave them to 8,000 people in their community in Thailand and gave another 8000 a placebo (saline). They found that the virus reduced the risk by about 31%, which is no small feet for a bunch of GP’s working in Thailand and this is when you have confirmed inoculation with the virus in the correct amount which means the actual risk reduction is probably about 80 to 90% (multiple 0.3 by 0.25; you have a one in four chance in direct blood to blood contact and even less in blood/seminal spatter etc ….)
Since then 3 larger trails have been planned, one to combine the vaccine with circumcision, one to recruit 80,000 participants and test out a refined version of the vaccine and one to test it against a new prospective compound.
And to think that on that day in June the US Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler declared that a vaccine would be available within 2 years……… yeah right ……
Just goes to show it doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a slew of degrees to make a difference ….. all it takes is a little luck and a whole lot of effort ……
and you have the following people to thank the next time you decide to go for that funny looking something in Dubai/Bahrain/Thailand:
Supachai Rerks-Ngarm, M.D.
Punnee Pitisuttithum, M.D. D.T.M.H.
Sorachai Nitayaphan, M.D. Ph.D.
Jaranit Kaewkungwal, Ph.D.
Joseph Chiu, M.D.
Robert Paris, M.D.
Nakorn Premsri, M.D.
Chawetsan Namwat, M.D.
Mark de Souza, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Adams, M.D.
Michael Benenson, M.D
Sanjay Gurunathan, M.D.
Jim Tartaglia, Ph.D.
Supamit Chunsuttiwat, M.D.
Chirasak Khamboonruang, M.D.
Prasert Thongcharoen, M.D., Ph.D.
Ink.
Happy Eid …….
oh and Yes, I am a fan …….
You’ve gotta love tattoos whether it’s the “fake” ones that come with bubble gum packs that you lick and stick, hennah tattoos or the more traditional type, tattoos have often been seen as a fashion statement or a form of self expression. Personally I’ve always been a fan of them for various resons, namely the fact that that they just look cool no matter how you slice it.
They’ve actually been around since the 5th centruy BC and were found on human popsicles that date back to that era, and have been used in darker times to identify prisoners of war and by doctors (well …. witch doctors) for everything from fertility to acupuncture) and is still used to mark out areas for radiotherapy and to fashion nipples in breast reconstruction.
By and large tattoos have had a bad name …. for the most part people tend to associate them the unsaviory which is rather unfortunate and pretty darn wrong as a couple of plastic surgeons from poland came to find out in their european study.
Dr Antoszewski and his team conducted a suvey within their community asking why people got tattooed, when they got tattooed and whether they have more than one and the results are quiet interesting. For one thing most men get tattoos rather than piercing first where as (for obvious reasons ….. i.e. their mother wanted cute pictures of them) most women tended toget pierced first and for the most part people tended to get on average 3 tattoos over their life time. Also, most people were motivated by trying to express a certain aspect of their identity rather than pee pressure (a close second) where as most people got pierced ’cause of peer pressure. They also found that whether it was tattoos or pieced hoo hoo’s social background and drug taking/risk taking behaviour were not as closely linked as other surveys had shown, meaning that the image of a coke snorting, herion mainlining, toothless disease vagrant is dieing down in tattoo culture. Granted few rocket scientist get them but since when did rocket scientists have a sense of style or identity; they;re usually the annoying kid in class who kept breaking the curve and had his mother check his homework.
Another survey conducted by a dermatolgist, Dr Armstrong hailing from Texas Tech asked people why they wanted their tattoos off. For the most part people tended to get rid of tattoos because they’ve experienced a major shift in their personality such as finding God, a change of lifestyle or risk of social stigma given their current jobs, they also found that women tended to choose to keep their tattoos for them selves and pick areas that are hidden by clothing while men tended to want to chow them off picking their arms and for arms as the site of choice and that people tended to get rid of their tattoos about 20 years after they get them done.
And yes, unfortunately like most surgical procedures tattoos and piercings tend to harbor a risk of HIV, heptitis C and various other infections of the skin and do require care after the procedure to prevent things like keloids and scarring but I’m quick to point out that those risks are fairly minimal thanks to regulation of the industry in most countires and the introduction or sterile tattoo equipment.
It’s very hard not to think that tattoos are more so associated with our over all need for self expression that we’ve come to enjoy these days, just take a look at ur social networking sites, twitter and blogs, we’ve become people who like to scream it loud and proud and tattoos are just one more medium. Another thing that seems evident from these studies is that alot of people tend to regret tattoos that aren’t associated with personal meanings, in other words you wont regret a tattoo that means something to you (well you’re less likely to hate them in 10 years time)
You can’t go wrong if you shield your dong*
Yes, a boring sex ed. post ….. apologies ……
Tis the summer and we are all in heat, and this while being largely accepted as a good thing (who wouldn’t enjoy a roll in the hey once or twice a week with their loved one or “special friend” or “paid partner” or “friend who always gets you gifts for a good time” whoever he/she may be) is also a major cause of heart ache at your local casualty because it means that the ever diligent (yeah right) casualty officer will have to face a hoard of itchy hoo hoos and burning pee pees who’s numbers would make Globals debt look like spare change …. the poor bastard will be rolling in your STDs, you filthy horny mongrels ……… Imagine the poor man examining one of you and then eating a sandwich …. with his hands …..ugh ….. (he won’t be able to tell whether the smell was blue cheese or the remnants of your nether regions ……. )
Yes, I am talking about condoms and before everyone claims that they always use the damn things and know how to use them let me provide you with some numbers:
- Less than 25% of our age group uses condoms consitantly, when asked most of us say it’s because “s/he’s clean”, or “I was drunk” or “I couldn’t remember” or the ever so intelligent “I don’t need one”. Good news is about 95% of us do use condoms every now and then…… we’re just not smart enough to turn it into a habit ….. Damn monkeys that we* are ……
- The excuses given by the 18-30 year olds in the above study are garbage. Statistically speaking the only think that influences your likelihood of using condoms is what the boffins call ” safer sex negotiations” meaning … “Honey, I need you to wear a condom” ……. or in our case “7abeeby ’7an roo7 Boots” and apparently neither horneyness, alcohol, “the mood”, anger nor excitement have anything to do with it in the big scheme of things.
- Your negotiation skills are directly related to the amount of sex education you’ve had as a kid .….. which tells us exactly why Lipton Chai Latte outsells Condoms in this country ……..
So the take home message is that we need to buy more condoms and spend more time learning to wear them (or making our partners wear them), besides if you think about it over 500 years of R’n'D can’t be wrong really …….
Condoms were first used in 1490 during the syphilis outbreak( ….. it has been 500 years and people still come into hospital with burning urine ……) and since then we’ve gone from condoms made from intestines, to sheep skin condoms (still in use for those of us with allergies), to latex ones (very popular) and the female condom (not quite as popular, I blame the fiddliness of the damn thing …. diaphragms are a far better option IMHO), to spray-ondoms and even custom fitted ones for those of us who might be a little too well endowed (or otherwise perhaps) , there was even an anti-rape female condom developed at one point (the damn thing was a tampon with needles on the inside …… that way you could ensnare your assailant in yer hoo hoo as it were ….. very morbid indeed).
And whenever safe sex has come up in conversation we always end up talking about failure rates ….. yes, the failure rates …… I’ll put it to you this way: Like the seat belt you’re better off with it than without it and here are some fun facts to prove the point:
- In terms of preventing pregnancy condoms have a failure rate of 2 percent. That means for every hundred times you get laid and wear a condom you should expect expect to see two kids who look a little like you to show up at your doorstep at some point.
- In terms of reducing HIV condoms have reduced the risk by approximately 85% over recent years, bringing it down to 0.9 per 100 people per year (basically if you were HIV positive you would have to sleep with 1000 people with condoms to get 9 of them infected per year …… )
- Condoms also reduce the risks of genital herpes, genital warts, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and other diseases by varying rates as well (no less than 70% ….. I’m too lazy to look all of them up).
Lastly, yes, the and pollution and waste produced by condoms is significant and their manufacture does introduce various carcinogens into our bodies but the amounts are so small that they literally don’t count and the manufacturing process used to make condoms has about a tenth of the carbon foot print required to make that pink iPhone case you bought the other day ……
Oh and YES, YOU SHOULD WEAR CONDOMS DURING ORAL SEX YOU FUCKING TURNIPS …….. HOW DO YOU THINK YOU GET HERPES FROM COLD SOARS AND COLD SOARS FROM HERPES ……… THEY’RE THE SAME THING YOU GIMPS …….
*Alternative titles that would have worked just as well:
Cover your stump before you hump
Before you attack her, wrap your whacker
Don’t be silly, protect your willy
When in doubt, shroud your spout
Don’t be a loner, cover your boner
If you’re not going to sack it, go home and whack it
If you think she’s spunky, cover your monkey
If you slip between her thighs, be sure to condomize
It will be sweeter if you wrap your peter
She won’t get sick if you wrap your dick
If you go into heat, package your meat
While you’re undressing venus, dress up your penis
When you take off her pants and blouse, slip up your trouser mouse
Especially in December, gift wrap your member
Don’t be a fool, vulcanize your tool
The right selection will protect your erection
Wrap it in foil before checking her oil
A crank with armor will never harm her
No glove, no love!
Even the Birds and the Bees do it.
Sorry if this article seems a little too much. It was very hard to write simply because I’m straight and have very rarely had the privilege of writing about the gay community. Not that they ever need defending …..
“It’s a real disease, they should all be burned that way there’ll be no gays. Think about it, you get rid of the problem all at once”
When I heard that I decided I hated all homophobes, they’re a bunch of people who are either ignorant or just plain old idiots. I heard that from a friend not two weeks after he became a doctor, I was still a student. I also found out that a fair chunk of doctors don’t really try to understand people and would rather stick to learning things like the rate, rhythm and character of a pulse or how to describe a funny looking rash.
The statement not only showed a deep lack of empathy for his fellow brethren, its also shows a complete lack of understanding of our fundamental behaviour as species. For one thing it isn’t a disease nor is it a symptom of one. Homosexuality has been part of our innate behaviour as mammals since the dawn of time; there are infact over 1500 species that have displayed and documented homosexual behavior. Here’s a list stolen from wikipedia Show ▼
And despite the best efforts of many “doctors” and “psychologists” it’s not exactly something that needs fixing or infact should be fixed. They’ve tried everything from aversion therapy (which failed on both penguins and humans), to medication, to electro shock therapy and even religious killings and floggings with practically no success (perhaps they keep failing because it’s a part of human nature?)
I’ve always regarded sexual orientation as being akin to left or right handedness. There are people who are left handed, people who are right handed and people who are ambidextrous and enjoy both worlds and then there are people who are somehwhere in the middle and can do somethings with the left and somethings with the right. But I’ve increasingly begun to see that it’s far more than that. Most of us are now in our mid to late twenties (a couple are probably hitting their 70′s and are reading this blog hoping that it’ll be a dummies guide to euthenasia and some of you are probably 8 or 9 year olds who are here for the toilet humor) and have at some point longed for or have experienced an connection with a person of the opposite sex. We probably treasure memmories of that time and tend to look back on it very often. Imagine if you could only experience that with someone of your own sex and try and understand the feelings of disgust and disdain you’d face from everyone around you including pillars of your community; that’s what gay people have to go through in our society today ….. and that’s why I for one can say I admire them for their strength and fortitude when they do “come out” and try to function in a society that loaths them and wants to send them all to hell for no real reason.
And when I say no real reason I do mean that. I have yet to see a single point against homosexuality that I couldn’t argue against. The most common and generic is that they tend to have a higher incedences of STDs within their community ….. fucking garbage , the strictly lesbian population has the lowest incdence of HIV when compared with heterosexual and other homosexual groups according to the NAM (National AIDS Manual) and although the homosexual male population was at some point the group with the highest prevalence of HIV the number is now going down drastically over the past 10 years, where as the numbers for normal folk seem to have been on the sharp rise since 2003. Another arguement that I keep hearing is that it goes against God and nature …. please click the show button a couple of lines up, read the whole thing and then explain how this goes against nature when it has populated natural history since the dawn of time.
Another good one is that it’s” a disease that keeps spreading “…… I always answer that one by asking for numbers ….. which most people can’t give me. I then rattle of my own set of numbers comparing a kinsey series from the 1940′s and 50′s with a modern survey of similar scope conducted by a whole gaggle of people all agree that the number of people who have had some homosexual tendencies varies between 25-33% andthe number who are openly and strictly homosexual is around about 5%. (well more like 4-10%) which means that the numbers haven’t really changed drastically over the past 60 years and are probably not likely to change either. The Kinsey numbers are also significant because they mean that at least a third of your friends and family have at one point thought of batting for the other team as it were (just have a look around your dewaniya the next time you’re there)
Besides think of how much easier dating would be i Kuwait if you were gay, you could come and go as you pleased. Go on dinner dates, kiss in public and live together and no one would bat an eye lid. I’ve often thought about it but alas the hoo hoo has me wrapped up in its mystical spell ……. having to work under cloak and dagger and keep sneaking in public is definitely a worthy price to pay for the love of the hoo hoo …….
So the next time you see someone who is gay (or more likely someone you may think is gay and have used as a butt for every joke at the office) try and put yourself in thier shoes, the poor bastard isn’t blind nor deaf; he’s just willing to put up with your snickering ……
Roxannne …… Put on the Red Light…….*
I wasn’t going to post this originally and expect a rather negative response ….. for the most part many of you will think I’m being sexist, making fun of women or mean to degrade them …… this is largely untrue …. I’m only shedding some light on a topic rarely discussed and have the utmost respect for most people regardless of their gender …..
Some days most days I wish I was him …..
Hookers, whores and call girls ……. perhaps I can sympathize with them because my calling involves largely the same hardships; we both work odd hours, are subjected to a fucked up system with rude and crude clientele or patients and rarely (if ever) get any thanks for it. Infact for the most part both medical staff and prostitutes get named and shamed in the papers regularly despite the best efforts of many working in their respective indutry(ies).
Like working for the Ministry of Health, prostitution subjects workers to violent people, those who are lurid and ofcourse the scorn of society for what is viewed as wrong, perverse, arrogant and generally rancid task that ought to be banned or at least regulated. And prostitution holds the same false stereotypes as healthcare does in terms of economic yield as everyone assumes that you’re making a boat load of cash …….. No I don’t drive round in a Bentley ……. and yes my daddy promised me I’d be rolling in it once I got through medical school ………. It’s been a while and the money still hasn’t started rolling in ……
Despite what most people think and the moral views held by our society prostitution is infact on the rise and although I have absolutely no data to support this a trip to your local casualty coupled with a 3 day trip to any given Dubai/Bahraini hotel would argue in my favor far better than any statistics ever could (and before you ask I’ve yet to pay for sex …… although it’s been a while ……. maybe I should book that room at the Grosvenor …… oh wait my salary means I can’t afford it ….. damn ….. wish I taught English lit. ….. at least I’d enjoy teaching kids Bukowski and getting slammed by the Students Union for it ….. ).
Ofcourse our fair ladies of the night are thought to be disease ridden, filthy, slime cunted and addicted to heroin. THIS IS GARBAGE; the industry is pretty darn healthy as the CDC (American Centre Center for Disease Control) recently revealed that the prevalence of HIV in the industry is far less than that of the general population (another stereotype put to rest); this ofcourse is based on a very limited study and does not take into account prostitution as a result of human trafficking and other illegal and largely inhumane activities which should be banned for the sake of both our industries …….yes, I do have a heart and a moral imperitive; though I rarely choose to act upon it ………
I’ve also always found it interesting how clients relate to prostitution and how they feel about it; most people I’ve talked to seem to mirror what most studies have concluded. They say that it’s because it’s easier, less complicated and you get exactly what you want from the relationship namely some fun, drinking and dancing and none of the drama everyone is afraid of essentially none of the maintenance and all of the benefits of a fun ride (no pun intended). I’ve personally always loved the drama that comes with a relationship; the fights, the making up, the going out to restaurants that nobody else goes to for fear of seeing someone you know …… fucking brilliant …. especially the fights ….. I could never keep a straight face and would end up laughing through the whole thing ….. explains why the longest relationship I’ve had lasted 2 weeks ….. I digress ….. apologies ….
I also think that there’s also a need for female contact that many people in our society lack, this makes social development skewed and by and large leads to a person going for a paid discreet type of thing rather than an awkward courtship which most people won’t approve of in the first place. Then there’s also the simple excuse for going to a hooker ….. “she’s fuckin’ hot and I’m fucking horny” …….. This is especially true of my married bretheren who seem to think that they have to cheat on thier wives as a requirement after a certain age …… fucking idiots don’t know when they have a good thing going ….
But then again some reports seem to say that most prostitutes tend to hate their job, want to kill themselves and have suffered some form of childhood trauma. I suppose that’s another thing that it has with medicine, we all hear about the good doctors who honestly enjoy their work and those of us who are abused by it and just want to die or kill the bastards who come in sick everyday …..
At the end of the day I doubt that anybody would be happy about or enjoy the idea of prostitution being on the rise but unless and until we become more mature in the way we handle relationships with the opposite sex its just one more thing we all know exists but never talk about (making it one of many industries that’ll never have health and safety standards, moral ones or any form of sanctioned regulation ……)
And anyone who thinks that prostitutes deserve to get raped, beaten and drugged up should just have a conversation with one of them at their local casualty …….. you can’t help but salute our working women for the shit they have to put up with day in and day out ….. from the law, society and the four year old adults they serve day in and day out.
*Yes, sting is infact the shit ……
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