This week in the course I have learned that the information that has accumulated in my head not only has great use for me in the present and future, but is great for my friends as well. This weekend my buddy from California came to visit me for halloween and had no idea what he was getting himself into, or leaving with. He had no idea how easily he could get the virus, or he really had no idea about HIV/AIDS. Therefore, I spent about four good hours educating him about how he could get the virus, how easily one can get the virus from another individual, the mechanisms of the virus, and etc. Most of the information I could recite from my head, but some information I had to go back to my notes. He was very impressed about his educational experience and even stated that colleges should give a lecture about HIV/AIDS and on how one can get the virus, how easy, and etc. Moreover, I believe he made a great point. Colleges should definitely get a program together or a lecture series in which they educate young college freshman about HIV and AIDS. This is very important.Furthermore, I will continue my discussion this week on HIV and semen. How dangerous is semen. Here I am not talking about blood, but just pure semen. Many people who try there hardest to pleasure there partner often have to deal with semen. And for those of you that are saying what? Hello, we are not in high school but college. A place where people are extremely sexually active and sometimes uneducated about what they are doing to some aspect. In other words couple, partners, hook ups, and etc. know what they are doing, but do they do how dangerous the product of semen is. Well I will tell you. According to a study a "component of human semen may facilitate the spread of the virus by targeting immune system cells, in some cases making the pathogen up to 100,000 times more virulent" (Male Semen Makes HIV More Potent, 2007). Now this study is not a 100 percent sure but data does back of this I think soon to be known fact. So when handling semen be careful has it could be very dangerous. What do you think?
Go Yankees!
Source:
Male Semen Makes HIV More Potent. (2007). In Scientific America. Retrieved November 3, 2009 from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=male-semen-makes-hiv-more-potent
First, I'm glad to see a fellow Yankee fan in this class.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your friend. Colleges should implement an HIV/AIDS course. I think it should be a mandatory elective for all majors. College students are more likely for random hookups especially since drinking is involved in many activities. Not much thought goes into the decisions that they make and often have unprotected sex. If they are more educated maybe they won't make such bad decisions.
My Did You Know section this semester has been focused on HIV education in grade school. I know your friend said that colleges have a weath of knowledge they need to spead about the disease, which is true. The problem however is that we need to teach individuals about HIV in grade school. "An estimated 4,883 young people (13-24yrs) received a diagnosis of HIV infection or AIDS, representing about 13% of the persons given a diagnosis during that year." 13% I feel is pretty high which means teens are being sexually active before college. If education was our goal in prevention, not absitience, then your friend would have known the risks before going to college. I was in same boat and in my small town community there was almost no HIV or STD education grownig up.
ReplyDeleteGO KNIGHTS!
Oh my stats in my post were from the CDC website.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/youth.htm