Friday, May 23, 2003
SARS and AIDS
Since SARS started up a few months ago the world has taken aggressive steps to stop it in its tracks. The USA has taken it seriously and vigilence has been on high to detect the disease and stop it's spread. So far these efforts have been highly successful and SARS seem to be on the decline.
In 1981 a mysterious new disease simultantiously started infecting gay men in California and New York. The disease became known as AIDS. AIDS began to spread like wildfire yet Ronald Reagan remained silent about the deadly disease, withholding funding for research, treatment and education. The Reagan administration opposed funding into AIDS research or HIV prevention. Even as the epidemic escalated out of control, there remained a near-total vacuum of leadership at the national level. It was not until 1987 after AIDS had killed thousand of people in the US that Reagan addressed AIDS as a policy issue.
Was it because AIDS had mostly effected gays? The conservative right were indifferent to a disease that focused on gays?
What if AIDS had been taken as seriosly as SARS is today? Could the AIDS epidemic in America could have been prevented?
Since SARS started up a few months ago the world has taken aggressive steps to stop it in its tracks. The USA has taken it seriously and vigilence has been on high to detect the disease and stop it's spread. So far these efforts have been highly successful and SARS seem to be on the decline.
In 1981 a mysterious new disease simultantiously started infecting gay men in California and New York. The disease became known as AIDS. AIDS began to spread like wildfire yet Ronald Reagan remained silent about the deadly disease, withholding funding for research, treatment and education. The Reagan administration opposed funding into AIDS research or HIV prevention. Even as the epidemic escalated out of control, there remained a near-total vacuum of leadership at the national level. It was not until 1987 after AIDS had killed thousand of people in the US that Reagan addressed AIDS as a policy issue.
Was it because AIDS had mostly effected gays? The conservative right were indifferent to a disease that focused on gays?
What if AIDS had been taken as seriosly as SARS is today? Could the AIDS epidemic in America could have been prevented?
