Is HIV not a major hetero issue?

[EternallySingle]

Here is the deal on HIV as some friends of mine at the U of M medical school (who did my aneurysm operation) told me.

HIV evolved from SIV, or simean immunodeficiency virus. It was contracted by MEN AND WOMEN in Africa and India who had a practice of eating monkey and chimpanzee meat. It got introduced to the rest of the world by people from those areas who either had sex with or gave blood to others. Plain and simple.

Some activities may increase your chances of getting HIV, but it is not a Gay health issue or a Drug User health issue but a HEALTH ISSUE! In a very morbid way, it is a good thing it first appeared in the gay community because it spread quickly, was identified as a specific disease, and research started quickly to identify and inform people about what it was, how it was spread, and how to prevent it. Thats not to say that its good it appeared in gays first, but it caused doctors to look for a single cause because so many people from different backgrounds had it and only had one thing in common. Some believe that if it had begun in the hetero community, it probably would not have spread as quickly, but by now there would be many more people dying more often because in the beginning, individual conditions would have been treated and a single virus would have been slow to being identified.

So HIV is a major HEALTH issue, not just a gay issue or a drug issue.

As far as knowing someone with HIV/AIDS, I knew dozens, straight and gay. I had a friend who decided she would discover her roots and went to Africa. She lived in a small village and participated in their local customs, including eating what they eat. She died of AIDS shortly after returning to the states four years ago, but it was the SIV, not the HIV virus that was found in her system. Her husband, however, is HIV positive now but getting treatments. The fact that he was a semi-pro athlete meant that his immune system was stronger than the average person and he responded better to the treatments than most men.

Here is a link where my research into this subject started. http://www.nature.com/nsu/020318/020318-13.html