AIDSBASIC THEMES DURING EPIDEMICSJonathon Erlen.ppt

AIDSBASIC THEMES DURING EPIDEMICSJonathon Erlen Define terms epidemic, pandemic, and endemic.Give beginning story of AIDS epidemic: 1981 cases at L.A. General Hospital-first called GRID-Robert Gallo made initial breakthrough in diagnosising this disease along with a French medical scientist-there were some earlier cases (1968 in St. Louis and late 1970’s prostitutes) United Nations figures recently released estimate 50 million AIDS cases world wide in 1999 and 16.4 million deaths since the start of this epidemic-there are no accurate world wide figures on HIV cases. 70% of the AIDS cases are in subSaharan African. 1. the same errors in handling epidemics are repeated over and over.2. there is an ecological perspective to all epidemics=a combination of biological causes and social responses.3. there are political issues raised by epidemics ie: the creation of government administrative units and government responsibilities during an epidemic ie: additional funding,quarantine measures and mass screening. 4. scapegoating specific groups in society?using an epidemic as an excuse to attack socially unacceptable groups ie: Jews during the Plague, poor and immigrants during cholera (1832, 1849), prostitutes with the VD epidemic, homosexuals and IV drug users during AIDS. 5. individuals are blamed for bringing the epidemic on themselves (victim blaming) by bad behavior ie: laziness and drunkenness and poverty during cholera (1832, 1849), until after WWII cancer carried this type of social stigma, improper sexual behavior and drug abuse for AIDS; in these cases the epidemic was not seen as an equal opportunity disease?you had to misbehave to get it so there was a strong social stigma attached to these epidemics. 6. existing health facilities were either unable or unwilling to care for those struck by the epidemic ie: creation of leprosariums to care for the lepers during the Middle Ages and sanatoriums for TB victims in late 19th