Page 4- The Behrend College Collegian Thursday, November 21, 1996
HIV/AIDS Testing:
Week Two:
(Editor's Note: This is the third of a
three part story front The Collegian about
HIV/AIDS awareness front an anonymous
contributing writer.)
On Tuesday, I sat down to think about
what I was going to write this week. I
was confused and embarrassed.
Two weeks ago I went and had an
HIV/AIDS test at the Health and
Wellness Center. Free and confidential,
the test was painless physically, but
emotionally I went into overload.
I questioned whether I would want to
publish the results for the entire Behrend
community to see.
True to my nature and what I
promised, I told myself no matter what,
I would tell my story because I believe
the best way to fight this terrible
disease is education.
I have learned a lot is my 21 years -
most of it in early childhood.
One of the first things you learn as a
child is trust; we trust our parents and
those around us.
I suppose that I'm naive enough to
believe that you can continue trusting
people even after emerging from
childhood I have recently awakened my
senses.
I know now that I cannot necessarily
trust everyone. I cannot always trust
that those around me will not hurt me ; I
cannot trust people to always tell the
truth.
Catch their eye and they will understand
AIDS can happen to anyone. . . it doesn't
discriminate.
I guess that's how I got into this whole
mess of getting tested. I was naive
enough to believe that I couldn't be at
risk... because no one would ever lie to
me.
The second lesson I learned as a child
was forgiveness. You forgive your older
sister for dropping you on your head
(maybe); you forgive your parents for
taking you to Grandma's instead of
fishing; you forgive a friend for lying...
So I've learned to forgive - I've been
guilty of greater things (but don't tell
my mom).
Everywhere, everyday thousands of
people live with AIDS. Their stories
are what prompted me to write this
article in the first place. Not only do I
respect them, but I admire their strength.
One of the people I have come to
admire has waged a one-man war not
only to survive the virus, but to educate
others about AIDS.
Joey DiPaolo, 17, contracted AIDS
when he was four from a blood
transfusion he received during surgery to
repair a congenital heart defect.
For several years after the surgery,
Joey suffered medical complications
until 1988 when he was tested for HIV.
Under the advise of their doctor, "not
to tell a living soul," Joey and his
family lived in silence until Feb. 1990
when he became very ill. The doctors
expected Joey to die within 48 hours -
but he lived: that was six years ago.
Since then, Joey has gone public with
his disease. When the parents in Joey's
community failed in their attempt to
prevent him from attending school he
decided to start educating people about
AIDS.
The biggest problem according to
Joey, is that people are not educated
about AIDS. He believes that people
want to know but they are afraid.
by Tom Keefe
Collegian Staff
Over the last two years. AIDS
treatment has drastically changed.
In 1994, the International
Conference on AIDS in Berlin,
the overall mood of researchers,
New hope for AIDS treatment
care providers and people with
AIDS (PWAs) was gloom and
despair.
Just two years later, at the
conference in Vancouver, the
attitudes of those who attended
were much brighter. The attitudes
changed from gloom and despair
"Get educated so you know all the
facts. Education is the best thing we've
got," said Joev.
Joey said he also believes that AIDS
educators need to give people what they
want to get their attention.
"Catch their eye and they will
understand. AIDS can happen to
anyone. . . it doesn't discriminate," he
said.
I asked Joey, why he thought it was
important for people to get tested. He
replied, "I think it is important to get
tested [for HIV/AIDS] because if you
don't know if you have it, you could
pass it on. If you know you have AIDS,
it stops risky behavior."
Risky behavior is most commonly
defined as unprotected sex.
Campuses across the nation are
waging campaigns against the disease.
One of my favorite campaigns was by a
student newspaper promoting safe sex.
In Farmville, Va., Longwood
College's student newspaper was
published with a condom taped inside
each copy.
Erin McCay, editor-in-chief of the
Rotunda, said, "The purpose of this
issue was to raise awareness."
She added that she was "appalled by
the Victorian attitude toward sex, and
the grim repercussions that that attitude
can have."
Joe
The newspaper was headlined, "SEX!!
SEX!! SEX!! IN THE NINETIES."
The condoms were stuck on page
eight in a box headed, "Just Use It."
Dean of students Tim Pierson said the
issue was "inappropriate."
Advertising revenue paid for the
condoms, according to McCay, who was
summoned later to a meeting with
Phyllis Mable, vice president for
Student Affairs.
The special edition entailed stories
and commentary about date rape, AIDS
on college campuses, and attitudes
about sex as well and unrelated articles.
A total of 1,200 copies of the Rotunda
were distributed around campus; all
copies were gone by the next day.
A poll of nearly 1,000 college
students on Spring Break in Daytona in
1991 found that although 88 percent said
they were concerned about HIV and
sexually transmitted diseases, only 62
percent used condoms.
The number of students who were
selective about partners dropped to 26
percent, down from 29 percent in 1990.
One in six sexually active teens has an
STD, which puts them at an risk for
HIV, according to the National Center
for Health Statistics.
The Daytona survey indicated
students may be dropping their guards
against HIV, a cause for concern given
the disease's prevalence, said Mark
Klein of Trojan Products, who
conducted the Spring Break Survey.
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) estimates that
between 10,000 and 35,000 of the 13
million college students in the United
States are HIV-infected.
Recent results of the largest study of
HIV seroprevalence of US colleges
show that transmission among students
Health officials, however, say that
more counseling and testing is needed
at some colleges.
"There is a lot of sex, a lot of sexual
experimentation, and there is the
potential [for HIV transmission]. So just
because the news is reassuring, we don't
need to be complacent," said Dr. Scott
Holmbers, section chief in the division
of HIV/AIDS at the CDC.
The seroprevalence rates were not
dependent on reasons why students went
to the campus health centers. This
suggest that many students do not know
that they are infected and thus, health
care providers cannot accurately
determine which students are at risk of
infection.
College students seem to be divided
into two groups -- those who shrug off
the threat of sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs), and those who's deep
concerns often drive them to swearing
off sex.
Cases of HIV among the national
college population remain low,
according to James C. Turner, director
of student health at the University of
Virginia. According to him, because the
numbers are low, many college-aged
kids are falsely reassured into having
unsafe sex, and are contracting STDs at
an alarming rate.
Conversations with UVa
undergraduates reveal that although
information on sex is widely available,
it is often ignored. Another theme that
emerges from these conversations is
that, despite an intense focus on sexual
issues, AIDS is still a hush-hush topic.
Susan Firkaly, UVa's associate
director for health promotion, said that
no student at the university has gone
public about being HIV-positive.
aPaolo
"You'd be alienated," said one
student. Most students agreed, citing
the school's conservative air.
After researching AIDS on college
campuses, I came to a conclusion. . . I
wasn't going to tell my results.
But then I realized something: By not
telling my results, I would only be
supporting the idea that AIDS should be
a hush-hush topic - and it shouldn't.
By increasing awareness, we can
maybe overcome the taboo associated
with the disease. That's why tonight I
sit down to tell you my fate. . .
But what if the test did come back
positive? My short interview with Joey
DiPaolo proved to me that a positive
result wouldn't mean the end of the
world.
Sure, my life would change
drastically, but a positive result
wouldn't mean I couldn't live my life to
the fullest.
to hope
"We have our first glimmers of
hope in a long time," co-chair Dr.
Martin Schecher said, opening up
the conference. "We are
beginning to have the tools within
our grasp to be able to start to
chip away at this problem, if we
The results are
To increase AIDS
awareness and
promote safe sex,
Longwood Coliege's
Rotunda was
published with a
condom taped
inside each copy.
negative
are given the resources and
commitment we need from
government and people around
the world."
The development of new drugs
and studies revealing the benefit
of combining existing drugs were
able to change the overall view of
medical treatment for HIV/AIDS
in just two years.
The new treatments do still
have problems. One of the
biggest problems with
"combination drug therapy," is
the expense. A majority of the
HIV cases in the world are in poor
countries, which do not have the
resources to provide clean water
let alone pay for drugs for
HIV/AIDS treatment.
For those who can afford the
new drugs, other problems arise.
Many patients develop a
resistance to the drugs or cannot
handle the toxicity of the drugs.
Also, the drugs don't work for all
PWAs. •
Martin Delany of Project Inform
stated in an interview with
AlDScan, "Even though we may
be on the brink of something,
ONE-MAN WAR: Fighting both a deadly virus and educating people about AIDS, Joey DiPaolo
contracted AIDS when he was four from a blood transfusion. DiPaolo, 17, says he believes that
people want to know about AIDS but are afraid of ft. "Get educated so you knoW All the. facts.
Education is the best thing we've got," he said.
Joey takes over 30 pills a day, has
four vials of blood drawn each month
but describes himself as a "regular guy".
Joey's very cute agent showed me a
tape of Joey speaking at a high school
in New York. I was amazed how
positive Joey was. At one point, one of
the students in the audience stood up
and asked Joey if he was afraid to die.
My heart sank, but Joey simply paused
for a second and said, "Everybody dies...
But if I spend my time thinking about
dying then I'm not really living, am I?"
Special thanks to Joey DiPaolo for the short
interview and the CDC Clearinghouse and
Scholastic Scope Magazine (March, 1996) for
the information
there's a huge gap between
clearing the first person of a
disease and turning that into a
practical medical strategy that
will apply to hundreds and
thousands of people."
Many researchers believe that a
more successful treatment
program is out there waiting to be
discovered. Peter Piot, the
United Nations' AIDS program
director said "Let us hope but....
For more information on AIDS
treatment visit these web sites:
let us keep both our feet on the
ground," at the Vancouver
conference.
Outside hundreds of protesters
gathered showing an increasing
need for improved treatment
options. The attitudes of the
protesters can be summed up by
one protester's banner which read,
"Keep your eye on a cure. I'm
dying for an answer."
Information courtesy of GLCF Anima
Project Inform
http://www.projinf.org/
The Body
http://www.thebody.com/
AIDS Treatment Data Network
http://www.aidsnyc.org/network/