In 1982, the greatest fear was AIDS - it would spread to everyone from every corner, no one was safe, even those who didn't have sex would catch it. AIDS was coming.
That was the message and the fear was very real. It was drummed into us by the gay community, its supporters, the medical community, and nearly everyone else.
Now the story has changed a bit. Notice headlines and then notice what the article/statements say vis a vis the headline!
Threat of world Aids pandemic among heterosexuals is over, report admits
A 25-year health campaign was misplaced outside the continent of Africa. But the disease still kills more than all wars and conflicts
By Jeremy Laurance
Sunday, 8 June 2008
The Independent
A quarter of a century after the outbreak of Aids, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has accepted that the threat of a global heterosexual pandemic has disappeared.
In the first official admission that the universal prevention strategy promoted by the major Aids organisations may have been misdirected, Kevin de Cock, the head of the WHO's department of HIV/Aids said there will be no generalised epidemic of Aids in the heterosexual population outside Africa.
Dr De Cock, an epidemiologist who has spent much of his career leading the battle against the disease, said understanding of the threat posed by the virus had changed. Whereas once it was seen as a risk to populations everywhere, it was now recognised that, outside sub-Saharan Africa, it was confined to high-risk groups including men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, and sex workers and their clients.
Dr De Cock said: "It is very unlikely there will be a heterosexual epidemic in other countries. Ten years ago a lot of people were saying there would be a generalised epidemic in Asia – China was the big worry with its huge population. That doesn't look likely. But we have to be careful. As an epidemiologist it is better to describe what we can measure. There could be small outbreaks in some areas."
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But that is the thing - he cannot measure what is not measureable - an aids pandemic. You can't measure that until it occurs, yet they tried. That is not measuring - that was fear mongering.
I recall a show, way back when I was very young, and I only remember it because, as I said, in the early 1980s, it was the greatest fear since man realized that he couldn't live forever. At a time when my mind went wandering to issues of sex, I remember my parents or someone watching a show with Geraldo Rivera and he gave a staggering number, I do not have it any more, but it was significant - if I stated he reported at least 20% would have AIDS, I would be understanding his number. This was very scary for a kid who had just started thinking about sex or knew that it was an eventuality. For the longest time I kept a small piece of paper with that number on it. Years later, it is gone and so is the fear - and now the science and medical communities have acknowledged that it was a gross misdirection of fear.
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