Where did HIV/AIDs come from?
I have chosen to discuss about HIV/AIDs. What is the origin of HIV/AIDS? Simply we really didn't know for sure. HIV/AIDS for over twenty years has been the subject of fierce debate and the cause of countless arguments about it origin. However, Scientists have always had a number of different theories about the origin which does not prove the origin of HIV/AIDS. However, the origin of HIVAIDS is not always clear but we constructed.
Brief story of HIV/AIDS: HIV/AIDS had originally been a disease known to exist in in monkeys; it was originally called simian immunodeficiency syndrome (or SIV). Scientists think that the “jump” from monkeys to humans lies, may have been a decades ago in the 1940s, when African bush meat hunters became infected by the monkeys that they had hunted for food (“Viruses”). According to scientists, the history of HIV/AIDS, in humans, begins with a man in Africa who dies of a mysterious illness in 1981, was referred to be the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic (“Global”). Although, scientists believe that HIV was present years before the first case was brought to the attention of the population (“Global”) it is not exactly clear. In 1981, the CDC reports an unusual occurrence of Kaposi’s sarcoma (rare opportunistic skin cancer) in many gay men (“Global”). In 1982, the CDC formally establishes the term Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS (“Global”). After 25 years, researchers have confirmed that HIVAIDS originated in wild chimps and then spread to humans.
HIV/AIDS stands for immunodeficiency virus. It is the virus that causes when it gets into human body and Causes AIDS; and AIDS stands for Acquire Immune deficiency syndrome. HIV damage cells of body‘s immune system of human and destroys the body's ability to fight infections. As a result, it causes AIDS disease.
As the argument goes, African says that the disease is originated from the West especially in North America and mainly in the United States in 1981. On other hand, American also says that the origin of HIV/AIDS is in Africa. When the scientists say that the origin of HIV/AIDS is Africa, Africans by themselves argue saying that if HIV/AIDS is originate Africa, and then it is in South Africa and Zaire and Cameroon or southern and western Africa. The same thing to the United States it also a controversial issue. Among American says that HIV/AIDS came from gay men. They called it as “gay cancer” as it was called by that time. It was identify as different disease which later became HIV/AIDS. When the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported the new outbreak they called it "GRID" (gay-related immune deficiency), stigmatizing the gay community as carriers of this deadly disease. This was how American first thinks about the disease. However, this was not the cases; and it started to be seen in heterosexuals and people who received blood transfusions, proving the syndrome knew no boundaries. With that being said, that was just how the construction goes not because it is the gay disease or minority disease. It became a deviant thing on how people constructed in different places.
People with HIV/AIDS in Africa are suffering of stigmatization and label given to them by the society. People with eating disorder in Africa are considered to be HIV/AIDS positive. No one does like to be even close to them. If a person looks thin or skinny, people will consider he/she may have HIV/AIDS. Also if one has health issues, people will say that it may be HIV/AIDS. Even though they know that this disease could not be transmitted by touching, sitting on a toilet seat and by sharing food with HIV infected person, people still have doubt. This is how people constructed HIV/AIDS as deviant sharing food with HIV infected person in Africa. But in contrary to public perception, one can't get HIV/AIDS by sharing food, drinking water at the same cup. But because of the construction and fear of the disease thinking as a deviant, nobody thinks these things are true. This is how people constructed HIV/AIDS as deviant when someone got infected. Here is the Video: http://youtu.be/UF3JGrt9Zvo
I also think it may by the same thing to here in the United Sates. I remembered two months ago watching new on the CNN about the case of a young boy from Massachusetts who had been rejected in school in which he applies for. He was rejected simply because he has been HIV/AIDS positive. This boy was stigmatized just because he has the disease like how people do to HIV/AIDS patients back in Africa. But people forget that AIDS disease is not transmitted when learning. This young boy became deviant according to the society way of constructing HIV/AIDS. This related to what we have been discussing Alex Thio Thomas. C Calhuon Addrain Conyers in Reading Deviant Behavior, (2010) that society view people who are either sick, disable and acting inappropriate as deviant. This brings us to how the crimes statistic in this nation socially constructed with disproportionality among the population.
In the United States, HIV/AIDS is constructed disproportionally among the minorities groups like the way that crimes statistics goes. For instance, since the AIDS epidemic began in 1981, 1.7 million Americans have been infected with HIV and 583,298 have died of AIDS-related causes through 2007. Minorities still have a greatest burden of HIV/AIDS infection. For example, Gay and bisexual men account for estimated 53% of new HIV infections according to the Kaiser family foundation fact sheet (2010). African-Americans and Latinos are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS. Blacks accounted for 45% of new HIV infections in 2006 and 47% of those living with the disease. Black women are account for 64% of HIV/AIDS infection but yet they make up only 12% of the U.S. population. Latinos account for 17% of new infections yet comprise 15% of the U.S. population, while whites represent 35% of new infections and account for 66% of the total population. In this case, the AIDS case rate for African Americans is more than 9 times that of whites, and the HIV rate is 7 times greater among blacks than whites. Survival after an AIDS diagnosis is lower for blacks than any other racial/ethnic group. This is how the social construction of HIV/AIDS rate goes in the United States. It is hard sometime to believe that how research figure out. This social construction of HIV/AIDs disease is related to the course because it is about societal construction of who is considering being deviant. This is not true to my understanding due to the way it got constructed. However, most benefit in all this process of the disease.
Because of the Engendering Stigma, the survey of HIV/AIDS was carried out by (UN 2005). In that survey, women were interview the reason the face greater stigma than Men. One of the questions that women were asked during interviews was, ‘‘is there a difference between how society treats HIV-positive women vs. HIV-positive men? If so, what are those differences, and why do you think such differences exist?’’ it was analyze women’s responses to this question while situating their responses within the context of their life histories, particularly as their life stories intersect with HIV/AIDS. The focus was to see how women’s perceptions of this issue while trying to understand how their perceptions corresponded to or departed from their own personal experiences. This I think is another way that people construct and labeled women with HIV/AIDS in some countries in Africa and India. As we discussed in sociology of deviant particularity in labeling theory by Howard Becker that deviant is a consequences of responses of others to a person act. Those who got labeled with illness share their label and experience of being labeled by the society.
According to the survey, some women’s responses that HIV positive women face greater stigma and discrimination than HIV-positive men. For example, Fatuma whose first husband had died from AIDS and who had discovered her HIV-positive status when she became pregnant with her second husband’s child, explained: Members of society will treat HIV-positive women worse than they treat HIV positive men because if a woman is HIV positive they say that she is immoral but they don’t say that about men. For me, the fact that I got HIV from my first husband was demeaning. Now that I am HIV-positive and my new husband is HIV-negative it is impossible to explain that to the village without the other villagers thinking that I am immoral (UN 2005). This story show that women with HIV/AIDS suffer more depend on how particular society construction and labeled people. It should not be matter if a man or a woman has illness, they should be treated or given the medicines that prolong their illness so that they feel better.
The major players in decision-making process of HIV/AIDS are drug companies, doctors or physicians and Federal Drugs Administration (FDA) and they are the also the parties who are gaining from the diagnoses. But the parties stand to lose from diagnoses are patients and medical insurance companies. Their information of the disease got spread out via mass media, internet and research. It benefit them because there treatment. However, the society will label and consider people with HIV/AIDS as bad individuals of being sick that became their master status. But it sometimes depend on someone‘s status in the society. The good example of someone who had HIV/AIDS and was not poor is Magic Johnson of NBA. He announced that he is HIV-positive and retires from basketball. But because he was so rich, he did not experiences all negative stereotypes like other poor people with HIV/AIDS.
As social construction of this illness goes in the society, it target women more. This is because HIV/AIDS is considered to be a ‘‘woman’s disease’’ In some cultures, women’s bodies are always considered to be the original host for HIV/AIDS. They constructed that the disease was associated with sexually promiscuous women in the first place. Here is the story of women expressing her opinion how society view HIV positive women. The society is unkind to HIV-positive women and that women are condemned and blamed more for the disease. But they often ask me: say that she has brought HIV and all these problems into the family. Gossip is also much more focused on HIV-positive women than on positive men. People always say: ‘‘she was so good and so well once upon a time. But now look what has become of her.’’ If the girl or boy tests HIV-positive, all the siblings will be under suspicion. If there are younger sisters or brothers, then their marriages will also get affected. The above social construction scenario make women not only to suffer but put them into vulnerability in societies. It should be a matter if someone has HIV/AIDS whether you are a woman or a man.
In another study on HIV/AIDS-related stigma conducted in Zambia, (Bond et al. 2003) wrote, ‘‘Women are more susceptible to, and impacted by, HIV related stigma’’ (9). They argue that women living with HIV/AIDS are stigmatized not only because of the association between HIV/AIDS and improper sexuality, which falls outside of the acceptable cultural script for women, but also because it renders women ‘‘everything they should not be.’’ As they explain, women living with HIV and AIDS (or more often, suspected to be living with HIV and AIDS) are regarded as everything they should not be sick and slim when they should be healthy; being cared for when they should be caring for others; sexually deviant when they should be sexually righteous. Women tend to be blamed for more HIV/AIDS disease than men in some countries in developing world. All of these are just social way of construction and label given to HIV/AIDS individuals. Since HIV is assumed to result from this, HIV-positive women often tend to face greater stigma and discrimination than HIV-positive men. Like the women who were protesting the in southern Africa scholars studying the social impact of HIV/AIDS globally have argued that women tend to be blamed for the spread of HIV/AIDS (Nyblade & Bond 2005). The stigma and discrimination against women who are HIV/AIDS positive than men has been socially constructed by those societies and labeled. Here is short film about HIV/AIDS http://youtu.be/OS93UvqfAPg
Although stigmatization and fear still surrounds HIV/AIDS, many seek the label and fight for what is rightfully theirs. The men and women who are suffering from HIV/AIDS need help so that they can return to active life even though no complete cure for the disease. In spite of stigmatization, there is a comfort in having a label that explains the suffering. Role of the social institution is trying to help people of the disease but label them as weak at the same time. However, some people are less likely to get treatment like poor people but rich can afford to buy medicine for HIV/AID. They underlying social construction of the things such as race, class, gender, size, ability, sickness, sexuality, and perception of HIV/AIDS are that people with the disease are not contributing to the growth of the economy because they are weak. On the other hand, possible social reasons for the existence of HIV/AIDS is that not all patients with HIV/AIDS die; they contributed to the economy in different ways and that AIDS is not a disease originated from gay men as well as Africa. It does not matter but a universal disease.
So did it definitely come from Africa? Not still not sure but they have already looked at, and say that it is likely that Africa was the continent where the transfer of HIV to humans first occurred. They also have no evidence what so ever. Some say why “only African monkeys” but monkeys from Asia and South America) have never been found to have SIVs that could cause HIV in humans. This is very controversial issues which some people rooted back to the colonial times. It is like the argument that is going on about AZT, medicine for HIV/AIDS that kill patient and not treat the disease. But they physicians and drug companies argue it doesn’t. This disease has been the subject of fierce debate and the cause of countless arguments about it origin for over twenty years. Finally, the origin of HIV/AIDS remains as a politically sensitive exercise and social construction.
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Works Cited:
1-Addrain, Conyers, Thio, Alex, Thomas C and Calhoun, 2010. Readings in Deviant Behavior. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Ba. 1975
2- Ban Hollen 2005 HIV/AIDS and the Gendering of Stigma and social inequality
3- "Global HIV/AIDS Timeline - Kaiser Family Foundation." The Henry J. Kaiser
4- UN (2005) Engendering Stigma: ‘‘Women Face Greater Stigma than Men’’
5- Nyblade & Bond (2003 & 2005) HIV and AIDS-Related Stigma and Discrimination: A Conceptual Framework for Action. Social Science and Medicine 57: 13–24.
7- Family Foundation - Health Kaiser Family Foundation. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. www.kf.org/hivaids/timeline/hivtimeline."Viruses Can Jump Between Primates And Humans, Researchers Warn." Web. 21 Apr. 2010.
8- Kaiser Family Foundation Fact Sheet: The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the United States, September 2009.
