| Wong: Hi buddy, what do you know about AIDS?
Wong: Hey, don't turn away, let's talk about AIDS…
Wong: Hey…let's…
Wong: Okay, not this time again! Just like you, I used to avoid talking about AIDS in the public. In fact, we need to know more about AIDS, so we can take precaution. I was frightened by the word AIDS and didn't want to confront it. But now, let me tell you my story. Let's get to know more about AIDS. Wong: Hello Wong, why do you look so weary?
Chan: Are you alright? You haven't come to the park to play chess for a month, Uncle Sam asked about you.
Wong: I am not in the mood for playing chess with Uncle Sam.
Chan: I can't believe that. Uncle Sam told us about his HIV infection because he treated us as his closest friends. We've been playing chess for years, how can you turn away from him?
Wong: …
Chan: Oh…I guess you must be afraid of being infected. I had the same misunderstanding before. So, if you have queries, you should ask. You could ask me too. AIDS stands for "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome" which is a disease caused by a virus called HIV. People who are infected with HIV will gradually lose their ability to fight against infections. If untreated, this will lead to complications and finally death.
Wong: Did Uncle Sam contract the virus from those women in the park?
Chan: May be. It's none of our business! What we need to know is HIV cannot be transmitted by day-to-day social contact, such as shaking hands, sharing meals, sharing toilets, and neither can be transmitted through an insect bite. You will not contract HIV through playing chess alone!
Wong: Really …
Chan: If you don't trust me, it's fine. You can call to ask the nurses. Here is the number of the AIDS Hotline. Call them and find out everything you want to know.
Wong: Okay… Nurse counselor: AIDS Hotline, can I help you?
Wong: Ah…I want to ask, can AIDS be easily transmitted?
Nurse counselor: HIV is transmitted mainly through 3 routes. First, through sexual contact with an infected person, which includes vaginal sex, anal sex and oral sex. The second route is through blood contact, such as sharing needle and syringe with infected drug user, or transfusion of contaminated blood or blood product. The third route is through an infected mother to her baby during pregnancy, delivery or through breast-feeding.
Wong: Ah…is the chance of getting infected through sexual contact high?
Nurse counselor: It depends on whether you have direct contact with the semen, vaginal secretion or blood of the infected person.
Wong: Are there ways to avoid the contact?
Nurse counselor: Proper use of condom and…
Wong: I …you don't know who I am, right?
Nurse counselor: No caller display function is installed in this hotline and our conversation is strictly confidential.
Wong: I…I am so stupid to sleep with the woman I met in the park. Only once, only this time! Uncle Sam get infected, so must I. Only once, I get infected…
Nurse counselor: Mister, I understand how you feel. Don't be panic. It doesn't help much. If you doubt that you might have been infected, take the HIV antibody test...
Wong: Nonsense, I must have been infected. What …what should I do? I might have passed the virus to my wife, how can I tell her. Chan: Hey Wong, how come you don't go to the park? Are you too scared of AIDS to leave home? Did you call the AIDS Hotline?
Wong: I…I have called… I…
Chan: Are you alright? You look something wrong.
Wong: I am such a fool, I…
Chan: You…you've been fooling around?
Wong: Chan: Did you think about your wife…or AIDS?
Wong: I am a jerk.
Chan: Did you take the test yet?
Wong: I didn't. I'm at this age. If I get infected, I just die earlier.
Chan: That's so wrong. If you are infected, you may pass the virus on to others. If you are sick, your family will have a hard time looking after you.
Wong: If they know I have contracted HIV, they probably would abandon me. I am totally finished.
Chan: Let's talk to Miss Cheung, the social worker in the elderly center. May be she can help you on this. Wong: You are right, Miss Cheung. I should be considerate. I should take the test.
Miss Cheung: Sure, you should take the HIV antibody test to avoid unnecessary worry. If the test result shows that you are not affected, you need not worry anymore. If you really get infected, you can receive appropriate treatment early.?
Chan: I heard that the result is accurate only when the test is taken after the Window Period.
Wong: Window Period?
Miss Cheung: When a person is infected with HIV, the body will produce antibodies. But in the first three months after the infection, the body may not produce enough antibodies, so the test may fail to detect them and may come up with an inaccurate result. This three month period is called the "Window Period".
Wong: In my case…it's been more than three months. Ah…I used to think that AIDS should be nothing to do with elderly.
Miss Cheung: In Hong Kong, although the HIV prevalence rate is generally low, the proportion of reported HIV infected people aged 55 or above has been doubled in the past 10 years. So we all need to confront the disease and to learn more about it.
Chan: That's why recently I had joint the others in the elderly center for a visit to the Red Ribbon Centre to learn more about AIDS.
Miss Cheung: It's very important to know more about it. Although AIDS cannot be cured at the moment, there are medicines to control its progression, just like other chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. The earlier the treatment begins, the better the effect.
Wong: Is the test confidential? Would anyone know about it?
Miss Cheung: Yes! All conversations are kept in strictest confidence. You can simply make an appointment through the AIDS Hotline. The HIV antibody test is an anonymous test; no ID card is needed and it is completely free.
Chan: The number is 2780 2211.
Wong: I better call to make appointment for the test now. Wong: So, that's my story. You can tell that I’m alright by my smiling face. But I have learned a big lesson.
Chan: A story is a story, what's important is to confront AIDS positively. Quit saying that AIDS is nothing to do with you.
Miss Cheung: If we want to know more about AIDS or the HIV antibody test, what should we do?
Wong: Call the AIDS Hotline 2780 2211, they provide free and anonymous counselling service and make arrangement for a HIV antibody test.
Miss Cheung: Then, how to prevent HIV infection?
Chan: Practice safer sex, do not share needle and syringe, wear disposable gloves when in contact with blood, then you will not be afraid of getting infected.
Wong: To practice safer sex, you need to use a condom properly. Voice over:
Male condom is a rubber covering to sheath the erected penis in order to prevent sperms from getting into the female body during ejaculation. It also prevents vaginal secretion from getting into contact with the partner’s body thus reducing the chance of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. The method of using is: expel the air from the little bag at the top of the condom, put the condom on the tip of the erected penis. Then unroll it slowly to cover the entire penis. After ejaculation the penis has to be withdrawn from the vagina together with the condom in time. Care must be taken to avoid sperm from streaming into the vagina. If the lubricants are needed, water soluble types like KY jelly should be used. It is because oil based lubricants tend to break the condom. Remember make sure that a new and non-expired one is used every time. Chan: Let's pay a visit to Uncle Sam.
Miss Cheung: Sure. AIDS is just an illness; all patients need people's care and support.
Wong: That's why we need to know more about AIDS. We are now smarter and know how to get along with HIV infected person. We accept them and show them support.
Chan: Let's go.
Miss Cheung: Okay! Please remember…
Together: Be a smart elderly, getting to know AIDS! Produced by Red Ribbon Centre – UNAIDS Collaborating Centre for Technical Support
2nd Floor, Wang Tau Hom Jockey Club Clinic, 200 Junction Road East, Kowloon
Phone: 31437200
Fax: 23380534
E-mail: rrc@dh.gov.hk |