quote:
"If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.... It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents."
Yup. You read right. Quarantine.
Heh... While it may not be politically correct, and surely this excerpt will be used as ammunition against his campaign, he does have a point whether or not it makes for an uncomfortable thought.
The AIDS virus has in many ways been treated like a civil rights issue in many instances, as if it were a little, red badge of courage. It also would be the first time in history where people with a disease with no known cure was not quarantined.
Plus you have to consider the timeline -- 1992 -- when AIDS was considered an epidemic. Every one was fearful that it could be transmitted as an airborne pathogen, or if it didn't, a mutation would make it happen down the line.
Obviously more research has been done since then and awareness has been raised. The disease has been mitigated considerably thanks to those aspects.
Whether public identification and tracking of individuals with a communicable disease has happened recently in the U.S.
Yes... Remember when about 8-9 months ago a man with a rare form of tuberculosis (could have been another disease though) was ordered not to leave the United States, but did anyway?
They broadcast it all over the news, giving his name, and what city he lived.
The pros and cons of any such proposed identification/quarantine.
The pro's is that the disease will be contained, the con is that you will be a social pariah.
Given the substantial privacy issues raised by the collection, transmission, and retention of such information, I contend that any such program violates an individual's right to medical privacy.
Only unless the general public is at serious risk, otherwise, there is no need to stigmatize someone.
“This life’s dim windows of the soul, distorts the heavens from pole to pole, and goads you to believe a lie, when you see with and not through the eye.” -William Blake
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