AIDS

How did these two viruses of primate origin get into the gay male population to cause AIDS and a contagious form of cancer? AIDS experts blame monkeys and chimps in the African jungle. My research indicates it is much more likely these viruses were introduced during government-sponsored hepatitis B experiments using gays as unsuspecting guinea pigs. Extensive documentation of past "secret medical experiments" by the government can be found on Google. A recent BBC news report (30 Nov 2004) uncovering unauthorized and dangerous HIV drug experiments on infants and children in New York City orphanages can be found by “Googling“: BBC + guinea pig kids.
Until proven otherwise, a "new" HIV retrovirus and a "new" KS virus could easily have been developed in a laboratory as part of the Virus Cancer Program. In the decade before AIDS it was common to transfer and adapt primate retroviruses and herpes viruses into human cells in genetic engineering experiments. Such viruses were deemed potential "candidate human viruses," as clearly stated in the annual progress reports of the VCP. For further details on the relationship of the VCP to the introduction of HIV, Google: virus cancer program + AIDS.
The connection between the hepatitis experiments and the AIDS epidemic was quickly dismissed by government authorities two decades ago. However, it is clear from a review of the scientific literature that the "gay plague" began immediately after the government experiments; and the experiments permanently damaged the health of the gay community, and led to continuing spread of HIV into the "general population."
Are we to believe that all this is merely a coincidence -and that AIDS in America resulted simply from two viruses jumping species in the African jungle? Or is the origin of HIV and AIDS -and the KS virus- related to secret medical research and covert human testing, as suggested here.

Largely forgotten in AIDS history is the hepatitis B vaccine trial that also took place with 685 gay Dutch volunteers in Amsterdam between November 1980 and December 1981. Unlike the American vaccine makers, the Dutch researchers heated their experimental hepatitis B vaccine for added safety.
A 1986 report of the trial clearly states the AIDS virus "was not transmitted by the heat inactivated hepatitis B vaccine." Of the 685 participants, five were already infected with HIV when the trial began. The researchers theorized that HIV entered the Dutch gay population at the end of the 1970s.
Another follow-up Dutch report of this trial in 1993 again suggests the efficacy of heating the vaccine for safety. (The experimental vaccine was not heated in the U.S. until after all the gay experiments were completed.) At the end of 1982, one year after the Dutch experiment had ended, only As stated previously, a 1986 report in JAMA showed 20% of the men in the experiment were already infected with HIV by the end of 1981; and by 1984, more than 40% of the men were HIV-positive and doomed to death.
7.5% of the Amsterdam men were infected. In contrast, 26.8% of the men in the New York experiment were HIV-positive; and a whopping 42.6% of the San Francisco men were HIV-positive. These statistics showing many men infected in the American trials in 1982 further prove that Cladd Stevens of the NYBC, and the CDC, were incorrect in declaring there was no excess incidence of AIDS in the "high-risk" gay male population.
The fate of all the men who participated in the hepatitis B vaccine trials in six U.S cities has never been revealed. However, it is likely from the statistics presented in JAMA in 1986 that many, if not most, of the men eventually died of AIDS. The actual number of AIDS deaths has never been revealed, nor have the individual medical records been studied. Attempts to secure this information have been rebuffed by the Blood Center, due to the "confidential" nature of the experiment.
"Gay Cancer" and the origin of AIDS
After the introduction of HIV and the KS virus into the U.S. gay male population in the late 1970s, the incidence of KS skyrocketed.
A 1989 report by Biggar found no cases of KS in young men in New York City during the years 1973-1976. But by 1985 the incidence of KS in "never-married men" in Manhattan had increased 1850 times. In San Francisco the rate of KS increased over 2000 times!
KS is now 20,000 times more common in AIDS patients than in the general population. A 1985 autopsy study by Lee Moskowitz of 52 AIDS cases (23 Haitians, 19 gays, 5 intravenous drug abusers, 2 hemophiliacs, and 3 persons at unknown risk) showed that 94% of AIDS patients from the various risk groups had internal KS. The CDC claims KS now occurs in only 15% of gay men (down from 30% at the beginning of the epidemic), but these statistics are not based on current autopsy studies
KS was never a sexually-transmitted disease before the introduction of HIV into gays. For a century after the first reported KS cases were discovered in Vienna in 1872, there was no evidence that KS could be transmitted from person-to-person.
By 1950, a more aggressive "endemic" form of KS was uncovered in African blacks. Still, there was no evidence the disease was transmissible or contagious. Suddenly with the introduction of HIV into the homosexual community, scientists began to view KS as a contagious "gay cancer" out of Africa.
The new KS virus is closely related to a monkey tumour virus, known as herpes virus saimiri, that was extensively studied by researchers in the VCP in the decade before the epidemic. Initially found only in KS from AIDS patients, the new KS virus has also been found in non-AIDS-related KS tumours and in other forms of cancer, such as lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
HIV is a cancer-causing virus. Infection with HIV (with or without the KS virus) has resulted in a noticeable increase in various forms of cancer. A 2005 study of over 4000 AIDS patients showed higher rates of melanoma, basal and squamous cell skin carcinomas, anal carcinoma, prostate carcinoma, and Hodgkin disease, when compared with age-adjusted rates for the general United States population.
The KS virus is now in the U.S. blood supply; and blood is not screened routinely for this virus. A 2001 study indicated that 15% of normal Texas blood donors showed evidence of KS virus infection in the blood. A 2002 study of healthy children (ages 4-13) in South Texas showed that 26% had antibodies to the KS virus in their blood.

The purpose of the gay experiments was to test a vaccine that could immunize people against hepatitis B virus. Infection with this virus could lead to severe liver disease and sometimes to liver cancer. Ironically, an unprecedented explosion of cancer took place in male homosexuals after the experiment. Reports of the fate of these men attest to the fact that participating in the government’s experiments was clearly injurious to the health of gay men.
Significantly, there were no reported blood specimens anywhere in the U.S. that were HIV-positive prior to the epidemic in 1979, except in the samples stored at the NYBC.
In a May 12, 1983, letter to the editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, Cladd Stevens (who supervised the NYBC experiment) wrote : "No cases haves occurred in the vaccine recipients from populations at low risk of AIDS, and there is no excess incidence in the high-risk population." But this proved to be incorrect in later reports co-authored by Stevens.
In a 1985 report Cladd Stevens et al. claimed that seven men (out of 1083) were HIV-positive before they received either vaccine or placebo. If true, this indicates that HIV (and possibly the KS virus) was already present in the blood of Manhattan homosexuals and could have contaminated the pooled blood of gays whose plasma was used to make the vaccine in 1977.
As stated previously, a 1986 report in JAMA showed 20% of the men in the experiment were already infected with HIV by the end of 1981; and by 1984, more than 40% of the men were HIV-positive and doomed to death.
Another follow-up study of 8,906 gay men who donated blood for the hepatitis experiments in Manhattan was released in 1992. Statistical analysis of this group showed that mortality rates for men aged 25-44 began to rise in the 1980s, with AIDS the leading cause of death among young men in New York City. Remarkably, "The all-cause mortality in this cohort in 1988 was 24 times higher that the mortality rate in the cohort before the beginning of the AIDS epidemic."

When AIDS began there were scattered reports in the medical journals questioning whether the "gay plague" might have its origin in the hepatitis B experiments. It was well-known in medical circles that the vaccine was made from the pooled plasma of gay men – and there was fear that the AIDS agent might be in the vaccine. As a result, when the hepatitis B commercial vaccine became available in July 1982, many people refused to be injected with it.
The fear of the vaccine was readily admitted by the CDC. Nevertheless, in detailed reports the CDC concluded that the vaccine was safe. Although it was clear the hepatitis B vaccine eliminated all "known" viruses, this obviously did not apply to "unknown" viruses at the time, such as HIV and the KS virus.
After HIV was discovered in 1984 some of the vaccine was retested and declared free of HIV. Of course, it was impossible to say whether the vaccine contained the KS virus, because this virus was undiscovered until 1994. I am unaware of any subsequent testing of the vaccine for this herpes KS virus.
Possible contamination problems with the hepatitis vaccine was the impetus that led Luc Montagnier to hunt for a virus in the new gay disease in the autumn of 1982. He began testing batches of human plasma for "reverse transcriptase activity", a biochemical sign indicating the possible presence of a retrovirus. (See page 46 of his book "Virus"). Montagnier’s research eventually led to the first discovery of the AIDS virus at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
Although the CDC and the New York Blood Center claimed it was safe, many health professionals refused the hepatitis B vaccine. In 1985, only 23 out of 162 Rhode Island dentists agreed to take the vaccine because of concerns about AIDS. As late as 1990, 13 out of 14 black nurses at a university hospital refused to take the vaccine for the same reason.

The experimental hepatitis B vaccine injected into gays was unlike any other vaccine previously made. As stated, it was developed in chimpanzees and manufactured in a year-long process of sterilization and purification of the pooled blood of 30 gay men who were hepatitis B virus carriers.
The final group of 1083 selected for the first experiment at the Blood Center were inoculated from November 1978 until October 1979. At one point, there was great concern that the vaccine might be contaminated. According to June Goodfield’s Quest for the Killers, p 86, "This was no theoretical fear, contamination having been suspected in one batch made by the National Institutes of Health, though never in Merck’s." Each gay man was given three inoculations of the vaccine over a period of three months. The vaccine proved successful with 96% of the men developing protective antibodies against the hepatitis B virus.
It has been assumed by some that these men might have been already immunosuppressed due to promiscuity and venereal disease. Although the young men in the study were indeed "promiscuous" (this was a requirement for entrance into the study), they were in excellent health. Despite many previous sexual partners, these volunteers had never been infected with the hepatitis B virus, which was a requirement for participation in the experiment. Furthermore, the 96% success rate would not have been accomplished if the men were immunosuppressed, because such people often do not respond to the vaccine.
When Robert Gallo’s blood test for HIV became available in the mid-1980s, the New York Blood Center’s stored gay blood specimens were re-examined. Most astonishing is the fact that 20% of the gay men who volunteered for the hepatitis B experiment in Manhattan were discovered to be HIV-positive in 1980 (one year before the AIDS epidemic became "official" in 1981). This signifies that Manhattan gays in 1980 had the highest incidence of HIV anywhere in the world, including Africa, the supposed birthplace of HIV and AIDS. In addition, we now know that one out of five gay men (20%) tested positive for the new KS herpes-8 virus in 1982 when stored blood samples from an AIDS trial in New York City were re-examined by epidemiologists at the NCI in 1999.
Never mentioned by AIDS historians is the fact that the New York Blood Center established a chimp virus laboratory for viral vaccine research in West Africa in 1974. One of the purposes of VILAB II, in Robertsfield, Liberia, was to develop the hepatitis B vaccine in chimps. The lab also prides itself by releasing "rehabilitated" (but virus-infected) chimps back into the wild, perhaps accounting for some of the ancestors of HIV and the KS virus found in the jungle by some government researchers. The Virus Cancer Program and the birth of AIDS,
In the decade before AIDS the Virus Cancer Program (1968-1980), sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, attempted to prove that viruses caused human cancer. Ultimately the Program was unsuccessful in providing proof, yet it succeeded in building up the field of animal retrovirology, which led to a more complete understanding of how cancer-causing and immunosuppressive viruses in animals might cause disease in humans. The VCP was also the birthplace of genetic engineering, molecular biology, and the human genome project. As the VCP was winding down in the late 1970s, the gay experiments began in New York City.
The introduction of HIV and the KS herpes virus into gay men during this period (along with some "novel" and now-patented mycoplasmas discovered at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology) miraculously revived the career of Robert Gallo and made him the most famous virologist in the world. And, of course, turned the "failure" of the VCP into a triumph by providing proof that these primate-derived viruses could cause disease in humans.

Beginning in the mid-1970s, government scientists became interested in the health of gay men, particularly in the realm of sexually-transmitted diseases, and specifically in the sexual transmission of the hepatitis B virus. The early 1970s was a time when large numbers of gays come out of the closet and identified themselves as homosexuals at government-sponsored health clinics. Organizations such as the Gay Men’s Health Project were formed at this time. Promiscuous gays were avidly sought as volunteers to test the efficacy of a newly-developed hepatitis B vaccine manufactured by Merck and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
By 1977 over 13,000 Manhattan gays were screened to secure the final 1083 men who would serve as guinea pigs to test the hepatitis B vaccine. The vaccine was manufactured from the combined plasma of 30 highly selected gay men who carried the hepatitis B virus in their blood. Developed over a period of 65 weeks during 1977-1978 and tested for six months in chimpanzees (the primate in which HIV is thought to have originated), the first group of gay men were inoculated at the New York Blood Center in November 1978.
That same year a final cohort of 6875 homosexual men at the San Francisco City Clinic was assembled to study hepatitis B virus sexual transmission in that city. By the end of the decade gays in clinics in Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, and St. Louis, also came under surveillance by the Centers for Disease Control. An additional 1402 volunteers were finally selected to participate in similar vaccine experiments in those cities beginning in March 1980.
Before 1978 there was no stored blood anywhere in the U.S. that tested positive for HIV or the KS virus. There were no cases of AIDS and no cases of "gay cancer" in young men.
The first cases of AIDS appeared shortly after the experiment began in Manhattan. In June 1981 the epidemic became official and was quickly labelled the "gay ­related immune deficiency syndrome", later known as AIDS.
The gay community was the most hated minority in America. After the experiments ended, the gay community was decimated by the "gay plague." In the first years of AIDS, the epidemic was largely ignored by the government (see Randy Shilt’s best-seller, And the Band Played On) and the disease was blamed on gay anal sex, drugs, and promiscuity. Gays were immediately labelled "high risk."
In my view, what made gay men "high risk" was the fact that they were the exclusive volunteers for government medical experiments that undoubtedly put them at "high risk." The evidence for this conclusion is outlined in this report. Further evidence can be obtained from abstracts of scientific reports available on the Internet at the PubMed website of the National Library of Medicine.

There is no doubt that AIDS erupted in the U.S. shortly after government-sponsored hepatitis B vaccine experiments (1978-1981) using gay men as guinea pigs. The epidemic was caused by the "introduction" of a new retrovirus (the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV for short); and the introduction of a new herpes-8 virus, the virus that causes Kaposi’s sarcoma, widely known as the "gay cancer" of AIDS. The taboo theory that AIDS is a man-made disease is largely based on research showing an intimate connection between government vaccine experiments and the outbreak of "the gay plague"
The widely accepted theory is that HIV/AIDS originated in a monkey or chimpanzee virus that "jumped species" in Africa. However, it is clear that the first AIDS cases were recorded in gay men in Manhattan in 1979, a few years before the epidemic was first noticed in Africa in 1982. It is now claimed that the human herpes-8 virus (also called the KS virus), discovered in 1994, also originated when a primate herpes virus jumped species in Africa. How two African species-jumping viruses ended up exclusively in gay men in Manhattan beginning in the late 1970s has never been satisfactorily explained.
Researchers who claim AIDS is a man-made disease believe it is much more likely that these two primate viruses were introduced and spread during the government’s recruitment of thousands of male homosexuals beginning in 1974.
Large numbers of gay men in Manhattan donated blood for the experimental hepatitis B vaccine trial, which took place at the New York Blood Center in Manhattan in 1978. Extensive evidence supporting the man-made theory of AIDS is easily found on the Internet by Googling: man-made origin of AIDS; and in my two books, "AIDS and the Doctors of Death" and "Queer Blood: The Secret AIDS Genocide Plot."

When HIV infects you, your body tries to fight the infection in the same way it fights all viruses and bacteria: It produces antibodies against the virus. You can find out if you have been infected with HIV by getting a blood test for the HIV antibody. If you have the HIV antibody in your blood, you are HIV-positive. Being HIV-positive does not mean that you have AIDS, but it does mean that you have become infected with HIV and that you can pass the infection to someone else. If you are thinking about having a child, you should ask to be tested before you become pregnant, especially since passing the virus from mother to child can now be prevented. If the test does not find the HIV antibody in your blood, you are HIV-negative.
However, if you have had unprotected sex or have shared needles with someone not long ago, you may have become infected too recently for the antibody to be detected. To make sure that you aren't infected, it's a good idea to have yourself tested again in six months. Be sure to practice safer sex and to use only clean needles in the time between tests. If you are pregnant, enroll in a prenatal care pro-gram and be tested again. If you test negative again, then the challenge for you is to stay negative for the rest of your life. If you are tested in a health clinic, hospital, or doctor's office, the result will be kept confidential. That is, it will be entered in your medical record, but people outside the health-care setting will not be able to get the information without your permission. Be aware, however, that your health insurance company will probably be able to get information about your HIV test from your medical record. If a company learns that you're HIV-positive, it may be very difficult for you to get new life, health, or disability insurance. For that reason, many people choose anonymous-testing sites for HIV-antibody tests. Anonymous testing means that you can be tested without having to give your name or address. Instead, you are given a code number that you must use when you return for your test result. Since no one can trace anonymous results back to you, you have greater protection from discrimination. Before and after testing, you will receive counseling and will have a chance to ask questions.

There are treatments for HIV infection that can help keep you healthy and may prevent other infections. The availability of treatments is one of the best reasons why you should decide to be tested. So if you are HIV-positive, see your doctor or go to a health clinic, even if you don't have any symptoms of illness. Ask the doctor to perform tests to evaluate the strength of your immune system. Ask if treatment is advised. Also, if you are HIV-positive, you may find it helpful to talk with others who are HIV-positive. They can help you deal with issues like who to tell, when, and how. Often they can help you find the best doctor to talk with about your personal situation. There are many useful publications available from your local AIDS service organizations. People in these organizations can help you to learn more about living with HIV and to arrive at decisions that make sense for you. 

I Can't Cope with my Fear of AIDS
Many of us are physically well yet troubled that we might have AIDS, been infected with the AIDS virus, or be passing the virus to our sexual partners, spouses or unborn children
. "The Worried Well"

Physically well people living with the fear of AIDS and the fear of getting it have been  referred to as the "worried well", but with newspapers carrying daily stories about AIDS, nearly everyone is frightened and concerned however well they feel. This fear is often reasonable -- an emotional call to do something concrete to reduce the actual danger of contracting AIDS. But there are those of us among the "worried well" who think so much about AIDS that worry itself becomes a central part of our lives. Some of us may not even be aware of worrying, but our behavior shows the effects of fear, anxiety, or depression; we lead lives that are sad, joyless, and unsatisfying. 

We get nervous. We avoid the subject. We look away. We don't want to know. We may not like to admit this to ourselves, but we don't really like to talk about AIDS, and worse still, we don't know how to act around people with AIDS. We'd rather avoid them. AIDS forces us to confront parts of life we are uncomfortable with, like sexuality, sickness, and death. People with AIDS know all of this. They know that their friends avoid certain subjects with them. They notice that people stop touching them. They hear us talk about "innocent victims of AIDS" and wonder if they are among the guilty. They feel themselves gradually being pushed outside, not called, left alone, cast off by society.  It's normal to have some fear or troubling thoughts and uncertainties about what to do or say. You shouldn't be ashamed. Everyone is unsure of how to act in new situations. If you haven't known anyone with a fatal disease before, you're probably not going to know what to do when you first meet someone who does.
While we should be aware of some basic health issues and special sensitivities people with AIDS might have, there is no need to learn any special new kind of behavior to use with them. We only need to treat them with the same respect and humanity with which, ideally, we treat everyone. There are, however, a few wrong assumptions many of us make about what to say or do around people with AIDS that can lead to thoughtless and mistaken characterizations and prejudgment. What then, is the best way to reach out to people living with AIDS? The following suggestions should help. 

Knowing people who are living with HIV helps to humanize the disease and allows you to see beyond the staggering headlines and statistics. AIDS isn't really about numbers and risk groups-it's about people, about friends and family, co-workers and caregivers. Most of us are afraid or unsure of ourselves in unfamiliar situations. We also may feel  uncomfortable around, or have wrong ideas about, people we don't know. AIDS is a scary disease. People who have AIDS may seem scary as well. The obvious way to solve this problem is to get to know some people living with AIDS. 
It's important to remember the difference between being HIV positive and having AIDS. People who are HIV positive may be healthy; they often look just like everyone else. You probably already know people who are HIV positive, and you just are not aware of it. Unless people tell you their HIV status, you can't tell who has been infected. You can meet people with HIV anywhere - on the job, at a baseball game, at the grocery store - anywhere you meet people.
Those who have been diagnosed with AIDS, however, are beginning to feel - and show - the effects of a weakened immune system. As the disease progresses, they may need more assistance and support. These are probably the people you will meet if you begin volunteering for AIDS service organizations, whether you are delivering meals, providing practical support, or visiting the AIDS ward.
There are many ways to learn about AIDS and how it affects the lives of those who live with it. A good first step is to read books, watch documentaries, or even read plays by or about people with AIDS. Your local library probably has a number of the excellent books listed in the back of this chapter. Many video stores rent films like Philadelphia or Longtime Companion and documentaries such as Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, a film about the AIDS Memorial Quilt. These works contain many inspiring and moving stories about the lives of people with AIDS, their caregivers, and families.
As the disease takes hold in more communities across the country and around the world, it becomes more and more likely that you will know someone who is affected by AIDS - a friend, a co-worker, even a family member. If AIDS has not yet touched your life so personally, you may want to become acquainted with people who are living with AIDS. Once you have an understanding of AIDS as a force in the lives of individuals and not just as a faraway and terrifying plague, you may feel ready to become involved in the fight against the disease. One of the best and most helpful ways to get to know a person with AIDS is to volunteer f or an AIDS service organization in your community. There are many ways to make a difference. For instance, you can deliver meals to people with AIDS, work at a drop-in center, or help to provide practical or emotional support to people who are living with the disease.

Language and how we use it is very important. It reveals a lot about what we think and how we feel. When talking about AIDS, there are a number of disrespectful and dehumanizing words we may use unintentionally. 

One of the most important changes we should make is to stop using the term victim to refer to people who are living with AIDS. By calling someone an AIDS victim we are saying that he or she is powerless in the face of this disease and should have no hope. We should instead use our words to emphasize the strength and the hope of those fighting AIDS.

Early in the epidemic - and even today, unfortunately - it was common for people to talk about the "innocent victims" of AIDS who caught the disease "through no fault of their own." This implied that anyone who caught the disease because of doing something unsafe was some sort of guilty perpetrator of AIDS who deserved to suffer a terrible death. This sort of judgment, which casts some as innocent and lays blame on others, serves only to increase the stigma attached to this awful disease. No one with AIDS deserves to have it. No one deserves to suffer. 

 What you call someone is important. A name signifies more than just the words used, it suggests how the individual being referred to is seen by the group. People are often confused about what to call a person living with AIDS. If the term victim is out, what can you say? Most say, simply, "person with AIDS," which is often shortened to "PWA." Others even make it "PLWA" or "person living with AIDS." These phrases and acronyms help to maintain the humanity of the person involved, and they avoid reducing anyone to a diagnosis or condition. 

It's tactless to ask how a person got AIDS. It implies that some of the ways of contracting the virus are all right and others are not. It's like asking someone if they are an innocent victim or if they deserved it. This question serves no real purpose and gets in the way of getting to know a person living with AIDS. 

Now that we know AIDS can't be spread by casual contact, how do we relax enough to be casual with a person who has AIDS? Many people become very nervous about this. Worrying that they might offend or upset, they find it hard to relax and behave naturally. People with AIDS will be much more upset by distance and restraint than by anything you might say. Treat people with AIDS with respect and awareness, not with velvet gloves. 

Humans crave touch. Being touched is comforting; it's one of the ways we know that we are liked and trusted by others. Without touch, there is less reinforcement, less comfort, less love. Without touch, there is a sense of isolation, of being alone. Because so many people are afraid of touching them, people with AIDS miss out on this ordinary physical contact. Hugging and shaking hands are completely safe and can make a huge difference in the life of someone with AIDS.

Although it is important to learn about respectful language and other sensitivities, these issues should not stop people from making contact. The main challenge is to not behave differently toward people with AIDS. When you make a genuine attempt to know someone, your friendly intention makes more of an impact than a few wrong words ever could.

AIDS crosses all lines of gender, religion, class, and sexuality. It is not simply a gay disease. While it is true that gay men were among the first and hardest hit, AIDS has spread far beyond this community. Gays and lesbians responded very publicly and heroically to the epidemic. While the gay and lesbian response has been inspiring, the public has been less receptive to AIDS information because it perceives AIDS as a gay disease. This attitude not only stigmatizes those living with AIDS, it leads to unnecessary risk-taking, poor choices, and the spread of fear and hatred in our society.
If you see AIDS as a disease that only touches other people's lives, you probably won't take the precautions that could save your own life. You may also think of those who are infected with HIV or living with AIDS as different or as deserving of their fate. The AIDS epidemic provides an opportunity to accept others and to practice compassion. If you know someone who has AIDS-if not a friend, perhaps a friend of a friend, a friend's family member, and so on-you may wonder if your relationship with that person will change. Remember, a person's personality doesn't change when disease strikes. They still have the same likes, dislikes, and sense of humor. Also, like anyone who is facing a terminal illness, a person with AIDS wants and deserves to be treated with respect, dignity and, most importantly, without pity. It's important to keep this in mind when relating to people with AIDS.
Pity is an emotion that may seem loving or kind to the one who feels it, but which feels very different to the person on the receiving end. It is kinder to ask "May I help you?" than to say "Do you need help with that?" No one wants to feel patronized or condescended to; no one likes feeling powerless or like a burden. 

Be aware of special health needs There are many things we take for granted in our daily lives, such as the ability of our immune system to fight off ever-present germs, or being able to move comfortably in many environments. But for someone with an immune weakness, the environment presents many challenges and hazards. People with AIDS have special health needs that force them to worry daily about things most of us never even think about. There are  a number of things we can do to make life easier-and more healthy-for people with AIDS, both in our homes and offices. Don't go to work sick. When you go to work sick, you not only run yourself down and increase your own recovery time, you may also give what you have to co-workers. Since people with AIDS have a tough time fighting off infections, keeping your cold and flu bugs at home helps everyone stay healthier. Provide a healthy space. A healthy environment is good for everyone and can help reduce the risk of spreading common colds, flus, and more serious infections among all people, including people with AIDS or HIV. Make sure there is adequate ventilation at home and in the workplace, and keep things clean, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms. Bacterial and fungal infections that are airborne or spread on surfaces can be very damaging to people with weakened immune systems. Make sure that air-conditioning filters are cleaned regularly and that thermostats are not set too low.