5 HIV positive caught donating blood.

[FL_Noob]

http://english.people.com.cn/200511/...10_220267.html

Terrible oh...better be careful. Haizzz...think there are more and more HIV positive in Singapore.

[plumshirt]

!!!! blood donations... sometimes I wonder if the supply is locally sufficient or they selling our blood as export... any info from medical world? so many rumours...

Now also got to take note of HIV... Kena sai...
Need emergency ops also got risk.

Die die in Singapore we all must stay healthy

True..but sometimes, we can't do much. There are more than 30 million HIV positive in the world and 3000 in Singapore or more. Our government said that the HIV positive figure in Singapore is about 2500 is untrue. Some of them, there never declare or even don't know. That is why FLs have to be careful right now.
I suspect some of the FL, HC, KTV gals are HIV carrier.

[bkkguy]

When heartbreak knocks on your door

Health Ministry visits homes of 43 spouses to tell them they are at risk of getting HIV
By Genevieve Jiang and Ng Wan Ching

December 08, 2005


THERE is a knock on the door and a Ministry of Health (MOH) official hands the woman a letter.
It says she's at risk of being infected by HIV.

The letter doesn't say from whom.

She turns up at the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) for a counselling session.


Counsellors are on hand to make sure she's not alone.

She takes the HIV test and then a doctor breaks the news that her husband has the virus, which causes Aids.

Some women collapse in tears.

This has happened to 43 people here recently.

An MOH spokesman told The New Paper: 'To date, the Ministry of Health has informed a total of 43 spousal contacts (including current spouses and ex-spouses) that they were a contact or suspected to be a contact of a person with HIV infection.'

Two of these were husbands of women who had caught the virus, and the 41 others were wives of men who had it.

The reaction of some of the wives surprised the counsellors.

Said Ms Ho Lai Peng, principal medical social worker at the Department of Care and Counselling at Tan Tock Seng Hospital: 'There was one woman who kept saying she did not want to stress her husband by asking him how he was infected.

'Many of the women cry not for themselves but because they are so worried about their husbands who they see as good fathers and good husbands.'

Even though it was likely that the men had strayed.

An MOH update on HIV infection in 2003 showed that more than 80 per cent of Singaporeans who caught HIV through sexual contact got it from casual-sex partners and prostitutes.

Of the 43 cases, two of the women have since been found to be infected.

And two others have since divorced their husbands.

The Department of Care and Counselling is the first place of contact for these affected spouses.

Ms Ho said counsellors help to comfort the spouses and even try to work out relationship issues with them.

Said Ms Ho: 'Sometimes I'm very surprised at the first thing that they are worried about, which is, 'Will my husband die?' They are so worried about that rather than about themselves.

'They want to know what will happen to their husbands. There is this part of them that says 'I want to take care of him and make sure his condition does not get worse'.'

SUSPECT THE SPOUSE

Most of the women come from middle-class families and live in four- or five-room flats.

Many work in the sales industry or are factory workers.

At the CDC, a medical social worker speaks to them to allay their fears until they see the doctor.

Said Ms Ho: 'Of course, there are those who are conflicted, but these are the minority. In fact, only two out of the over 10 patients I have personally seen had mixed feelings.'

These patients are given priority when they arrive at the CDC. They will not be left alone while waiting to see the doctor.

'For these patients, we make sure that one of us is sitting with them. And often, when they don't know who their HIV contact is, they ask us if it is their spouse.

'Others would have guessed or suspected. Sometimes, the HIV infected spouses confess at home,' said Ms Ho.

She and her team always leave it to the doctors to do the telling.

But she said the wife may already know that her husband infected her because he is her only sexual contact.

She said: 'Other times, the spouse would have confronted his or her spouse at home and the infected spouse would have confessed.'

When the issue came up in the press earlier this year, Ms Ho said many of the married patients who are HIV positive asked for advice.

They wanted to know if they should tell their spouse.

She would counsel them but not advise them either way, preferring to leave it to them to make the tough decision.

'All cases that come through the CDC will be seen by social workers and we use a holistic approach to help manage these patients.

'We will talk to them about their relationships and help them come to terms with their emotions and feelings,' said Ms Ho.

All 43 have gone for HIV testing.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rights of vulnerable come first

THEIR husbands didn't tell them they had HIV.

And by law, nobody else could.

Under the Infectious Diseases Act, the identity of a person with HIV is protected and the onus is on the infected person to tell his or her spouse.

Not good enough, said Senior Minister of State for Health Balaji Sadasivan.

Because, as of April this year, at least 100 Singapore women possibly did not know their husbands had HIV.

Under the law, the Government could know who the infected men were, but not their spouses.

So in May, Dr Balaji called for a shift in focus from the rights of those with HIV to the rights of those at risk.

IF THEY DON'T TELL SPOUSES

Married HIV patients are now encouraged to tell their spouses.

When they refuse, officers from the Ministry of Health (MOH) deliver letters by hand to their partners.

Certain clauses of the Infectious Diseases Act allow the minister to breach the confidentiality clause for the purposes of public health or public safety.

The letter says they are a possible contact of an HIV infected person. It requests that they report to the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) for blood testing and counselling.

MOH told The New Paper: 'Currently, HIV infected patients with spouses are counselled and encouraged to inform their spouses themselves, and the majority of them do so.

'For those patients who still refuse to inform their spouses, the ministry will then inform the spouse, using the Infectious Diseases Act, to attend a counselling session at CDC.

'During these counselling sessions, they would be encouraged to go for HIV screening.'

The New Paper could not get in touch with any of the 43 informed so far.

Part of the urgency is the need to protect unborn children.

MOH feels the measure would prevent partners of those with HIV from infecting their yet unborn children, without knowing.

In the first nine months of this year, 11 women discovered they had HIV when they did blood tests during their pregnancies.

There were 198 new cases of HIV infections in the first 10 months of this year, bringing the total number of cases here to 2,584.

Among the men, 60 per cent were single at the point of diagnosis. Among the women, 61 per cent were married.

The vast majority of those infected are men - 2,285 against only 299 women

Thanks bor for your very good post and very good sharing. This information is very important to us.

[AfA_hmor]

Originally Posted by plumshirt

!!!! blood donations... sometimes I wonder if the supply is locally sufficient or they selling our blood as export... any info from medical world? so many rumours...

Now also got to take note of HIV... Kena sai...
Need emergency ops also got risk.

Dear plumshirt, our blood supply should be sufficient, but we must always keep surplus at hand, in the event of any major disasters or emergencies. Do rest assured that all blood supplies are properly tested for any “impurities” before they are used, so they are safe.

Donating blood is a virtuous act, but for those who engage in high-risk activities, do think carefully when donating blood, and be truthful when answering the questionnaire. Moreover, one can always withdraw one’s blood within 24 hours after donation, without any questions asked. Do take note of this (it been reported in the Chinese Focus program on AIDS and HIV, that was broadcasted on Ch 8 on 15/12/2005, 10:30pm). Do what is right, and not be pressured by peers or superiors.

The HIV virus does not discriminate against any race, religion, sex, social status or intellect. It finds its next “victim” purely by ignorance and dangerous sexual behaviour. And, it’s doing a darn good job infecting people, judging by the growing number of patients globally, especially in Asia, which is just at the start of the epidemic cycle.

Anyway, it is important to stay healthy, right?

[hotbody2005]

Treat everyone as if they are infected, using condom is safer and never sorry! HIV info: 18002521324 or email: [email protected] for questions and support

[FL_Noob]

Raw = War!!