Dear FORUM,

Re: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AIDS_ASIA/message/1149

A typical example of stigmatizing media reporting.

Starting of with "HIV sexworker may have infected 250", later its
admitted the only have his phone where there are 250 phonenumbers:
including his grandma, parents, brothers and sisters, the local police
department, his insurance, the home delivery pizzeria and those old
neighbours he hasn't seen in five years.

Even if this are 250 numbers of customers, this article says nothing
about whether he had high risk, low risk, safe or unsafe sex, whether
he was using ARvs or not.

Conclusion: the article has no added value in public health, and is
pointless in informing anyone at real risk.

And now they are going to call all this numbers. Imagine this phonecall:
_ hi, this is pizzeria Italiano
_ hi, this is docter Bruce. Do you know Mr. S.?
_ Yes, we see him regularly?
_ Oh, and do you have sex with him?
_ Excuse me?
_ we just want to know if you have had unprotected anal intercourse
with Mr. S.
_ what?
_ yeah, he's a prostitute and he has HIV, so if you have you might
want to get yourself tested...

Right.... very unusual step indeed, docter, and not in the interest of
privacy at all..

Martin
e-mail: <mstolk@...>