A Queer Disease?

What was initially thought of as a queer disease of the gay community and hard drug users, has taken on proportions of an epidemic feared by everybody all over the world. Large numbers of people have become carriers of the HIV-virus which weakens the human immune system and eventually leads to the fatal symptoms of AIDS. The continent worst affected is Africa, but the spread of the disease is not limited to any particular part of the world, and to date no real cure has benn found.

Is "SAFE SEX" enough?

Various governments have tried to combat the spread of AIDS through public health education programmes. Here in Britain and in many other countries those programme have concentrated on propagating the idea of "safe sex". The idea is that AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease, and that certain precautions can prevent people frm catching it. However, whilst this very simple mesage has probably lead to a massive increase in sales for the condom producing industries, there is no evidence that the spread of AIDS is any way halted. This no suprise if we look at the facts.

You can catch it and there is no cure...

AIDS is a blood-borne disease, and as such its transmission is by no means limited to sexual intercourse. In fact, an infection with the HIV-virus is much more likely to occur through an abrasion or through a mosquito bite. Scientists have also pointed out that given theminute size of the virus, it can easily penetrate the molecular structure of a condom which, therefore, provides very little protection. To stop the epidemuc, a cure would have to be found rapidly, but the virus mutates at a very fast rate, yet has a very long incubation period, and consequently, any medication discovered today based on current virus stains would be quite useless in the treatment of future cases.

The cause of the epidemic

How did it happen that the world ws so suddenly faced with this unexpected new threat of possible extermination? Some have claimed that AIDS is the result of a genetic experiment badly gone wrong. Some went further in saying it was a designer disease produced for the purpose of rapid population control in the third world which evidently is worst affected. Strong evidence has been put forward that AIDS was spread in Africa as the result of a small pox vaccination campaign by the World Health Organisation in the mid 70's. Yet other claims have been that whilst AIDS developed as the result of the abnormal life style of small groups of homosexuals, particulary anal intercourse which causes infections through contamination of small ruptures of soft tissue linings with faeces, it was spread to the mainsream population to justify the large sums of money neede by pharmaceuticals firms in the search for a treatment.

A decline of our civilisation

Whilst all these explanations may have some truths in them, we seem to oversee another important fact altogether in these times of laissez faire and lawlessness in personal and social behaviour; namely: that there may be a moral to the story. Modern civilisation has led to the fallacy of believing that we reached the peak of human developmennt and have mastered all the forces of nature, that we have become immune to all adversities afflicting us. and there, as we thought we had all under control, atiny virus attacks our immune system and reders us defenceless.

Do morals come into it?

Believers in religion are usually ridiculed when they talk of AIDS as a curse on our modern, arrogant way of life where we think ourselves independent of God and His comands. Muhammad - the prophet of Islam, peace be upon him - said that whenevr adultery becomes widespread in any people or nation, death will increase amongst them. It seems, he is proven right and was not too far off the mark. And Allah says in the qur'an, that He does not change the condition of any people until they change their own conduct. Rather than putting our trust misguidedly in "safe sex"  we should perhaps pay head to such sound advice, and avert disaster by changing our attitudes and reforming our behaviour. Whilst modern medicine may still fail us, our future fortune nonetheless rests in our own hands!