The Truth About Aids - free online 320 page book

AIDS Book by Dr Patrick Dixon published by Kingsway 1994, Updated 2002

Latest HIV / AIDS facts and figures: ACET International Alliance website.  List of contents below.  The shorter AIDS and You book is also available online.

Many useful facts and opinions about the medical and social aspects of AIDS. Nursing Times.

Should be available to every GP for his own use and for lending to those concerned . . . well referenced yet written with a minimum of technical jargon. The Physician.

A wealth of research and published material from medical and popular sources in a detailed and extensively referenced book. British Medical Journal.

Useful and interesting book that patients will read and benefit from. Journal of Royal College of General Practitioners.

Excellent and thoroughly readable book. Caring Professions Concern (CICP)

Probably the best single volume of the whole AIDS issue available today. I recommend it to pastors and those with care responsibility as well as others with more general interest. Restoration

If Which? offers a best buy then The Truth About AIDS is my choice . . . the tone, suggestions and response seem to mirror exactly what Jesus would require of us all in the current crisis.Third Way

Free copies of latest edition of "AIDS and You" paperback books are available for organisations working in the poorest nations - while stocks last - from ACET International Alliance - or access text online here.

Contents

Introduction - the truth about AIDS

1   The Extent of the AIDS Nightmare                
2   What's so Special about an AIDS / HIV Virus?
3   When Cells Start to Die          
4   How People Become Infected by HIV
5   Questions People Ask about AIDS / HIV and a Christian response / church programmes     
6   Condoms Are Unsafe     
7   Moral Dilemas in AIDS / HIV work
8   Wrath or Reaping? Is AIDS the wrath of God? Is AIDS the anger of God? 
9   Some Life and Death Issues
10  When Church Members Need Help about AIDS
11  Others Need Help about AIDS Too
12  Saving Lives - preventing HIV infection
13  Needle and Condom Distribution to stop HIV spread?
14  Special AIDS / HIV Issues in Africa and Asia
15  A Ten Point Plan for the Government
16  A Global Christian Challenge and a Christian Response to AIDS

LINKS TO TOPICS COVERED IN BOOK:

• Latest AIDS statistics, AIDS information - Africa AIDS Crisis - History of AIDS - AIDS epidemic, India, Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Russia, America, China
• AIDS research - causes of AIDS - AIDS treatment - retroviruses - protease inhibitors - cure? Antiretroviral therapy for HIV
• HIV transmission, AIDS risk factors and HIV window period
• What is AIDS? - HIV symptoms - AIDS symtoms - symptoms early HIV infection - early signs infection
• How reliable are condoms?  HIV dating - reducing HIV transmission
• Life and death issues - HIV medicine
• AIDS FAQ - vaccine, treatment, AIDS testing, Africa, China, Children, workplace discrimination, AIDS myths, origin of AIDS
• Moral dilemmas - euthanasia and AIDS treatments
• AIDS and the church - when church members need help
• Community care - treatment, adults, children, orphans
• AIDS education - AIDS awareness in youth and schools
• HIV Prevention - needle exchange program and condom distribution
• AIDS in Africa and HIV in Africa, HIV infected surgeons
• Ten point AIDS management plan for governments
• A global Christian challenge - church response to AIDS
• Guidelines for best practice in running HIV / AIDS programmes in developing countries, plus many helpful case studies and stories (Africa / India / Asia)
• A Christian response to AIDS - global AIDS challenge to the church (article for Tear Fund)

Appendix B  Appendix C  Appendix D

INTRODUCTION

Don't Tell People the Truth

Many people are scared of telling the truth about AIDS. They say it will cause panic. The trouble is, lack of trust in what is being said officially can cause near hysteria---as we have seen in reactions to infected surgeons or nurses recently.

My experience is that people respect you for being honest. No one believes you if you deliberately play down risks. You lose all credibility when you give the impression something is safe and someone dies after doing it. Common sense tells people that certain things must carry some risk.

It is stupid to say that if you follow guidelines you cannot become infected with the virus causing AIDS from looking after someone with the disease. Accidents happen. Guidelines may be hard to follow in all situations and they may have to be modified in the future in the light of experience. People know there are risks in nursing a person with AIDS, just as there are in being operated on by an infected surgeon. There must be. Anyone knows that. What is needed is to convince people that when you say these risks are very small you can really be trusted; that you are not giving people a false sense of security in order to persuade them to do something you know might be dangerous. When people really trust that you are telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth---then they see what the risks really are and feel secure in knowing what they are dealing with. Knowing the truth allows them to make intelligent decisions about what to do.

I'm going to tell the truth as best I can.

There is a lot of extra information in the endnotes. These are in a shorthand that any librarian can understand. Sufficient information is given to turn to the exact pages of scientific publications. For reasons of space, authors' names and titles of papers have usually been omitted. Newspapers are from the UK unless stated. Use the Index and cross-references.

Not everything is referenced. Sometimes a figure or comment has been jotted down and used later although I cannot remember the source. Sometimes the source has been a personal interview. Where I want to protect the person's identity the reference is `personal communication'. Many reference materials can be ordered from your local library or the librarian can advise you further. Student friends, doctors, or nurses will have access to much larger libraries.

This book is about people. Details of names, places, times and events have been altered where necessary to protect identity. If you think you are reading about someone or some place you know, you are probably mistaken. Some of the medical case reports in Chapter 3 are compiled from real events in a number of people's lives.

This book is written from the perspective of a doctor who is also a church leader.

Some Bible passages are written in the endnotes. These need to be read in context. Almost any argument can be constructed out of isolated Bible quotations. For three consecutive years recently I made it my business to read the Bible each year from start to finish---to catch its overall meaning and avoid `verse grabbing' pitfalls. I encourage you to do the same.

Some parts of this book are sexually explicit and some may find this offensive. As a doctor I deal with real people in the real world who need accurate information and practical help. I regret giving offence, but my goal is to save lives and to help those affected.

Chapter One  Main Global Change Site  Search Site

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