Obama Says U.S. to Lift Ban on HIV-Positive Travelers

After keeping HIV infected travelers out of the US for 22 years, Obama has decided that it would be beneficial to the image of the widespread virus to allow HIV infected persons to travel into the US.

Bloomberg.com

According to Obama, "it will be a step toward removing the stigma from the disease and encourage testing."

With the ban in place, encouraging testing was only a matter of enforcing the ban and requiring that travelers to the US get tested and provide proof of testing. Now, the encouragement to get tested will come from pure and unadulterated fear that we are being infected by HIV/AIDS by international travelers.

I had an uncle who died from AIDS. I watched as his HIV transformed into AIDS, as his body withered away and became covered in sores. The last memory that I have of him was when I introduced him to the woman that became my wife - he was lying in a hospital bed with tubes snaking throughout his body.

Is this the future of America? Are we to open our doors to all manner of plague and pandemic for the sake of "remoiving the stigma from the disease"?

And since you and your wife havn'nt caught it, you know that it is not that easy to get.

They have medications now that are bordering on curing it. It is not very catchy, the stigma should of died out long ago.

This is a good move, and the fear should of died in the 80s where it started.

reply to post by Underworlds

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Yeah, I didn't even know about this.

If they have a travel ban on people with HIV, then there should be a ban on people with all various other diseases such as Flu's, mental disorders, allergies etc...

I mean come on now, AIDS is no longer a pandemic here and never really was. Africa is different story, but it's not like tourists come here to get laid.

Sad that a stigma over something as simple as HIV has been carried on for so long.

~Keeper

I bet Obama saw this movie:

www.houseofnumbers.com...

Did you even bother to read the news item?





That sounds a lot like an open invitation for the infected masses in Africa to hop on a plane, boat, or whatever and to flood into America to take advantage of our health care system.

As for the getting laid part... sex isn't the only way of transmitting HIV. It can be transmitted any number of ways, including blood transfusions. Now, suppose that one of those poor, HIV infected individuals from somewhere in Africa was to find a way into America, and suppose that he was able to slip through the HIV screening process at a blood/plasma donor site in order to pick up on some extra change... use your imagination.

Keep in mind that early stages of HIV can and oftentimes do avoid detection and that blood/plasma donor centers don't always perform the necessary screens. But they do pay people for their plasma.

As far as AIDS no longer being a pandemic here in the USA... I wonder why. Could it be because we have been fighting for 22 years to keep it out of the country while we battle it in those Americans that are infected?

reply to post by tothetenthpower

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I just realized something, after reading your reply a third time...

One of the greatest killers of Africans, besides famine, is AIDS. Kenya is literally plagued with AIDS. Obama's family roots are in Kenya...

This is a long-shot, but could this be a step towards America providing health care to Kenyans and other Africans at the expense of American taxpayer dollars? You know, get the infected Africans to come to America for medical treatment and the working class Americans pick up the bill.

Back in the 80's it was called GRID and if it stayed that way maybe it wouldn't have spread like it did. GRID was brought here by a homosexual and now Obama wants to bring more infected to our shores.

Is Obama declaring war on America and is it a biological war?

I would like to know the real reason behind this change in policy. I think it is incredibly stupid to take such a decision. I wonder what's up.

Well I am glad he has the best interest of the American people at heart...

If one person got infected by this disease as a result of this policy it would be blood on his hands

this will surely boost tourism

secondline

Obama has family from the parts of the world where this is rife, so his
objectivity on this is lacking.

Hypothetical question....If your President had a Calathumpian ancestry and family living there ....they had the highest rates of Tuburculosis and he wanted to rip up the policy of not allowing those with Turbuculosis into your country, would you accept that? Especially where your country has some of the lowest rates per capita because of the policy as well as other factors?

Obama might not be able to be objective but if you remove Obama and HIV (both emotionally charged topics) out of the equation and replace it with President A and Disease B, then it becomes quite clear that it is madness.



[edit on 31-10-2009 by Flighty]

reply to post by Underworlds

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If you have been anywhere outside the US in any recent time, you can't donate blood. Red cross has pretty tight standards on blood donations, not to mention they screen for HIV.