HIV/AIDS remains one of those subjects that not talked about so much over the dinner table or when out for coffee with the girls. But prehaps it should be because the numbers tell us it’s a disease that does not seem to be going away. In fact, according this Snapshot of the U.S. Epidemic provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation, it seems to be growing…

• Number of new HIV infections, 2006: 56,300
• Number of people living with HIV/AIDS: 1.1 million, including more than 468,000 with AIDS
• Number of AIDS deaths since beginning of epidemic: 583,298, including 14,561 in 2007
• Percent of people infected with HIV who don’t know it: 21%

So what can you do? The CDC suggests the following.

• Get tested for HIV. To find a testing site center near you, text your zip code to Know IT (566948).
• Attend an event near you.
• Download or listen to National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day ( 2:56 mins)
• Learn more about the impact of HIV/AIDS among women in the United States.
• Stand up against stigma, racism, and other forms of discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS.
• Donate time and money to HIV/AIDS organizations.

Post from: Healthbolt

If you put your hand up, you are in the majority. Seems that these days, instead of heading to the doctor or the local pharmacist, we all head to the internet. It’s quick, convenient, helpful, and apparently, also trackable as a new google tracking tool proves.

Google debuted the Google Flu Trend Tool on Tuesday.

Working on the theory that it’s more likely to be a flu outbreak in places where flu-related search terms are currently popular, this tracking tool follows any increased flu-related search terms to determine where in the U.S. flu outbreaks may be occurring. This information is given to the federal government’s  CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) agency.

From a medical point of view, sounds like the perfect way for health professionals to keep up with current flu activity level in their own state or city.

But is it also an invasion of a person’s privacy?

If they can track people’s searches for ‘flu symptoms’ and ‘flu treatments’ what’s to stop them from tracking other searches such, say for example ‘AIDS symptoms and treatments’ or ‘SARS symptoms and treatments’?

A company statement says that the Flu Trends Tool can’t be used to identify individual users. But we all know that every single computer connected to the internet has it’s own unique protocol address which does reveal its exact location to Google.

It’s an interesting dilemma and one that, no doubt, will be debated by those concerned with privacy issues.

Would love to know what you all think.

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Post from: Healthbolt