Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site loral.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!jlh From: jlh@loral.UUCP (Aiken Drum) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Re: 3 year old herpes patients Message-ID: <743@loral.UUCP> Date: Sat, 12-Jan-85 15:34:12 EST Article-I.D.: loral.743 Posted: Sat Jan 12 15:34:12 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 16-Jan-85 03:58:06 EST References: <740@loral.UUCP> <304@desint.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: The Many Coloured Cubicle Lines: 69 > I knew people were ridiculously misinformed about AIDS, but herpes? > > In article <740@loral.UUCP> jlh@loral.UUCP (Aiken Drum) writes: > > >One of the stories going around now is that > >somewhere back east (that is, east of the rockies), there is a 3 year > >old kid whose mother gave him herpes at birth by kissing him. > > It *is* possible (I think) to give a kid herpes by kissing him when you have > open sores, but it's pretty hard. In any case, you will only give it to him > in the place you kiss him. Herpes is not a systemic disease. > The most reliable way of getting herpes is by having contact with an open sore. Newborns have very sensitive skin, it hasn't had to live in the cold cruel world yet. Obviously the mother of this kid has the brains of a rotted turnip, but I deliberatly didn't say anything about her in the article. I don't know enough about the disease to know if it's systematic or not. I also don't know if it is genital herpes or not, there are several variations of the germ floating around. All of them, however, are contagious and untreatable. > > Now > >this kid is trying to go to school but it seems that herpes is > >contagious so all the other kid's mothers are keeping their kids out of > >school. School officials are trying to avoid spreading the desease by > >making the kid...[suffer about 78 different kinds of paranoid persecution]. > > This is as bad as the AIDS garbage. If you want a laugh, walk into a public > place and loudly announce you have AIDS; people will run. The fact, of > course, is that AIDS requires the exchange of bodily fluids (usually blood or > semen). Similarly, herpes is a contact disease. It sounds to me like this is > on more case of the National Enquirer et al. driving the less-intelligent > members of the population into hysterics. > Instead of the National Enquirer, try the CBS evening news and the LA times. > >Now imagine how Mikey feels. Here he is, through no fault of his own, > >destined to be a social outcast during his entire childhood. I'm sure > >we were all ostracized (sp?) at least once in our childhoods, but that > >was a temporary thing lasting only for a few weeks or months. > > This is, sadly, normal for all "wierd" kids. I went through all my schooling > with two handicapped kids: one was a palsy victim and the other was mildly > retarded. We made fun of both; the palsy victim was a "spas" and the other > was a "REE-tard." Both were basically friendless. > When someone has a birth defect like palsy or retardation then other parents will allow their kids to play with the affected kids. People know that they won't get retarded by assotiating with retarded people. Granted, these kids tend to grow up friendless, but there is a difference between having no friends and clearing out a room merely by your presence, or the rumor of your presence. > >One of his teachers even requested, and > >got, transferred away from him on account that she has a skin desease > >that made her more susceptible to catching the disease. > > Probably just as well. I'd hate to have my kid being taught by somebody who > runs on such blatant misinformation. > -- > I disagree. If I had normal skin I might consider working with someone like Mikey hoping that if I took reasonable precautions I could avoid the disease. This teacher had a skin desease that made here very susceptible to infection, this almost guaranteed she would get the desease.