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From: geoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: 3 year old herpes patients
Message-ID: <304@desint.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 12-Jan-85 05:55:47 EST
Article-I.D.: desint.304
Posted: Sat Jan 12 05:55:47 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 14-Jan-85 03:58:19 EST
References: <740@loral.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: his home computer, Manhattan Beach, CA
Lines: 51

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.

>  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.

>This isn't good enough for the mother's,
>they keep their kids out of school anyway.  If I had a kid I probably
>would do the same.

How about instead learning the facts before you get all excited?

>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.

>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.
-- 

	Geoff Kuenning
	...!ihnp4!trwrb!desint!geoff