I am very puzzled by the fact that young people are getting infected again. They don't take precautions despite an enormous amount of information. It's like riding a race car at 200 kilometers an hour. Some people like the risk.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Infectious disease exists at this intersection between real science, medicine, public health, social policy, and human conflict. There's a tendency of people to try and make a group out of those who have the disease. It makes people who don't have the disease feel safer.
Young women, adolescent girls, are more subject to infection, sometimes at a rate of six times that of boys. That tells you a lot about the vulnerability of women.
I think that protecting children at the age where they're most vulnerable against diseases that are highly contagious is prudent.
In some areas, immunity has been eroded so much that the child who's not vaccinated is now actually more vulnerable to the complications of infectious diseases.
As a physician for over 30 years, I am well aware of the dangers infectious diseases pose.
Vaccines save lives; fear endangers them. It's a simple message parents need to keep hearing.
In today's world, new infections and diseases can spread across the country and even across the world in a matter of days, or even hours, making early detection critical.
People are so involved with immediate care, but at the same time there needs to be investment in educating people as adolescents when they're still HIV negative.
We live in a world fraught with risk from new pandemics. Fortunately, we also now live in an era with the tools to build a global immune system.
The world can now maintain an acute infection in a way that is unprecedented in the history of life on our planet.