hello,today is a day i will never forget...my daughter has discovered she has herpes.
After sleeping with an african footballer some 21 or so days ago WITHOUT protection, (you know what its like when you get caught in the moment and either dont have one or in the heat of the moment you are not expecting to take it that far yet succumb?
well,its a pity. im hoping that her STD appointment topmorrow and in the following two months wont discover the dreaded big one AIDS.
You know, im fortunately i managed to counsel her through today quite well though initially quite angry with the guy that gave it to her(fortunatly it could only be the one guy and she has seen him since that night so rang him today)as she had no one to talk to regarding the surprise and discomfort/fear, as on a sunday ther are no surgeries open and any how i happened to know that a STD clinic is the place that handles these incidents.
YOU know it stinks, people are able to have sex with others still in this day and age and get away with passing on infectious diseases. Id like to start a campaign for putting a law in place to fine people heavily who pass on ANY STD to another .
this ought to prompt people to have regular STD's and act responsibly. as otherwise they would face large fines...
Believe me its no fun feeling /carrying/fearing erruptions of herpes, let alone the stigma attatched and the fact that its not talked about ie: you dont tell your girlfriends or your mother (usually) you only share such news with intimate partners (if one is a decent person).
Therefore ought not this be policed every other crime is what do you think?
Would you consider a campaign to enforce Fine's against those whom pass on STD's a good cause?
consider the save in health costs and further spreading of the virus!

mariah. I agree that there should be a legal responsibility for those who have STD's to be punished if they know about it and pass it on to another. The problem of course will be that people won't check themselves so that they cannot be held responsible as they will be able to say that they didn't know. So many people just don't care what happens to others.

At the same time, whether it was the heat of the moment or not, your daughter should have been more careful. It is a pretty big risk to take and unfortunately she is paying the price.

I believe that there isn't enough education in relation to sexually transmitted diseases so as to make people really understand just how much of it is out there and how you are playing with fire every single time you make the choice to take a chance.

The consequences can be devastating as I am sure your family would agree. But certainly the person who passed on the disease shouldn't be allowed to be so irresponsible and not be punished.

Interesting idea. There have been a lot of cases in the media lately of people knowingly spreading AIDS. You can get charged for that:

http://ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1174300780

Not sure about punishing people who spread it unknowingly. I guess if you have unprotected sex with a few different people over a short period without getting yourself checked out, maybe you should get done for reckless endangerment. However then you would have to charge people who screw around, regardless of whether they actually spread anything. The privacy implications are pretty nasty, and it would probably be unworkable, and a witch hunt.

Plus, if the person spreading it is unaware they have it, then you could argue that the person who catches it is just as much responsible for the spread of the disease.

I suspect the only practical approach is to educate people to look after themselves.

Also, a 'no fault' style investigation may work better than charging people. People will want to chase the disease down to everyone who might have caught it, but are more likely to clam up if there is a legal risk for them.

Maybe they should be able to issue orders forcing people to get themselves tested if a carrier has pointed the finger at them as another potential carrier.

I think people have a legal right to medical privacy. I sucks the big one that your daughter contracted herpes, but thankfully that one doesn't mean the end of the world for her. All it means is that she is going to have to honest with future partners and that can for some be an issue on whether they'll want to be with her because of the perceived icky factor. People with herpes can have a normal sex life. I believe there can be potential issues with childbirth during an 'attack'.

I don't think there's should be a legal responsibility for diseases that aren't potentially life threatening. We are ALL warned of it when sex ed starts at school, and we are ALL taught what to do to minimise the chances of contracting these diseases...unfortunately it only takes one of those 'heat of the moments'.

"I don't think there's should be a legal responsibility for diseases that aren't potentially life threatening."

Does that include knowingly spreading the disease?