It is clear that various illnesses have not only medical stresses but also social economic and moral problems. HIV-AIDS can have devastating consequences on affected individuals and their support systems. It is a stigmatized illness and people who suffer from this illness are likely to be discriminated against by people in society as well as institutions. Aids/HIV was typically mostly associated mostly with the gay community and drug addicted individuals.
During the 1970’s and the 1980’s, Hepatitis B was a major concern in the united states. The disease seemed easily spreadable by individuals in what seemed to be countless ways. People can contract Hepatitis B by even touching someone else blood, sharing someone else cup or just being exposed to the same surface that an HB carrier was in contact with.
One of the major groups that are at risk of contracting and spreading the infection are the health professional such as doctors, inters, dentists, surgeons and nurses. A dentist, for example, who is an Hepatitis B carrier has a chance of passing on the disease to a patient. Hospital administrations and other agencies immediately recognized the potential danger of the above at risk population. They wanted to “down play” the danger of the risk of infection to spear themselves lawsuits and to avoid public panic. Public panic has the potential of causing havoc in the professional field. Hence, it was falsely concluded that health care workers carriers were not a major source of infection.
In order to find a solution to a problem one has to fully investigate and understand what is the source of the problem. Research efforts to study the relationship between the health care worker carrier and the transmission of the disease was highly opposed and dismissed by major physicians organizations. In addition, government policies encouraged voluntary testing with