Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia, Inc.; Tuesday December 2 2:56 PM EST
Patricia Reaney

Liz kept her secret for just as long, and Florence didn't find out until her partner died.

Such is the stigma of being HIV positive and having AIDS that 16 years into the epidemic people still find it difficult, if not impossible, to talk about.

Despite World AIDS Day, star-studded Hollywood fund raisers and Princess Diana's offer of an ungloved hand to an AIDS victim, the disease that is ravaging large parts of the globe still makes an outcast of its sufferers.

"The stigmas are still there. Absolutely still there," said Joe, who was diagnosed a few years ago.

Like many other HIV positive people, the 32-year-old Briton who works in the travel industry prefers not to give his surname. Although most of his friends now know he is ill, his family doesn't.

"I choose not to tell them because it's a burden. I have a choice whether or not to give that burden and they already have enough on their plate."

Joe is neither gay nor a drug user and proof, he says, that the disease was never so selective in its targets. He cites the latest figures estimating AIDS cases world-wide at 30 million, including children, and says it is time for attitudes to change.

"We've got to look at the world-wide perspective which is a rampant pandemic," he urges. "It never was a gay or drugs problem it was strictly people -- a human problem."

Liz, 24, is also straight and British and HIV positive.

She was so blase about what she thought was a routine test that she didn't even bother to pick up the results. She was diagnosed on the day she started a new job but regards herself as lucky because as a welfare officer she had access to information and services to help her cope.

"People are so fearful. They stay at home. They don't tell anyone about their diagnosis. Fear is ignorance and that just makes the whole thing worse," she said.

ATTITUDES HAVEN'T CHANGED

Fear of other people's reactions are cited as the main reasons why people cannot talk openly about the disease, why so many people are ashamed and suffer in silence.

The world and the epidemic has changed a lot since 1981 but people's attitudes haven't. Horror stories and snide comments and jokes still abound.

"One women told her mum after two years and her mum covered all the furniture in plastic," said Liz.

"A family told the school thinking it would make it easier for their HIV positive child and the child got beaten up that day because confidentiality was leaked. The family has moved house. This sort of thing goes on, on a big scale," she added.

Florence Ngobeni has experienced more tragedy in her 24 years than most people in a lifetime. The South African native hails from a part of the world where cases of the disease have increased at an alarming 7.4 percent.

AIDS killed her partner and her five-month-old daughter and she is HIV positive. She did not even know her lover had AIDS until she told his family her daughter was sick.

"When I told them the child was HIV positive, that was the time they told me he had died of AIDS. I have a feeling that if I hadn't told them about the baby, they wouldn't have told me the truth."

Ngobeni, who counsels HIV positive pregnant women in a hospital in Soweto, traveled to London for World AIDS Day to speak about her experiences. She said she thinks her partner tried to tell her, but couldn't.

"A lot of people have a hard time telling their partners they are HIV positive because of lack of education, lack of confidence and fear," she said.

"The point is HIV and AIDS is not accepted as any other disease in South Africa. People still regard HIV as a gay disease and think that people who have HIV are prostitutes. They are regarded as dirty and untouchable."

AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS BLAMED FOR PREJUDICE

Much of the blame for current attitudes toward AIDS is aimed at the information campaigns in the 1980s when the disease first appeared.

Liz remembers seeing a large British poster just a week after her diagnosis. It featured a huge needle and the words "AIDS KILLS."

"That 80s fear is still lingering," she said.

Joe describes it as "scare tactics."

"It wasn't an information campaign. It wasn't an educational campaign. It was scare tactics and those are still firmly lodged in people's minds," he added.

AIDS victims say it is time for people, and particularly the media, to stop asking them how they got the disease and instead ask how they are coping with it.

"There isn't another disease where people would even think of asking that question and that's a symptom of the prejudice," said Joe.

If the predictions of the UN agencies are correct, the number of people living with HIV and AIDS will soar to 40 million by the year 2000. It will not discriminate between sexuality, race, religion or age.

"The main thing is to make people see that this is a reality and it can happen to anyone," said Ngobeni.

"It's a world problem. It's time we worked together. It's time we shared ideas and shared whatever we have."

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