A New AIDS Approach?

It would appear that the Egyptians consider HIV/AIDS as a deadly menace to the general population:

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Egyptian police have stepped up arrests of persons suspected of having HIV, detaining four men this month in a crackdown that violates basic human rights, two international rights groups said Friday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch and London-based Amnesty International warned in a joint statement that the arrests could undermine HIV/AIDS prevention effort as people in Egypt become increasingly afraid to seek information on the subject.

The Egyptians may have a point. Since there is no cure for AIDS, and only a limited selection of drug cocktails to slow down the inevitable advance of HIV, it is - in reality - a death warrant if someone exposes you, so the Egyptians are locking up those who have the potential to spread this pandemic killer.

Human rights or not, exactly what are we supposed to do with people who have HIV/AIDS? Just let them continue wandering around in the general population without consequence? Or - at least until a cure is found - establish some sort of medical quarantine to keep this killer disease at bay? It continues to spread unabated worldwide, and we still have not yet seen it's full effect on the human race.

Except for the rare instances of contaminated needles or contaminated blood in transfusions, HIV/AIDS has been spread by unsafe or unnatural sex practices, plain and simple. It's not like cancer, which strikes out of the blue. It take an intentional act by an infected individual to spread this deadly stuff, and it keeps spreading.

I certainly have no answer. We have an advanced HIV victim in our extended family which makes a impartial decision impossible. But I do ask the question:

At what point will the rest of the world start following in Eqypt's footsteps?

Like it or not, it's probably going to happen, because at some point, protecting the health of the general population will outweigh the personel human rights of the individual.