COMMENTARY: The Forgotten Disease
By Dr. Craig Stoutt, Contributor
Back in the 80’s and 90’s in the United States, young men were dropping like flies and we were not sure of the cause. With further research, observations and investigations, we realized that the cause was a new virus. A RETRO VIRUS called the (HIV) Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This virus attacked your immune system and presented in very peculiar ways. There was often a white carpet escalator of yeast in the mouth which then extended from the tongue all the way down to the stomach via the oesophagus.
Why did that young healthy chap succumb to a lung infection? Did you see that strange rash?
Eventually, it was revealed that it was transmitted by heterosexual and homosexual contact alike. Lots of the taboo surrounding HIV and AIDS (the disease you get from HIV) slowly dissipated because we better understood the disease with time. As increasingly more effective and affordable treatments became available, the viral load in infected patients became effectively undetectable. This great development helped to dissipate the stigma even more.
Then, came COVID! Having to worry about other diseases where the effect was more immediate, literally placed HIV on a back burner. Covid-19 had a similar effect to early HIV infection back in the 80’s and was quite a challenge to deal with it’s effects presenting as significant and mounting deaths and comorbidities.
Recently, I was made aware of a significant rise in HIV cases in the territory. I was then rudely confronted with this reality when several of my own patients were diagnosed with HIV within a short period of time. We forgot to be careful. We forgot to continue to educate the public about the dangers and consequences of unprotected sex when we have multiple partners. We forgot that HIV doesn’t have a face and doesn’t have a specific look. We forgot that HIV can affect anyone from any age group. We now have to remember this forgotten disease and move it from the back burner and place it in the forefront of our minds so that we can do what needs to be done to protect our people.
We need to encourage at least yearly HIV testing and make sure that condoms are readily available for free in bars, doctors offices and other appropriate public spaces. Other preventative measures also include the use of post exposure prophylaxis.
Those persons that are HIV positive need not be embarrassed about the taboo of HIV and should make sure that they get the necessary antiretroviral treatment. With effective treatment, persons with HIV can lower their viral load to an extent where the virus is essentially undetectable and unable to be transmitted to their partner. Although HIV should not be a death sentence anymore, this needs to be a topic that we can speak about.
In order to change our mind set about sex and sexual health, sex education in the primary and secondary schools is an essential tool that will help us to remember and effectively attack this quietly dangerous forgotton disease.
Dr. Craig Stoutt is a Consultant Anaesthesiologist and Intensivist with more than twenty years of service in the Virgin Islands health system. On Our Health is a five-part series on the state of our health and the country we can still build together.
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I look at everybody, like they are infectoius.
Lots of men think that sex is all to life. That if they miss one day they are going to die.
Well my friend it’s best to miss that day or die.
Lots of nasty women out there allowing these men to sex them in their arse. Plus, these men going both ways, menmen, men women.
Nasty nasty cold nasty
Why don’t he just come out and say he is running with All 13 and done! I heard he is their leader.
Tell em craigy…HIV is still a reality. keep pushing the facts and info bro.
The article rightly warns against growing complacency about HIV, but the deeper issue is not only access to testing or treatment but the long-standing silence surrounding sex itself.
For generations, sex was treated as private, shameful, or too morally sensitive to discuss openly. Many people grew up in homes where condoms, sexual health, menstruation, consent, pregnancy, homosexuality, and multiple partners were never discussed. Young people were often left to “find out for themselves”, while adults avoided these conversations out of fear, embarrassment, or religious belief. That silence created the perfect conditions for misinformation, shame, and unsafe sexual behaviour.
The church shaped many of these attitudes. Christianity has long been central to culture and social life, and churches have traditionally stressed abstinence, modesty, and sexual restraint. Although these values were intended to promote morality and family stability, discussions about sex were often framed around sin, shame, and punishment rather than health, responsibility, and informed choice. Open talk/discussions about sex or condoms was seen as encouraging promiscuity. As a result, many young people entered adulthood without the practical knowledge needed to protect themselves.
That tension between morality and education still exists today. Some people fear that teaching children about sex will encourage early sexual activity, which is why sex education in schools still faces so much resistance. Yet research consistently shows that education promotes awareness and safer decision-making, not promiscuity. Young people who understand consent, STIs, contraception, healthy relationships, and personal responsibility are better equipped to make safer choices. Sex education must go beyond a brief biology lesson on reproduction. It should include honest discussion of HIV, sexually transmitted infections, peer pressure, emotional maturity, respect, digital sexual culture, and the realities young people face today. Above all, it must be age-appropriate, culturally respectful, and truthful.
Sadly, the stigma surrounding sexual choices affects not only young people. Men are often discouraged from speaking openly about sex, sexual health, or their personal struggles, yet secrecy surrounding multiple partners or hidden lifestyle choices is frequently tolerated or ignored. In some cases, men may even conceal same-sex relationships while maintaining heterosexual marriages because of fear, stigma, or social pressure. Women, meanwhile, may be judged as promiscuous simply for asking about contraception or sexual wellbeing. This culture of silence and shame discourages testing, undermines treatment, and allows diseases such as HIV to spread quietly.
What we need now is a change in mindset. We can respect faith and culture while still having honest, mature, and medically accurate conversations about sex and health.
The article is right: HIV must no longer be treated as a forgotten disease. But if we are serious about protecting the next generation, we must also confront a deeper taboo that has persisted for decades: the reluctance to speak openly about sex, sexual responsibility, and sexual health. Silence has never protected us, but education can.