Language is one of the fundamental pillars of human existence and the construction of society as we know it. With the power to shape beliefs and influence behavior, it also changes over time, as thinking evolves.
From the point of view of the health area, terminologies used to describe diseases or patients are subject to analysis by the medical and scientific communities in order to avoid the stigma and discrimination against affected people.
One of the cases in evidence this year is the assessment by the World Health Organization (WHO) of a new name for the disease known as “monkeypox” – or monkeypox, in English. WHO seeks a neutral name to prevent prejudice against infected individuals in addition to situations of mistreatment of animals, which are not involved in the current outbreak of the disease in the world.
Going back a little in time, we come to the word “leprosy”, adopted in Brazil since 1976 to designate one of the oldest diseases of humanity, which has biblical accounts and which until the mid-1970s was called “leprosy”.
When untreated, the disease caused by a bacteria can cause deformities and physical disabilities. The lack of knowledge of a form of treatment led to the isolation of patients in large spaces called leprosaria for decades in the country.
Today, early diagnosis and adherence to treatment can prevent complications and transmission of the disease, which depends on close and prolonged contact.
Challenges of HIV and AIDS
With regard to HIV and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), language also contributes to reinforcing stigma and discrimination. According to the United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), the thoughtful use of appropriate language can strengthen the global response to the epidemic.
“In the beginning, all the publicity about the disease, the focus that was given by the press in the mass communication was the ‘AIDS sufferers’, it was the ‘gay plague’. Which ended up causing great stigma and discrimination for all people living with HIV and AIDS to this day”, says researcher Angela Carvalho Freitas, an infectologist at the Hospital das Clínicas in São Paulo.
O December is dedicated to HIV and AIDS awareness with campaigns around the world encouraging prevention, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
UNAIDS has developed terminology guidelines that can be adopted or avoided by the press, by students, by companies, by health professionals and by the general population.
Person living with HIV
Instead of “carrier” or “patient”, the recommended terminology is “person living with HIV”.
The main idea is to take the virus out of focus and bring the focus to the person. It is not to de-personify, but to make people understand that the most important thing there is the human being, who is a mother, father, son, grandfather, grandmother, who has dreams, who has plans, who has projects and who has rights, that must be respected
Angela Carvalho Freitas
The infectologist at Hospital das Clínicas makes a reservation that, when using the term “person living with HIV”, space is also opened for “person living with AIDS”, in order to avoid the social erasure of the portion of the population that develops the disease. clinical picture of the syndrome.
Although there is no consensus regarding the term “seropositive”, activists advocate that the term be avoided.
In an Instagram post, the actor Evandro Manchini who uses social networks to propose reflections on living with the virus, comments on the importance of language for reducing stigma.
“Carrier of the virus? Not. Leave it to carry your CPF, your RG, your passport. HIV positive? Not. Let the serum, which is part of the blood, stay there in its place, which is the laboratory. AIDS? If you use this expression to refer to a person living with HIV or AIDS, in addition to being a prejudiced person, you are very uninformed. So it is important that you update yourself”, he says.
Language humanizes and helps to reduce stigmas and prejudices. ‘Person living with HIV: the person comes first, life comes first, and HIV comes after
Evandro Manchini, actor
Advances in medicine allow relationships to happen between serodifferent couples, in which one person lives with HIV and the other does not, without transmitting the virus.
People living with HIV undergoing treatment and with an undetectable viral load for at least six months do not transmit the virus sexually. The term Undetectable = Untransmissible (I = I) is adopted by leading scientists and institutions on HIV worldwide.
Relationships between couples with different serology have already been called “serodiscordant”. With the change in language, today the term “serodifferent ” contextualizes this kind of relationship without causing any surprise alleged disagreement as in the previous word.
See other nomenclatures that should not be used according to Unaids:
“Aids Virus”: There is no AIDS virus. The virus that causes AIDS is the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Note that the word ‘virus’ in the phrase ‘HIV virus’ is redundant. Only use ‘HIV’.
“Aidetic”: Never use this term. In addition to being incorrect, it is stigmatizing and offensive. Prefer “person living with HIV”, seropositive person, HIV positive or positive.
“Infected with AIDS”: No one is infected with AIDS, AIDS is not an infectious agent. The term AIDS describes a syndrome of opportunistic infections and diseases that can develop as immunosuppression increases during the course of HIV infection from acute infection to death. Avoid the term ‘infected with HIV’ and prefer a person living with HIV or an HIV positive person (if you know your serological status).
“Aids test”: There is no test for AIDS. Use the term HIV test or HIV antibody test. Antigen detection tests are used in newborn children.
“Aids victim”: Use the term person living with HIV. The word ‘victim’ disempowers and stigmatizes. Use the word AIDS only when referring to a person with a clinical diagnosis of AIDS. It is advisable to say that the person has been affected by infections or opportunistic diseases resulting from the AIDS syndrome.
“Aids patient”: Use the term ‘patient’ only when referring to a clinical context. In this case, use patient with HIV-related illness because it covers the full range of clinical conditions associated with HIV.
“Aids risk”: Use ‘risk of HIV infection’ or ‘risk of HIV exposure’.
Cocktail x Antiretroviral Treatment
HIV treatment is carried out using antiretroviral drugs, which prevent the process of viral replication in the human body. By blocking the production of new copies of the virus, the drugs act to reduce the viral load in the blood.
Infection control increases the quality of life and allows people living with HIV to have a similar survival to those who do not live with the virus.
The first antiretroviral drugs appeared in the 1980s. The first drugs had strong side effects, which made adherence to treatment difficult.
“Going into the development of drugs, it was understood that, in fact, more than one drug was needed to be able to control virus replication and its impact on the body of individuals living with HIV”, explains Angela.
“There were so many pills and medicines that the nickname arose that it was a ‘cocktail’ 🇧🇷 And so it was ‘cocktail’ over there, ‘cocktail’ over here. And you can understand that a cocktail is what has a lot of things mixed in there, that you need a lot of things”, he adds.
With the advancement of technology in areas such as medicine, virology and pharmacology, in addition to reduce viral load and preserve the functions of the immune system, it has also become possible to reduce the amount of drugs involved in the treatment.
“Currently, with the new drugs that have the power to control viral replication, better reproduction of the virus in the body, we already have the possibility of using fewer pills, fewer classes of drugs together so that it is possible to have the same control of the virus and a full life for those living with HIV”, says the doctor.
Currently, HIV infection and its treatment are understood as accompanying a chronic disease, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, which are also not curable, but can be controlled with medication.
The evolution of the term is important for people today to understand that this is a very simple treatment, much simpler than it once was. It’s as simple as treating high blood pressure or treating diabetes, which is fine, none of these treatments are always easy, but it’s not something as complex
Angela Carvalho Freitas
Source: CNN Brasil
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