Right to fire HIV positive athletes/performers?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Cirque du Solei is in trouble for firing an HIV positive trapese artist. They argue that accidents and scrapes happen often enough in the course of a performance that he puts other members of the troupe at risk. I'm not sure I agree. I did think that Magic Johnsons brief retutn to the NBA was enormously selfish and irresponsible on his part. Basketball players often get cut during the course of a game.



I wonder what the rules are around boxing?





BTW, AIDS is up 7% among gays this year, for the third year in a row!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    I don't know what the rules are in Canada. In the US it would go state by state I'd imagine.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    burningwheelburningwheel Posts: 1,827member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Matsu

    Cirque du Solei is in trouble for firing an HIV positive trapese artist. They argue that accidents and scrapes happen often enough in the course of a performance that he puts other members of the troupe at risk. I'm not sure I agree. I did think that Magic Johnsons brief retutn to the NBA was enormously selfish and irresponsible on his part. Basketball players often get cut during the course of a game.







    you contradict yourself imo
  • Reply 3 of 10
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Contradict? How?



    I'm not sure the amount of contact, or potential risk, between performers and athletes is the same in every case. And I said I wasn't sure, I didn't mean it rhetorically, I'm not sure, having not seen a trapeze performance. I have however seen many basketball games and even be bloodied on occassion during the course of a game.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    dwsdws Posts: 108member
    A very important thing to keep in mind when considering the risk of HIV infection is that the transmission has to be blood to blood. By this I mean that the blood from the HIV-infected person, with still-active virus (the virus doesn't live very long out of the body), has to get in to the blood stream of another person in order to create the possibility of infection. For infection to become probable, the amount of virus has to be substantial & the incidents of infection have to be repetitious.



    The probability of HIV infection through sports injury is slight. It's not zero, however (unlikely things DO happen in life). Just as it is possible for a basketball player to fall and be injured so badly he will never walk again. The fact that slight risks of grave, life-altering, injury are accepted as a matter of course; so should this slight risk of HIV infection be treated. To demand otherwise smacks of bias and hysterical over-reactions.



    A sub-plot to the Cirque du Solei story... The performers are notorious party-people; who have sex with each other constantly. Many of the performers are gay. There is significant discussion going on over whether or not the issue of HIV transmission due to accidents is really a convenient excuse to limit the spread of this disease through sexual transmission.
  • Reply 5 of 10
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    If you want to protect athletes against HIV, or C hepatititis, you should remove from the playing grounds any athletes who start bleeding, unless the bleeding is controlled.

    I think it's already the case in boxing.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Powerdoc

    If you want to protect athletes against HIV, or C hepatititis, you should remove from the playing grounds any athletes who start bleeding, unless the bleeding is controlled.

    I think it's already the case in boxing.




    i think i remember a similar rule happening in basketball (heavy bleeding, means getting benched). iirc, it was decided in response to Magic's announcement.



    Quote:

    Originally posted by dws

    A very important thing to keep in mind when considering the risk of HIV infection is that the transmission has to be blood to blood. By this I mean that the blood from the HIV-infected person, with still-active virus (the virus doesn't live very long out of the body), has to get in to the blood stream of another person in order to create the possibility of infection. For infection to become probable, the amount of virus has to be substantial & the incidents of infection have to be repetitious.



    Thats not true. HIV can be carried in any of the bodily fluids (including blood, semen, saliva) and can be transferred to almost any orifice. And if the virus is in any of these fluids and they are then taken in (not necessarily immediately into the bloodstream) by an uninfected person, that person may get the virus. After all, a large number of the infected have gotten the virus without sharing needles.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Powerdoc

    If you want to protect athletes against HIV, or C hepatititis, you should remove from the playing grounds any athletes who start bleeding, unless the bleeding is controlled.

    I think it's already the case in boxing.






    I think the most effective method would to be suture condoms on their penises
  • Reply 8 of 10
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by thuh Freak

    Thats not true. HIV can be carried in any of the bodily fluids (including blood, semen, saliva) and can be transferred to almost any orifice. And if the virus is in any of these fluids and they are then taken in (not necessarily immediately into the bloodstream) by an uninfected person, that person may get the virus. After all, a large number of the infected have gotten the virus without sharing needles.



    Twenty years later you'd think we'd all have a handle on this. HIV is not carried in the saliva. It cannot be passed by mouth-to-mouth contact, unless both people have open sores in their mouths (thus enabling blood-to-blood passage). Sexual passage is thought to occur through small tears in the surface of the vagina or skin of the penis. Touching HIV-infected blood with your finger will not lead to transmission unless you have an open wound on your finger. Even then it is a low-probability event. A hospital needle stick with a contaminated needle, for instance, carries a roughly 0.3% risk of HIV transmission.



    Transmissible HIV is carried in:

    Blood

    Semen

    Vaginal secretions



    HIV can be transmitted by:

    Sexual contact (including oral)

    Direct blood-blood contact via needles or open wounds

    Child-birth and nursing



    CDC Link
  • Reply 9 of 10
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    I think the most effective method would to be suture condoms on their penises



    , but in this case you should practice an urostomia, otherwise they will just cut the top of the condom in order to piss ...
  • Reply 10 of 10
    aquafireaquafire Posts: 2,758member
    No one should be banned outright for having aids, unless they willfully bite or pour their own blood into someone else's wounds, it is very unlikely to result in infection.



    But just as a precaution, The governing body of Austrlain Rules Football ( AFL ) as well as most other competetive sports bodies, have introduced a " Blood rule " which means the player who may have been gashed or cut has to leave the game until such time the blood flow is stemmed, stitched, and cleaned.



    I can't see why something like this couldn't be installed in the circus...etc...
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