WAD2015

World AIDS day 2015 #WAD2015

This isn’t much of a food post but more just sharing an opinion. Today (01 December) is not only the official beginning of Summer in the southern hemisphere but it’s also World AIDS day. Hopefully I don’t have to explain what AIDS is but just briefly, AIDS is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and it’s caused by infection by the Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

I remember being a medical student in the 1980s. I also worked in a private pathology laboratory, Queensland Medical Laboratory. It was the beginning of the global epidemic (pandemic) of a yet to identified, characterised and named disease that seemed to affect mainly men who have sex with men and intravenous drug users. After what seemed like forever, we had an ætiological agent and a name for the disease.

Move forward a few years and I have vivid memories doing a junior house officer term in infectious diseases and having many patients with AIDS on the ward. I remember their discomfort, their pain and their deaths.

As I qualified in pathology through the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia I came to understand more clearly the importance of laboratory medicine, the nuances of serology and the need for a full complement of medical testing procedures to help patients with AIDS.

It was recently International Pathology Day and the college sent me some paraphernalia to share around at work.

As I contemplated World AIDS Day today, I noted how far we’ve come with the diagnosis of HIV infection and the management of AIDS patients. I felt a desire to share the value of pathologists and medical laboratory scientists to the healthcare system here and overseas. Without experts in laboratory medicine and without learned organisations like the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia we would not be as advanced in medicine as we are. I will always believe that an understanding of pathology is the core to understanding medicine.

Some Instagram sharing from today.

It’s #wad2015 Practise safe sex people #HIV #AIDS #Condom we need a #CondomEmoji A photo posted by Gary Lum (@garydlum) on

 


Given this is a food blog I need to share some food. Given the colour for World AIDS Day is red, I put in some red food, viz., capsicum and pomegranate arils.

Baked salmon and smoked salmon with Aioli, Avocado, Capsicum, Chilli flakes, Coleslaw, Kale, Pomegranate arils, Quinoa, Sesame seeds, and Wasabi
Baked salmon and smoked salmon with Aioli, Avocado, Capsicum, Chilli flakes, Coleslaw, Kale, Pomegranate arils, Quinoa, Sesame seeds, and Wasabi

 

Salmon with kale quinoa coleslaw from Gary Lum on Vimeo.

Baked salmon and smoked salmon with Aioli, Avocado, Capsicum, Chilli flakes, Coleslaw, Kale, Pomegranate arils, Quinoa, Sesame seeds, and Wasabi

Do you have a story about World AIDS Day?