万花筒 2010-12-01&12-02 英国25%艾滋患者不知自身病

In the 80s, the AIDS' awareness¹ campaign helped end ignorance surrounding the virus HIV. But 30 years on, the health protection agency says many people are living with HIV without realizing it, and late diagnosis² is leading to more deaths.
"So, protect yourself." There're 86,000 people infected with HIV in Britain, but of those almost a quarter don't know they're HIV positive. Last year, 516 people with the infection died, 73% of them were diagnosed late. In fact, more than half of all newly diagnosed people are diagnosed late,meaning they may not benefit from treatments, and it also leaves them vulnerable to contracting other diseases as many with HIV are aware.
I was diagnosed late. I had a time which I got my HIV diagnosis, I also got diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which is a serious form of cancer. And I had to go through about 3 months in hospital, then about further 6 months of chemotherapy to get over all of that. If I've been diagnosed earlier, then I would have saved myself from having to go through all of that. Everyday, there's a person in the UK, who dies with HIV, having been late, having been diagnosed late. And there's no reason why that should happen. Charities like Terrence Higgins Trust say some people are reluctant to be tested for HIV, because they don't believe they could be at risk, or they possibly in denial because the stigma³ still attach to it. But the charity also says it's imperative⁴ to be diagnosed as early as possible because the sooner you start treatment, the better your prognosis. The overall number of new cases is falling, but the health protection agency wants more widespread testing for HIV, not just to treat those who don't know they have it, but also to reduce the chance of virus spreading.

1 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

2 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

3 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

4 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。