With respect, this issue of pump sharing comes up from time to time on
LactNet, and it troubles me that one of the arguments that is used against
purchasing a used pump is the possibility of transmitting HIV. Cindy
Curtis's site info includes this suggestion, and I have seen it raised
before, once by an IBCLC who was posting to a parent support group.

I spent several years working as a volunteer for our local and national AIDS
groups back in the '80s - when fear of the virus was so great there were
hospital staff who wouldn't enter the room of a patient with AIDS, and some
reporters refused to attend our news conferences.

We realized that fear inhibited people's ability to learn what they *needed*
to know about HIV and AIDS, and we worked hard to communicate that HIV was a
fragile virus and would not survive once its carrying body fluid had dried.

Using the fear of HIV transmission as a tool to keep people from buying a
used pumps is not appropriate, and I think has the potential to harm the
credibility of the LC who delivers this message.

-- Jodine Chase

> From: "Cindy Curtis, RN, IBCLC" <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Hi
> Actually that info comes from my sit at :
> http://users.erols.com/cindyrn/pumps.htm

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