She was a registered nurse from Des Moines who had been educated on AIDS. She knew how to protect herself, and she had not worried about contracting AIDS.

“It was always someone else’s problem. It’s not something you think about on a day-to-day basis,” she said.

But while on the job in 1993, Deb Burke contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, while working on a patient that was violently ill with AIDS.

“He was in the last stages of the disease, it was pretty severe. I was following the standard procedures. I was finished and I took off my gloves, the test tube leaked, I had a very small cut on my finger,” she said. “It was a minor exposure. Normally this would not have caused infection, but he was very sick.

“AIDS is an equal-opportunity virus,” Burke said. “It is not selective on who it will affect. Unfortunately, anyone can become a victim.”

AIDS is a degenerative disease of the immune system, Burke said.

“There are people walking around with AIDS who have no symptoms. These individuals infect others through sex, needle sharing and even through accidents,” Burke said.

She called it a vicious cycle that needs to be stopped.

“The numbers of people with AIDS have consistently gone up in the last three years,” said Sharon Miller, the HIV/AIDS education coordinator at the American Red Cross in Des Moines.

Foreign and minority populations have especially large numbers of AIDS victims, she said.

“Iowans often have a false sense of security that they are immune,” Miller said. People think they are safe from AIDS because they live in the Midwest, she said.

Burke is trying to start a support group for women with AIDS. This support group would meet at and be sponsored by the American Red Cross in Des Moines.

“I have been involved in a support group offered by the AIDS Project, but many people do not want to be associated with AIDS,” she said. “AIDS is not socially accepted.”

Associating the group with the Red Cross would be much less stigmatizing, she said, because there are many services offered by the Red Cross, not just AIDS support.

The support group will be free and totally confidential. People living with AIDS need support — it helps to talk.

“If I can give back what has been given to me I will be happy,” Burke said.

Burke does not currently work as a clinical nurse. “I keep my license current, but I am not on staff. This is a big change for me. I used to live for work,” she said.

Burke said she now chooses to use her time to educate others about AIDS. She is a volunteer educator at the American Red Cross in Des Moines.

“I still feel like I am caring for people through education,” she said. She was recently recognized by the Red Cross as Iowa Volunteer of the Year for her efforts.

The Des Moines chapter of the Red Cross offers community health education sessions on AIDS for schools, workplace and the public, Miller said.

AIDS is also a very costly disease. “I currently take 40 pills a day. This costs almost $3,000 a month,” Burke said. Chemotherapy pills are required and can cause sickness, she said. Burke is also required to go to the hospital periodically for therapy.

The hospital that had previously employed Burke provides insurance for the material costs of living with AIDS, she said.

“I am lucky enough to be fully covered. Many people aren’t,” Burke said.

People who do not have full coverage may have to pay for their treatments. Insurance with prescription coverage requires a co-pay, Burke said. “Co-payers will pay around $300 a month. Not many people have that money laying around,” she said.

There is a government-funded program called AIDS Drug Assistance Program for individuals with an extremely low income, Burke said. It offers help with the costs of drug treatment.

The monetary costs of living with AIDS are large, but do not compare to the personal impact AIDS victims endure. Burke said she was clinically depressed for the first three years. “I realized that I could continue to be consumed with anger for the rest of my life or I could live to my fullest,” she said.

Living with AIDS has given Burke an entirely different perspective on life, she said.

“I take the time to stop and smell the roses, to appreciate life,” she said. “After I got infected, for the first time in my life, I like who I am as a person.”

Burke said living with the disease has helped her find out who her true friends were. She found the most support came from people affected by AIDS and gay friends, she said.

“I know that I would not be as healthy as I am today if it wasn’t for all the support that I have gotten,” Burke said.