Lifting undue stigma

It puzzles me why AIDS patients are stigmatized by mainstream society. Yet we tend to sympathize with patients of, for instance, heart disease and kidney failure. In the latter case, we see what we want to perceive of them, as mere patients of illnesses. We may be harsher on AIDS patients, with the tendency to believe that they have brought it upon themselves with their promiscuity. Yet again we draw double standards by failing to question how patients of other diseases might have contracted them. We don't ask if patients of heart disease had exercised adequately in the past. We don't ask if those with kidney failure had consumed too much salt in their past diet. Why then should we question the AIDS patients? Moreover, it would be deterministic and myopic to judge AIDS patients simply on moral grounds. What about those who had contracted it from their husband, whose activities outside of home they may be completely oblivious of? What about those who had contracted it from their boyfriend/girlfriend without knowing that their lover is actually a player? There are many other possible causes, but the point that I would like to stress upon is this: AIDS patients can be victims of their circumstances. They deserve dignity and respect worthy of any patient and more importantly, of our kind.