Potentially new, HORRENDOUS news... faster infecting HIV

[Kuciwalker]

Oh, ok then

[Agathon]

I imagine that this will put a damper on your planned college womanising then?

Not..

[Lul Thyme]

Originally posted by Vesayen
Fast acting diseases wiping out their populations quickly due to limited transportation MAY no longer apply... I won't claim expertise on the subject but we, especially the industrialized west can move around.... fast. If some man with this disease has sex in say, four different parts of the country....?

The first person diagnosed with aids was a canadian airline attendant...

Think about it.
All other factors being equal (which im not claiming, we just dont know here) , meaning same rate of transmission etc, a shorter time for the disease to manifest itself can only DECREASE its epidemic potential, which on a global scale is a GOOD thing.

If the you had AIDS the day you became infected and died immediatly, you can bet there would be much fewer victims today.
This is extreme but my point still stands.

[Whoha]

and we could do even more if we tested everyone, identified everyone with aids, and quaruntined them all immediately. That is even more humane then hoping they all catch the new killer aids and die faster.

[Agathon]

and we could do even more if we tested everyone, identified everyone with aids, and quaruntined them all immediately. That is even more humane then hoping they all catch the new killer aids and die faster.

Nice joke.

[Bosh]

Originally posted by Heresson
This is not fair. 50 year ago people could **** around without that much fear.

Except for syphilius eating away at your brain and driving you insane.

[Ben Kenobi]

Did anyone read Dr. Strangelove's post?

If the chance of infection is high enough, it will offset the shorter incubation period.

Suppose you have HIV, and have 10 partners whom you sleep with each 10 times over the course of 10 years, at 1 partner a year.

You would be likely to infect one person over the incubation period.

Now, if the chance of infection is doubled, and the incubation period halved, assuming constant chance of infection, nothing will change. You will still be likely to infect one person, even though your incubation period is only half of what it was previous.

[Ben Kenobi]

and we could do even more if we tested everyone, identified everyone with aids, and quaruntined them all immediately. That is even more humane then hoping they all catch the new killer aids and die faster.

The problem with this is twofold. First of all, unlike other diseases that spread in other ways, you can stand right across from someone with AIDS and you will not catch the disease. While there are situations where one can catch AIDS through no fault of your own, most of the infections come through conscious decisions made by people to chance the risk.

The real problem is with the public blood supply. More people are relying on private supplies because this way they can better control the donors, which means that there will be less blood available for others in an emergency.

It may be necessary, if more virulent strains become common, to do away with a blood supply altogether.

[Ben Kenobi]

I am a big promoter of abstinence but *shrug* you can't really advise people to be abstinent because it takes an amount of self controll many people are unwilling to use. People have to choose to do it on their own.

Very true. Hopefully more people will see the wisdom of this approach.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

I meant to say the inhibitor. And your original quote was

Oh, the reason that reverse transcriptase inhibitors are dangerous is because that they can sometimes be integrated into the genome via replication, and thus mutation can occur...

The inhibitors would have to be delivered by a virus (which incidentally would have to use reverse transcriptase) for them to be integrated into the genome.

No Kuci, you are speaking out of your arse. Reverse transcriptase inhibitors are not proteins, they are nucleotide analogues (AZT is a thymidine analogue). It blocks the active site of reverse transcriptase. However sometimes it can be integrated into the human genome by DNA polymerase. And hnce mutation can arise. Delivered by a virus? WTF are you talking about?

[Ramo]

Isn't there a story somewhere that people who are naturally resistant to the Bubonic (or Pneumonic) Plague are also resistant to HIV/AIDS.

From what I understand, the theory that the bubonic plague caused this mutation has been out of favor recently, rather it's thought to be something similar to small pox. IIRC, 10% of Northern Europeans have partial immunity, and 1% have full immunity. Swedes are particularly immune. So if you're gonna have unprotected sex, do it with a Swede.

[MRT144]

are you always so angry?

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by MRT144
are you always so angry?

I get irritated when people think they know what they're talking about and don't.

[notyoueither]

Must get irritated a lot around here then.

[Last Conformist]

Word.

So VJ thinks AIDS is killing of secularists? Interestingly, it's mostly killing people in Africa, where people on average is more religious than in the West ...