H I V Breakthrough [edited]

[Gayowulf]

Yeah, but what if it's...

"Not HIV but FULL-BLOWN AIDS!"

With that aside, they'll have a cure for everything soon enough.

if you've got AIDS you're SOL... special HIV drug or not.

 

[Bruce]

if you've got AIDS you're SOL... special HIV drug or not.

I think you missed the reference.

 

[Gayowulf]

Nah, I've seen that episode. I just couldn't think of a proper way to acknowledge it. the next line would have been good, but I don't know it.

or even a "giggity" or 3 would have done i guess.

 

[Meksilon]

Meksilon, thanks for the first paragraph + first two sentences of the second paragraph in your first post in this thread. It was informative and perfectly correct. Now if only the rest of your posts weren't trolling you might actually gain some respect around here.

Robert bought up stem-cells - yes it was off-topic, but I replied constructively. There's nothing troll-like about that.

By the way, the real HIV breakthrough which made this recent development possible was years ago when some African prostitutes were found to be immune to HIV, but were carriers of the virus. That is, they were immune to the virus, but everyone they had sex with would contract HIV from them because they permanently carried the virus. It was suggested that their blood cells contained certain rare qualities that made this possible, and that it would be possible to artificially create these qualities in others with a drug.

I personally don't have faith in it. Africa may well need it, but it's not like taking a needle for immunity. When this happens you are given a small dose of a "similar" virus, where your body is then able to create enough (natural) anti-bodies combating it to effectively combat the real threat. With this though it's completely different, it's not about building antibodies (natural or artificial) to combat the HIV virus, but rather it's about modifying your blood cells.

HIV needs living white blood cells in order to "live" - that is to replicate and spread. If it cannot enter your white blood cells you're immune. I feel though that there will be serious side-effects to artificially modifying your blood cells, especially when talking about building an immunity, rather than curing infections. It would be different if it cured infections, because then you might be able to justify the side-effects. By comparison, when you take a needle to create antibodies there are no side effects. Undoubtedly this would be one reason why these drugs have not reached the market yet. Until it's been tested and all the side effects documented, researched and considered it cannot reach the market.

Also, from what I heard there was no suggestion made that these women were in fact immune to all forms of the HIV virus, only the ones they were carriers of. It may well turn out that this path will be limited to creating immunity for the African strands of the virus.

 

[jmiller]

Actually, it is troll-like.

Because the only time you ever participate in the General Discussion forum is when you can argue.

Unlike the rest of us who regularily post here.

 

[bozley05]

He must be one of those academic types.

 

[tandoc]

He must be one of those academic types.

What's wrong with being academic?

 

[bozley05]

Nothing I guess, but why would you dedicate your entire life to going to University just so you can prove people wrong?

 

[Meksilon]

Dude, I don't go to university. I don't even go out of my way to catch the news most of the time. I don't even have a very good memory. But I like to make sure what little information I know is passed on in whole, and when others present incomplete information I like to "fill in the gaps". I don't know very much about HIV, only what I've picked up over the years when I've seen news or documentaries on TV and what I may have read online, or in papers.

All I know is probably what everyone knows. It's a virus, it can be transmitted through sharing needles but is unlikely since unlike many other viruses it dies very quickly when it's out of the body. I knows it's said to be something like 100 times smaller than the pours in latex condoms, and so it can be transmitted through "safe sex" (but is unlikely). The main way it's transmitted is through sexual acts. It's unlikely to transmit during kissing, unless there's an open wound in the mouth. And this makes it one of the most difficult of all viruses to contract.

If it's all useless mind-numbing indecipherable gibberish to you, then please feel free to ignore it. I don't know why you need to complain, but each to their own...