AIDS, The Deadliest Epidemic in History

[Royd 0]

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think it's funny that you say this now when you're....well....past your prime, rather than back in the 70's you had your share of decadence. Easier to talk about celibacy after the libido's fallen off a bit than it was back then I bet.

Do you think that discounting the wisdom of elders is wise.

I don't know your age, but I could say that you are too young to know what you're talking about.That you're thinking only from an emotional point of veiw, instead of a logical one.

[Flying-Wench 0]

mm and i have to say i am impressed by the majority of attitudes in here.. it gives hope.

Royd (and anyone whom is interested) read up on the cultural impacts on HIV prevention.. http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/newsletters/monthlymonitor/200601.htm

and my line "We cant stop anyone from doing anything, but we CAN work towards ensuring that anything that they do do is safe. ". Its the same in skydiving!

[skydyvr 0]

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He certainly died a long lingering death longer than many of the original recipients of the HIV virus.

Oh, you must be one of THOSE people who believes their god thinks along the same lines they do.

Convenient way to think, huh?

. . =(_8^(1)

[Amazon 7]

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Oh, you must be one of THOSE people who believes their god thinks along the same lines they do.

Convenient way to think, huh?

Nope just an observation.... kind of like karma is a bitch aint it.

Everyone should remember that.. there is a balance.... upsetting the balance may not be such a good thing.

[Flying-Wench 0]

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think it's funny that you say this now when you're....well....past your prime, rather than back in the 70's you had your share of decadence. Easier to talk about celibacy after the libido's fallen off a bit than it was back then I bet.

Do you think that discounting the wisdom of elders is wise.

I don't know your age, but I could say that you are too young to know what you're talking about.That you're thinking only from an emotional point of veiw, instead of a logical one.

mate i dont wish to attack you personally, but WHERE do you get off on judging other people so much???

I agree with Lindsey. How is it that you can preach to us about living a pure life when you have not been there yourself? You obviously made mistakes and learnt from them, as most of us have. Share you experiences, learning comes from that, but dont dictate to others what they can/cannot do. Nothing gives you that right, to hold your morals over anothers, no matter how "pure" you are now.

Havent you ever heard of "live and let live"? Why must we all life our lives the way you wish? Who gave you this authority or right? What happened to diversity.. If you have made mistakes and learnt from them, was part of your learnings "life is too short"? Why spend your time making other people miserable with your judgements? Its not productive and not at all conducive to learning.

And whilst i have a huge amount of respect for my elders, being "older" (unfortunately) does not automatically grant wisdom.

And might i add.. before you start in on other peoples views.. many of your posts here have been very emotive, and not based on logic or fact. Again, perhaps you should practice what you preach.

[Lindsey 0]

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think it's funny that you say this now when you're....well....past your prime, rather than back in the 70's you had your share of decadence. Easier to talk about celibacy after the libido's fallen off a bit than it was back then I bet.

Do you think that discounting the wisdom of elders is wise.

I don't know your age, but I could say that you are too young to know what you're talking about.That you're thinking only from an emotional point of veiw, instead of a logical one.

lol...I'm also past my prime. :) Overly-emotional and illogical....that's me. You summed it up so nicely.

The elders screwed around too. They just didn't talk about it so openly. Think of all those mulatto babies when interracial marriages just weren't couth....

linz

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[Casurf1978 0]

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My problem with the whole societal attitude is that we have thrown 4,000 yrs. of wisdom and tradition out the window in the last 40yr. just to satisfy the pleasure of the flesh.

What are you talking about? Where are you getting your facts from? Casual sex has always and WILL always be around. The only reason we have hard core statistics on casual sex and infidelity is because we recently started keeping track of it. Wasnt it Kinsey who first did a study on human sexuality. Till then we didnt know jack. To say we have thrown 4000 years of traditions away is BS. What traditions are you talking about

[skydyvr 0]

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Nope just an observation.... kind of like karma is a bitch aint it.

Yes, but if Karma exists it must surely be based on intent, not just results.

It's simple minded to write people off as "evil" or "stupid" JUST because they have different intent or different points of view, but it happens from all directions and sides of the aisle.

Reagan, GWB, Bill Clinton, and Michael Moore are likely NOT the earthly personifications of evil or stupidity.

. . =(_8^(1)

[freethefly 6]

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In Reply To
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Years of misinformation is the main culprit.

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What exactly does misinformation have to do with anyone getting aids. I would say that disobeying the laws of nature, and of common sense is far more likely. Go back and read cause and effect.

Been goose stepping with Jerry Falwell, have you?
The laws of nature dictates that humans procreate therefore humans must have sex. We also find it extremely pleasurable. Not every act of copulation is meant to procreate. People like sex. Hell, how many time have you beat your meat? That is a sex act. Do you consider your self immoral? Does Falwell know about this?
You know, Roid, if we went by YOUR law, we would quickly die out of existence. Not sure why you seem to hate the fact that people have sex. Can't help it if you have a hatred for women. Myself, I love women and when the time comes I'll go in armed with the information needed to make the right desicion concerning her safety and mine. Education with the right information is the only way to curb the spread. Cultures around the globe veiw sex differently from one another but the one common factor is that they all find pleasure in it. Your advise to simply keep it in your pants is far from wise. It is ignorant to suggest this as the only answers to the tribesmen in Africa or to the farming villages of India (their harsh existence dictates that they must constantly keep the baby factory open so as not to dwindle in numbers and die out. Life spans in some regions of the world is extremely short, even without AIDS) as well as to the teenagers in the classrooms of the far more advanced nations.

Roid, you want wise advise? Click the link and get educated.
http://www.avert.org/

The globale statistics for 2005 are posted there. Just follow the links in the menu bar.

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[Flying-Wench 0]

Great website Freethfly.. i have added it to my favorites!

cheers
xx
FW

[Lucky... 0]

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The Dems agenda is to increase the size of government and empower people.

How do you rationalize those two positions?

liquor?

Are you asking how I can rationalize that these are beneficial positions? If so, we can draw it out on here all year long, but look at history. During the CLinton years, During the FDR and Truman years. The compare it to the Hoover, Reagan, Bush, Bush years.

[billvon 2,417]

>All of the butting heads, and ripping, tearing, and strutting is about
>who's going to get the pussy. The rest of the poor fellows just
>have to suck it up until they can kick the big boys ass.

And some of those 'poor fellows' just _want_ the big boy's ass. Sorta like our society, eh?

[billvon 2,417]

>but I could say that you are too young to know what you're talking
> about.That you're thinking only from an emotional point of veiw,
> instead of a logical one.

Yep, you figured her out. If she was, say, an older physician with experience counseling people on reproductive health instead of an 18 year old freeflyer without a care in the world, she'd know a lot more than you. But as things stand - I'm sure she could use some more advice on the issue!

[Guest]

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do you still believe the earth is flat, too?

???

Do you think AIDS was whomped up in a laboratory somewhere? Actually, it was - Mother Nature's laboratory.

For decades we moderns have been minimizing and eliminating most disease.

The benefit of it is that mortality (at least in the Industrialized World) is far lower, life spans are far greater (people in the Middle Ages generally didn't last too long past age 40), so there are a lot more of us.

Mother Nature doesn't like an imbalance.

Where there is too much of something (say, a particular type of animal), nature will somehow balance things out (via an increase in predators, for example).

We humans, at the top of the food chain, have all but eradicated ANY source of disease that would decimate us (with the exception of cancer, but that may be due to the fact that because people have longer life spans, flaws in the DNA which would have seldom been seen, appear to be more common. It is my opinion that more genetic coding flaws appear over time, because those kinds of manufacturing defects stand a better chance of being passed on due to the greatly-increased lifespan for much of the world (for which you can tip your hat to WESTERN CIVILIZATION [this model does not take man-made issues, such as radiation, chemicals in the environment, etc. which can do the same thing at a localized and concentrated rate, into account]), and we have no natural enemies, save each other.

"Nature abhors a vacuum" is a true statement, and nature itself is far more complicated than we can imagine.

Decades ago, before AIDS was even realized, I predicted, based upon simple observation, that the reduction in disease-related mortality would one day result in some kind of "super-bug" that we humans would have no defense against.

Well, you're now seeing it in action. The DARWINIAN law of NATURAL SELECTION (lest anyone think I'm some kind of Falwellian Bible-Thumper) is now in play. Those not smart enough or lucky enough will fall, just as when a Wildebeest herd fords a river: There is going to be some inevitable attrition due to crocodiles, so just be glad it isn't you.

It's got nothing to do with divine retribution. With respect to Nature, I tend to follow the Jeffersonian model; in that I acknowledge the existence of the Supreme Being (yes, Him), but I also tend to think of the Almighty as a kind of clockmaker, the way ol' TJ did. He made it and wound it up and it's running on its own. What happens to us is largely what we make or do for (or to) ourselves, as we interact with (and have often counter-acted) Mother Nature.

As far as I'm concerned, it can't happen fast enough.

mh

.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[Guest]

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your whole arguemnt is flawed

there are MANy people who are not promiscuous, who are only having sex in committed elationships, thats are STILL getting HIV

it can infect anybody, not just people who are having lots of unprotected sex

How? From a toilet seat? It's a bloodborne disease. The pathogen's vector is the exchange of body fluids of some kind.

I thought this was common knowledge. All that AIDS scare-mongering has really misled some folks.

mh

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[billvon 2,417]

>The DARWINIAN law of NATURAL SELECTION (lest anyone think
>I'm some kind of Falwellian Bible-Thumper) is now in play.

Indeed it is. There are those who are immune to HIV; barring a cure, their genotypes will begin to become more prevalent.

>>there are MANy people who are not promiscuous, who are only
>> having sex in committed elationships, thats are STILL getting HIV

>>it can infect anybody, not just people who are having lots of
>>unprotected sex

>How? From a toilet seat?

From heterosexual sex. Women are contracting HIV in ever-increasing numbers, and most of them contract it from heterosexual sex. (Use of condoms still decreases the risk, though.)

[Flying-Wench 0]

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do you still believe the earth is flat, too?

???

Do you think AIDS was whomped up in a laboratory somewhere? Actually, it was - Mother Nature's laboratory.

For decades we moderns have been minimizing and eliminating most disease.

The benefit of it is that mortality (at least in the Industrialized World) is far lower, life spans are far greater (people in the Middle Ages generally didn't last too long past age 40), so there are a lot more of us.

Mother Nature doesn't like an imbalance.

Where there is too much of something (say, a particular type of animal), nature will somehow balance things out (via an increase in predators, for example).

We humans, at the top of the food chain, have all but eradicated ANY source of disease that would decimate us (with the exception of cancer, but that may be due to the fact that because people have longer life spans, flaws in the DNA which would have seldom been seen, appear to be more common. It is my opinion that more genetic coding flaws appear over time, because those kinds of manufacturing defects stand a better chance of being passed on due to the greatly-increased lifespan for much of the world (for which you can tip your hat to WESTERN CIVILIZATION [this model does not take man-made issues, such as radiation, chemicals in the environment, etc. which can do the same thing at a localized and concentrated rate, into account]), and we have no natural enemies, save each other.

"Nature abhors a vacuum" is a true statement, and nature itself is far more complicated than we can imagine.

Decades ago, before AIDS was even realized, I predicted, based upon simple observation, that the reduction in disease-related mortality would one day result in some kind of "super-bug" that we humans would have no defense against.

Well, you're now seeing it in action. The DARWINIAN law of NATURAL SELECTION (lest anyone think I'm some kind of Falwellian Bible-Thumper) is now in play. Those not smart enough or lucky enough will fall, just as when a Wildebeest herd fords a river: There is going to be some inevitable attrition due to crocodiles, so just be glad it isn't you.

It's got nothing to do with divine retribution. With respect to Nature, I tend to follow the Jeffersonian model; in that I acknowledge the existence of the Supreme Being (yes, Him), but I also tend to think of the Almighty as a kind of clockmaker, the way ol' TJ did. He made it and wound it up and it's running on its own. What happens to us is largely what we make or do for (or to) ourselves, as we interact with (and have often counter-acted) Mother Nature.

As far as I'm concerned, it can't happen fast enough.

mh

.

This is an interesting take on the virus, and one that i tend to agree with (as hard as that is to admit, knowing that i have it myself!).

I dont believe the HIV virus has anything to do with religions, or rights or wrongs.. its a superbug, its here, we just have to deal with it and TRY to minimise its impacts.

markharju and anyone else interested in natural selection, evolution and the HIV virus, should read this:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no3_supp/levin.htm

Ive pulled out a couple of key paragraphs.. makes good reading.

"HIV exhibits considerable evolutionary potential and, with drug-resistant bacteria, may have done more to enhance widespread understanding of the importance of population and evolutionary biology to human health and medicine than any other example this past century. Although HIV was initially susceptible to a variety of drugs, resistance mutations have enabled the virus to skirt every drug in the biotech arsenal. In part because of this capacity for rapid evolution, developing an effective vaccine will be difficult."

"EVOLUTION: Evolution in the human population could ultimately reduce the likelihood of becoming infected with a microparasite or of acquiring the disease if infected. Such changes in the host population could also impact the epidemiology and evolution of that microparasite. In this section, we describe simple models for human evolution in response to HIV and evolution of HIV's virulence in HIV-infected persons. We argue that it will take thousands of years before evolution in the human population substantially increases the fraction of persons resistant to HIV/AIDS. Evolution in the HIV-infected population at large, on the other hand, can proceed at an extremely high rate. On epidemiologic grounds, it is unlikely that evolution in this virus will make it more virulent (reduce the time between infection and the onset of AIDS) and may, in fact, favor reductions in virulence."

"HOST EVOLUTION: As long as an infectious disease causes some persons to die before or during reproductive years or to otherwise reduce the number of children they produce, natural selection will favor persons who are less susceptible to the infection and its deleterious effects. In the case of HIV, some evidence exists for inherited variation in the likelihood of HIV infection and in the rate of progression to AIDS among HIV-infected persons (8,9). On the other hand, even under optimal conditions for rapid evolution—disease resistance is complete and determined by the genotype at a single locus—if the resistance gene is initially rare, it will take millennia before a substantial fraction of the population is of the resistant genotype."

Cheers
FW

[Flying-Wench 0]

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your whole arguemnt is flawed

there are MANy people who are not promiscuous, who are only having sex in committed elationships, thats are STILL getting HIV

it can infect anybody, not just people who are having lots of unprotected sex

How? From a toilet seat? It's a bloodborne disease. The pathogen's vector is the exchange of body fluids of some kind.

I thought this was common knowledge. All that AIDS scare-mongering has really misled some folks.

mh

markharju.. you may have missed the rest of the thread.. not debating the basics of HIV transmission (i think we are ALL aware of that). The argument here was that HIV is not just impacting the gay community, drug users or those having LOTS of unprotected sex with LOTS of different people (promiscuous behaviours). A great deal of new infections today are occuring in hetero couples in long term relationships, where one partner has strayed. Theres a whole set of cultural and relationship based factors here, relating to trust, etc etc.

HOWEVER, just to remind all.. on HIV transmission:

HIV is only spread through the following body fluids:
Blood, Semen, Vaginal fluids, Breast milk.

The most common ways HIV is passed from one person to another are: Reusing and sharing needles, Unprotected sex, Mother-to-child during pregnancy, during birth, or through breastfeeding.

Also includes needlestick injury, tattoos/piercings in unreputable businesses and prior to mandatory testing: blood transfusions and blood products.

You CANT be infected by: kissing, sneezing, coughing, sharing glasses, cups, cutlery, swimming pools, showers, washing machines, toilet seats, insects, sterile needles, protected sex.

http://www.avert.org/howcan.htm

Cheers!
FW

[Lindsey 0]

Decades ago, before AIDS was even realized, I predicted, based upon simple observation, that the reduction in disease-related mortality would one day result in some kind of "super-bug" that we humans would have no defense against.

Kinda like all those plagues of the past. Since we've seen epidemics of infectious disease often throughout history, it's not far out to predict that it might happen again.

Well, you're now seeing it in action. The DARWINIAN law of NATURAL SELECTION (lest anyone think I'm some kind of Falwellian Bible-Thumper) is now in play. Those not smart enough or lucky enough will fall, just as when a Wildebeest herd fords a river

There are some people who seem to be naturally immune to HIV. I don't think that intelligence plays nearly as big of a role. "Luck" might come into play though.

Those not smart enough or lucky enough will fall, just as when a Wildebeest herd fords a river: There is going to be some inevitable attrition due to crocodiles, so just be glad it isn't you.

I wonder if wildebeests and crocodiles only mate with the one other creature he has sworn his life to? Otherwise, they're bound to fall to disease....

linz

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[skydyvr 0]

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Just say no to sex with pro-lifers :)

Don't worry about that one. Plenty of people consider even the thought of having sex with a pro-abortion woman appaling.

. . =(_8^(1)

[Flying-Wench 0]

RECENT NEWS

Posted to the web June 7, 2006
allafrica.com

South Africa: Stronger Focus On Communication to Prevent More HIV Infections

The Department of Health is to ramp up a communication and social mobilisation campaign aimed at preventing more HIV infections in the country, according to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

Delivering her department's budget vote speech in the National Assembly yesterday, Dr Tshabalala-Msimang said R200 million had been allocated to a communication and social mobilisation campaign for the next two years as part of an Accelerated HIV Prevention Strategy.

"The campaign will improve the abstinence component of prevention, support the distribution of female condoms and seek to sustain the very impressive condom distribution rate which currently averages 350 million free male condoms per year," said the minister.

She added that her focus on nutrition in the fight against HIV and AIDS had been vindicated by several international moves to support better nutrition as a basis for better health.

Ms Tshabalala-Msimang told MPs that a report tabled by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to the World Health Assembly two weeks ago urged member states to integrate nutrition in their response plans.

She added that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria "has urged that proposals for funding on HIV and AIDS should include a nutrition component".

"We are honoured as South Africans to have led the way in this regard through our Comprehensive Plan for Management, Care and Treatment of HIV and AIDS," the minister said.

South Africa's Comprehensive Plan for Management, Care and Treatment of HIV and AIDS is to be strengthened, the minister added, through strengthening the health system; social mobilisation and public awareness; increasing access to voluntary counselling and testing; prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV; promoting human rights and access to care and support services; promotion of good nutrition; research and development of African traditional medicines and safe administration and monitoring of anti-retroviral therapy.

Last month, government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said that South Africa now had the world's largest anti-retroviral treatment scheme, with more than 210 000 people initiated on to the antiretroviral drug combination therapy in the country's public and private health sectors.

In this regard, the minister said that government was beginning to focus on closer cooperation with the country's advanced and well-resourced private health care sector.

A Charter for the Health Sector is currently being negotiated "to provide a coherent framework for engagement between the public and private health sectors".

This charter, she said "is an effort to deal with the inequities between the two sectors as well as the transformation of the private health sector".

The minister added that her department had started negotiating targets with respect to elements of broad-based black economic empowerment in equity ownership of the sector.

But "equally important", she said, "is the need for sharing of resources, experiences and competencies between the two sectors in the manner that strengthens the entire health system".

"We are confident that we will be able to negotiate a Charter that stakeholders will feel comfortable to sign, noting that this is voluntary, within the next month."

The longstanding issue of medicine prices was also covered by the minister, and she said that government was continuing with efforts to reduce the price of medicines in the country.

Now, a new dispensing fee structure should be finalised soon following input from stakeholders to a draft dispensing fee structure published in March, she said.

This follows a Constitutional Court ruling last year, which ordered government to review the dispensing fee that had been set at 26 percent of the single exit price capped at R26.

Some pharmacists argued that these regulations if implemented would force them out of business.

A pricing committee "is also developing a methodology for international benchmarking which will bring medicine prices in South Africa in line with those of other countries".

"Patients can expect further cost savings when this methodology is implemented," the health minister added.

On another issue, the brain-drain of skilled health professionals attracted often attracted by higher salaries in the industrialised northern countries, the minister said an agreement with Britain through which health workers can work in United Kingdom hospitals and return to South Africa's public sector without loss of employment or status - had started to show results.

"Since we signed the agreement in 2003, the number of South African nurses registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council in UK has decreased by more than 55 percent from 2 114 in 2002 to 933 in 2005," she said.

Similar agreements with other countries which host a significant number of South African trained professionals, such as Canada, are being explored.

During this fiscal year the department is also going to focus on traditional African medicines, specifically with regard to the establishment of a Traditional Health Practitioners Council as provided for in the Traditional Health Practitioners Act.

An international workshop on traditional medicine is being hosted by South Africa in the next few days, which will "assist us to better understand the value and the use of traditional medicine and support the research and development of this important component of health".

[Flying-Wench 0]

MORE RECENT NEWS

news.bbc.co.uk
Thursday, 8 June 2006, 00:54 GMT 01:54 UK

Drug 'blocks the spread of HIV'

Scientists are developing a new way of tackling HIV, using a drug which blocks the assembly of virus cells. US researchers, working with Panacos Pharmaceuticals which makes the drug, found it was effective in a small-scale human trial, New Scientist reports. PA-457 will now be given in combination with other HIV drugs to people whose existing treatment is failing. Experts said there was a lot of interest in PA-457, but warned it would not be available for some years. The demand for new forms of medication is great.

About 80% of people being treated for HIV show resistance to one or more of their drugs, a spokesman for Panacos said. There are several existing ways of tackling HIV. Many medications work by blocking reverse transcriptase, an enzyme which enables HIV to replicate within a cell. Others disable protease, which helps to assemble the virus into particles to infect other cells.

Shield 'disabled'

PA- 457, a derivative of betulinic acid, is a cheap by-product of the paper industry and one of a new class of drugs called maturation inhibitors. It works by interfering with the production of the capsid protein, a conical "shield" which protects the genetic material of HIV inside it. The research, also published in the Journal of Virology, showed PA-457 binds to the protein at a key stage of its development, meaning it forms instead into a "leaky sphere" which leaves the genetic material exposed.

Without its protective cone, HIV is defective and unable to infect other human cells. Previous lab work on human cells infected with HIV by the University of Oklahoma and Panacos researchers has shown that PA-457 is effective on strains of the virus which are resistant to other anti-HIV drugs. The small human trial of the drug last year reported that, given on its own, it rapidly clears most HIV from the blood.

New class

Further research, due to begin this month, will test how PA-457 works in combination with other drugs. Combination treatments are most effective because of the high levels of drug resistance seen in HIV treatment. Forty-eight patients whose current treatment regimes are failing will either be given PA-457 or a dummy version along with their existing medication.

Even if results are positive, much larger studies will be needed to test the drug's effectiveness on more people and to see what combination of treatments works best. It will be at least 2009 before the drug is on the market, the researchers warn.

HIV researcher Charles Boucher, of the University Hospital at Utrecht in the Netherlands, said: "It's a truly novel new class of drugs, and I really support their development. "If [PA-457] turns out to be non-toxic, easy to use and not to select for resistance, it will find good use."

Keith Alcorn, senior editor at National Aids Manual (NAM), said: "This is a new class of drugs, and there is a lot of interest in this product. "It stops the virus by interfering in one of the final stages in its assembly and stops it from 'budding out' from the wall of a cell." He said much more research would be needed to show how safe and effective the drug was.

[Guest]

Yup, that about sums it up.

After I came down with Mono about a dozen years ago, I started doing research on Immunology.

It's truly fascinating to realize that every one of us has primordial bits of DNA running around inside ourselves that we acquired from elsewhere. The overwhelming majority are totally benign and harmless. Sometimes, we come into contact with something that temporarily overwhelms our immune systems (common cold, flu), but we eventually develop an immunity to it, thanks to the amazing autoimmune system. The only reason we keep getting colds, etc. is because those viruses mutate into something the immune system hasn't had to adjust itself to deal with yet.

So a virus (in this case, a retro-virus, the most insidious thing that nature has yet devised) will evolve, just like we do, but at a much faster rate.

A virus has no conscience, and it has no purpose, other than to replicate itself within a host.

I've heard it said recently that Bird Flu is only a threat for those who come into contact with avians that carry it, and it is thought unlikely that the bug will cross-species to us, because that would involve a significant amount of mutation, and so much mutation would most likely transform it into something that is totally harmless.

As for your having HIV - I'm very sorry you are afflicted by that abominable scourge, and I sincerely hope you are able to have a decent quality of life despite it.

mh

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[Lucky... 0]

Quote

Yup, that about sums it up.

After I came down with Mono about a dozen years ago, I started doing research on Immunology.

It's truly fascinating to realize that every one of us has primordial bits of DNA running around inside ourselves that we acquired from elsewhere. The overwhelming majority are totally benign and harmless. Sometimes, we come into contact with something that temporarily overwhelms our immune systems (common cold, flu), but we eventually develop an immunity to it, thanks to the amazing autoimmune system. The only reason we keep getting colds, etc. is because those viruses mutate into something the immune system hasn't had to adjust itself to deal with yet.

So a virus (in this case, a retro-virus, the most insidious thing that nature has yet devised) will evolve, just like we do, but at a much faster rate.

A virus has no conscience, and it has no purpose, other than to replicate itself within a host.

I've heard it said recently that Bird Flu is only a threat for those who come into contact with avians that carry it, and it is thought unlikely that the bug will cross-species to us, because that would involve a significant amount of mutation, and so much mutation would most likely transform it into something that is totally harmless.

As for your having HIV - I'm very sorry you are afflicted by that abominable scourge, and I sincerely hope you are able to have a decent quality of life despite it.

mh

Quote

A virus has no conscience, and it has no purpose, other than to replicate itself within a host.

And it can be non-living for billions of years...... or up to 10k years if you thump bibles..... That's whack; how can a virus be non-living for that long and decide to inject its DNA into a host's nucleus for replication. Fuckin evil they are. At least bacteria must be alive to repro and they do via binary fision and don't require a host but for food or a cozy environment.

[Flying-Wench 0]

dont be sorry for me. (read previous posts - i HATE that)

i have learnt my lesson.

hopefully others will learn from my mistakes (thus this thread).

my quality of life is pretty good, as i said, i have learnt much plus i have youth (im 28) and health on my side. At this point in time (still relatively new to me, im only 12 months since diagnosis) aside from the lifestyle changes i have had to make and some of the things i will/may miss out on (the whole pro-creation thing is not something i have decided upon), its not so bad. I am one of the lucky ones as compared to others out there that are truly suffering with it.

It has led me to many learning outcomes, fantastic people and great pastimes, such as skydiving and various forms of volunteer work and research.

I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy, but i no longer fear it for myself, just other people.

Cheers
FW