Another step closer to a solution in the battle against HIV

great news...i'm hopeful they will beat this thing.

 

yall probably know....but you know there are people who are immune to HIV

they decended from the survivors of the black plague. the black plague and HIV both attack the body in the same way. basically, HIV can't attack their immune system because the receptors simply are not there for HIV to attach. so it just bounces off. i believe its the delta 32 CCR-5 gene that is responsible for this mutation, if remember from the NOVA special correctly.

anyhow...i never knew that up until about a year ago. also, its only people who have the dominant trait of that gene. if you have the recessive trait then you will still be infected but the infection will take much longer.

 

really?? i have never read that before

 

The only bad thing about a cure is that I believe people would start having a lot more unprotected sex, ie: the 70's, and in effect create tougher, more resistant strains of the virus.

 

It's true.

 

And one protein said to the other protein, "Looks like I'm goin to the show."

It would seem to me, that this is a done deal now, and that HIV can be beaten. It really depends on how the protein works, but I doubt the virus will become resistant to the protein in the future. Especially since it has not become resistant to monkeys yet.

 

1. The immune gene is true, i remember seeing it on 20/20 a few years back when HIV was the hot topic.

2. A solution is nice, but only if it can be given to the masses. Rich people can already beat aids (look at magic johnson), they just don't have to go through with the coctail now. If the drug becomes extremely expensive or exclusive, it just becomes another convenience for the rich and really wont lower the death toll of the aids population in general.

 

Good point wiz.

 

But what will those bigots do with all those "AIDS kills fags" posters???

Won't someone think of the bigots???

 

we could try praying for them. their lives must be hell on earth.

 

man RM95...i saw some of those assholes right off the UT campus protesting some crap one time. i forgot why they were even there but they were holding up those signs and doing some sort of cheer or some crap. oh yeah...they were also on the sidewalk right next to a church. anyhow...when i saw them i was kind of like laughing at first because of how absurd i thought it was. then after they just kept going i was getting pretty pissed. i don't want to get into the whole thing about sexual orientation, but imagine if that were about someone's race or something like that.

its times like that when i wish i was more like my girlfriend who is what you might call ghetto her best friends mom has AIDS and she also has friends who are gay who have it. god she would have been breaking a bottle on the sidewalk getting ready to cut those people. i hate hateful people...i love the hipocracy of that statement.

 

Yeah, and I've tossed that word out here, no more than a couple of times and probably years ago. But man, I can't really think of anyone here that would deserve that title. I feel like an ass.

Regardless, great news on this front. It seems that this disease is another illustration of how if you have more money, you get the better treatment, but hey, good news still.

 

I don't see the tie between HIV and the plague. The plague is caused by a bacteria (Yersinia pestis) and can now be treated with anti-biotics. HIV is a virus. Not a descendent of the plague.

 

How interesting you should bring up monkeys, since monkeys and other higher primates are probably the source of HIV in the first place. The theory goes that someone ate some undercooked "bush-meat" (monkeys) and developed HIV from a mutated form of SIV - Simian Immunodeficiency Virus. That's how a lot of diseases come into the human world, believe it or not. But anyway, IIRC, almost all simians already have SIV - not HIV. They were looking into the difference in simian proteins and immunities quite a while ago, and I'm glad that they've finally found something!

But then there's a few main ways that HIV can develop immunity:
1. produce enzymes to degrade the protein that inhibits it.
2. Change its biochemistry so that the protein is no longer effective.



But I really do hope this works out! The # of cases of HIV was actually decreasing towards the end of the 90's, but now it's back on the upswing of things. It would definitely be a great thing if we could kick this thing in the bum!

 

Double post:

Sickle Cell Anemia and Malaria don't seem related, but they are. One is a genetic trait, and the other is a contractible disease. Those with SCA are immune to malaria. I don't know exactly how, but that's the truth.
Those people who survived the plague must have built up something that is effective against HIV.

 

This is awesome, thank God for those little monkeys. There are lots of folks, particularly in Africa who need this one badly.

I've written a proposal incase this great news turns into a working drug/vaccine. It's the "Defense of Straight People Using AIDS Cures Only Act."

 

Wow...this is news to me too. Never knew about it.

I think HIV research is going to hit on something eventually. Especially if we can get a government that is interested in putting more funding into it.

Another excellent point.

 

even if they do find a cure how much is it going to cost?
you know that whatever drug company finds it is gonna patent it and not let poor people have it for free or make generics and this administration won't care.

 

On the day that they find the cure for HIV, let's all celebrate by having sex with random strangers.