A.I.D.S. rate in DC now higher than West Africa

[HAL 9000 96]

BTW, the Centers for Disease Control has better data than photobucket:

http://www.cdc.gov/datastatistics/archive/HIV.html

[HannahP 119]

Perhaps it might be worth asking why the disease is so prevalent in Africa and why unprotected sex continues despite massive foreign aid programs to provide sex-ed.

In Africa the men screw the infected hookers and come home to the wives who are not allowed to say no or demand a condom.

I think there's a lot of reasons why its so prevalent in Africa. Its partly cultural, but there are also competing agendas at work with the provision of sex-education. The World Health Organisation was harshly critical of the Catholic Church a few years ago for the behaviour of some of their missionaries - who were reportedly burning boxes of condoms and safe sex literature, and spreading rumours among already superstitious populations that condom use is evil.

There are a lot of factors at work in Africa and I'm really not sure that traditional NGO-sponosored sex ed can be preventative. Yes, the Catholic Church is a big factor in some nations but so are traditional animistic/voodoo religions that people often rely on before they go to the Western doctor. There is outright denial that HIV/AIDS even exists by certain important people of African nations. Money and supplies that go to NGOs that treat HIV and AIDS is often co-opted by corrupt governments; even when it's /there/, it can be nearly impossible to diffuse equipment because so much of Africa just has no infrastructure. (Pete Singer is good on this if you can ignore is more...quirky ideas.) Funding comes and goes; programs, the programs that are effective, can stop and start with alarming irregularity. People may have access to meds one minute, none the next which causes some pretty awesome viral mutations AND helps to increase the distrust that many Africans have of Westerners.

From an epidemiological stand point, yeah, HIV spreads from city hubs to the country via prostitutes. You can actually trace the initial outbreak of HIV in Africa along the major highways. This tends to be true of all third world countries: either men go to the city, contract HIV from a prostitute & bring it back home OR low-class women see relationships with higher-class (but usuallly also very high risk likes truckers, military) men as a means of moving up in the world, contract HIV and then bring it home.

[mkg265 2]

Perhaps it might be worth asking why the disease is so prevalent in Africa and why unprotected sex continues despite massive foreign aid programs to provide sex-ed.

In Africa the men screw the infected hookers and come home to the wives who are not allowed to say no or demand a condom.

I think there's a lot of reasons why its so prevalent in Africa. Its partly cultural, but there are also competing agendas at work with the provision of sex-education. The World Health Organisation was harshly critical of the Catholic Church a few years ago for the behaviour of some of their missionaries - who were reportedly burning boxes of condoms and safe sex literature, and spreading rumours among already superstitious populations that condom use is evil.

There are a lot of factors at work in Africa and I'm really not sure that traditional NGO-sponosored sex ed can be preventative. Yes, the Catholic Church is a big factor in some nations but so are traditional animistic/voodoo religions that people often rely on before they go to the Western doctor. There is outright denial that HIV/AIDS even exists by certain important people of African nations. Money and supplies that go to NGOs that treat HIV and AIDS is often co-opted by corrupt governments; even when it's /there/, it can be nearly impossible to diffuse equipment because so much of Africa just has no infrastructure. (Pete Singer is good on this if you can ignore is more...quirky ideas.) Funding comes and goes; programs, the programs that are effective, can stop and start with alarming irregularity. People may have access to meds one minute, none the next which causes some pretty awesome viral mutations AND helps to increase the distrust that many Africans have of Westerners.

From an epidemiological stand point, yeah, HIV spreads from city hubs to the country via prostitutes. You can actually trace the initial outbreak of HIV in Africa along the major highways. This tends to be true of all third world countries: either men go to the city, contract HIV from a prostitute & bring it back home OR low-class women see relationships with higher-class (but usuallly also very high risk likes truckers, military) men as a means of moving up in the world, contract HIV and then bring it home.

Thanks for the info HannahP. You seem to be well-versed in AIDS epidemic. I heard the virus has mutated so much that there seems to be two strands- a western strand that can be controlled by drugs and an eastern strand that is far more virulent. Is that so?

[HannahP 119]

My understanding of East/West HIV is that in the west, people can afford and have access to the best treatments. So you get prolonged HIV states like...Shaq. In the east, this isn't true so you see a lot of people who quickly develop full-blown AIDS.

Um...the actual strain emerging in the east (India/etc) is actually less virulent -- the newer HIV strains seem to be, which is a good thing.

[HAL 9000 96]

My understanding of East/West HIV is that in the west, people can afford and have access to the best treatments. So you get prolonged HIV states like...Shaq. In the east, this isn't true so you see a lot of people who quickly develop full-blown AIDS.

Um...the actual strain emerging in the east (India/etc) is actually less virulent -- the newer HIV strains seem to be, which is a good thing.

Yep. This seems to be an evolutionary mechanism of many viruses to maximize their success of infection over a wider population of hosts as well as increase viral titer production over time within individual hosts.

As a result, however, the multiplicity of infection can be lower in these emerging strains as well, meaning you'd need less viral particles to cause an effective infection. Which brings me to the observation with the more virulent strains: they tend to infect more cells faster, producing high titers in relatively low volumes- making infection much easier.

[HannahP 119]

My understanding of East/West HIV is that in the west, people can afford and have access to the best treatments. So you get prolonged HIV states like...Shaq. In the east, this isn't true so you see a lot of people who quickly develop full-blown AIDS.

Um...the actual strain emerging in the east (India/etc) is actually less virulent -- the newer HIV strains seem to be, which is a good thing.

Yep. This seems to be an evolutionary mechanism of many viruses to maximize their success of infection over a wider population of hosts as well as increase viral titer production over time within individual hosts.

As a result, however, the multiplicity of infection can be lower in these emerging strains as well, meaning you'd need less viral particles to cause an effective infection. Which brings me to the observation with the more virulent strains: they tend to infect more cells faster, producing high titers in relatively low volumes- making infection much easier.

Do you mean infection from the original virus or the various infections afterwards?

[HAL 9000 96]

Well to be honest I think there never really was just one HIV strain that can be considered original from the virulent point of view. Very likely by the time the virus started infecting humans it had already mutated enough to notice sizable variances in how quickly it could turn completely lytic. You can imagine how some infections skyrocketed and others 'settled down' over time as several collections of strains concentrated on different geographical locations. Then surely there's the external factors that influence the mechanisms of virulence (availability and strength of antivirals among them).

[HannahP 119]

But they think HIV probably developed from SIV, right? I wonder how many varieties of SIV there are? Interesting question; I don't know how many strains of HIV there are. :/

[justashooter 430]

But they think HIV probably developed from SIV, right? I wonder how many varieties of SIV there are? Interesting question; I don't know how many strains of HIV there are. :/

more likely, HIV is a mutation of BIV (bovine immunodeficiency), and the resultant BIDS. bovine tissue was use as a cultivation base for smallpox vaccine in the belgian congo during the 1950-1965 period, and multiple use of needles was the rule during the pox innoculation. there is also a chance that HIV was an isolated local disease that found it's way into the population during the innoculations by shared needle.

[HAL 9000 96]

But they think HIV probably developed from SIV, right? I wonder how many varieties of SIV there are? Interesting question; I don't know how many strains of HIV there are. :/

Yes, some HIV had its roots in SIV. I have looked at the genetic similarities in their genomes- quite conserved with some notable mutations in the envelope glycoprotein coding and noncoding sequences. SIV has a couple of strains itself, transmissible to humans with a very low degree of virulence. Meaning that you can get infected but it won't do much more than what a cold does.

The further the evolutionary tree in the mammal group you go, the less the chances of a virus jumping into a human population.

[Danno 1,228]

BTW, the Centers for Disease Control has better data than photobucket:

http://www.cdc.gov/datastatistics/archive/HIV.html

Actually my data came from Wiki (for what it's worth).

But feel free to try to make your point by posting near meaningless "risk" stats compared to who it is we know are carriers.

[HAL 9000 96]

BTW, the Centers for Disease Control has better data than photobucket:

http://www.cdc.gov/datastatistics/archive/HIV.html

Actually my data came from Wiki (for what it's worth).

But feel free to try to make your point by posting near meaningless "risk" stats compared to who it is we know are carriers.

Are you really that dense? You do understand the meaning of the word risk? Did you bother to look at the CDC site?

You know I am a biologist and you know what the CDC is right? Please stop shoving thy foot in thy mouth.

[Heracles 417]

There are two people here who should go there and educate them. After all apparently that is all they need.

Considering 30 years of deaths and public campaigns is clearly not enough.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There are two people here who should go there and educate them. After all apparently that is all they need.

Considering 30 years of deaths and public campaigns is clearly not enough.

You really are hopeless aren't you Boo. Perhaps you can "sort it out" with your sawed-off shotgun (after you've taken care of MS-13 and Kim Jong Il)

[Heracles 417]

You really are hopeless aren't you Boo. Perhaps you can "sort it out" with your sawed-off shotgun (after you've taken care of MS-13 and Kim Jong Il)

You said it not me. So go educate them. Come on walk the talk for once.