Did anybody notice it was World AIDS Day yesterday?

[Taro Toporific]

There was hardly any mention in the press here...
AIDS Day Is Observed Around the Globe
Associated Press / December 01. 2004 8:57PM
rom Armenia to Zambia, thousands of activists turned out to sing in mighty cathedrals, light candles in city squares and march and hold dance-athons on World AIDS Day...
<snip>
....In Asia, where the disease claimed 540,000 lives this year, campaigners in Japan and South Korea handed out condoms....

[aquamarine]

Honestly, the only reason I knew about is because Google put up the red ribbon. But otherwise, I never would have known.

Hell, same with rememberance day, I had no idea untill someone mentioned it. Oops. But hey, I guess that's what not having a TV, Radio or just about any form of media communication will do to you!

[puargs]

[Mulboyne]

Guardian: New Aids nightmare shocks US

A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain. The development has alarmed city health officials and was described as 'a scary phenomenon' by US Aids expert David Ho. In addition, Robin Weiss, professor of viral oncology at University College, London, described the case as 'worrying'... Scientists have found the new strain is resistant to three of the four classes of drugs used to treat HIV and that this resistance was combined with a rapid transformation from HIV infection into Aids. Both phenomena have been seen before, but not together.

[Taro Toporific]

New Aids nightmare shocks US
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids.

TV news I'm seeing in CNN Good Morning America looks very alarmed. They're saying this new "rapid onset" AIDS hits in less than a year (rather than a decade or two).

[Taro Toporific]

Guardian: New Aids nightmare shocks US

.

It's already for sale in Yukigaya-otsuka in Ota-ku, Tokyo.

[Mels]

I remember reading years ago that the AIDS virus mutates very quickly and there had been seven different strands identified..I am sure there are tons more today.. It isnt surprising that it has mutated to the point of resisting certain drugs. Scary as hell. At one point, I read (wish I could find that article), they said that this virus could become airborne. After reading that I decided to let it go....couldn't start freting over speculations....but now, after reading this, I am curious what the medical and science community have in place as a strategy.

This reminds me of virus' that become immuned to penicillin....

[cstaylor]

Mels, here's a little background:

HIV, the virus behind AIDS, doesn't have a suitable treatment at the moment. Drugs like AZT are DNA inhibitors, meaning they block cell division (GomiGirl could give you a better explanation), but do nothing to stop HIV from destroying T-cells.

Also, penicillin does nothing to viruses. It's an antibiotic that destroyes bacteria. Viruses are just genetic material that latch on to our own cells and hijack the cell's internal processes for replication.

[Mels]

Mels, here's a little background:

HIV, the virus behind AIDS, doesn't have a suitable treatment at the moment. Drugs like AZT are DNA inhibitors, meaning they block cell division (GomiGirl could give you a better explanation), but do nothing to stop HIV from destroying T-cells.

Also, penicillin does nothing to viruses. It's an antibiotic that destroyes bacteria. Viruses are just genetic material that latch on to our own cells and hijack the cell's internal processes for replication.

Thanks for the clarification

[Taro Toporific]

There was hardly any mention in the press here......

REUTERS/Yahoo! News Photo, Thu Dec 1, 8:00 AM ET
The Obelisk of Buenos Aires (left) is covered with a giant condom to commemorate World AIDS Day December 1, 2005...

(Right) Fuji Latex headquarters aka the "Condom Building" at 3-19-1 Kanda Nishiki-cho, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo

[GomiGirl]

It has been a while since I was involved in AIDS research labs but AZT was one of the first protease inhibitors.

HIV is a virus that invades healthy cells and will live in the host quite happily but no cause any symptoms of AIDS until it is good and ready. These symptoms are basically an attack on the host's immune system. The virus DNA will start to produce proteins and enzymes that attack the body's defences such as T-Cells and let other diseases take hold. So AIDS doesn't actually kill you - it is a disease that you cannot fight that kills you. Usually some sort of respiratory failure.

It is interesting now that the treatment involves reducing the viral load of the HIV itself ie minimising the levels of the virus to almost indectable levels. Also the other part of the drug therapy is to stop the virus producing the enzymes that attack the immune system (protease inhibitors). The drug cocktail has dramatically improved since the old days and most people with HIV seem to view living with HIV as something similar to living with Diabetes. Meaning that daily medicine and a healthy diet and lifestyle and a responsible outlook.

Most people never show symptoms at all and live and long and healthy life. (Note: most people in western countries that have access to the right medicine. The horror deathtoll in Africa is only due to the lack of appropriately priced medicines and education for the people. The statistics about the lifespan in some African countries has brought me to tears with the total waste of humanity.)

What doctors often do now with new cases is not treat them at all but just monitor the patient with blood work. The drugs only start when the patient starts to show an advance of the disease. Mainly because of the toll the drug cocktail takes on the body. It is also very regemented - ie drugs have to be taken at EXACTLY the same time twice a day. Perhaps due to the cost of the medication as well. Everybody will react differently to both the virus and the medicine as the research is still in *relatively* early stages and this is a very insidious and clever virus.

It does mutate and there are different strains but it is a very "weak" virus in that it cannot live outside the body at all. So please do not become paranoid about air-borne mutations as they do not and will not exist. Also, there is nothing to fear from a person with HIV. I would advise not to share a toothbrush or a razor or a needle but everything else is fine - even safe sex. I have a few friends who are positive and I have no worries about contracting HIV. Also remember that a person with HIV is often so paranoid about giving it to somebody else that they are also super careful and know the risks more than you do.

However, if you feel you have been exposed to HIV (eg condom breaking or you are an IV drug user), get yourself to a doctor IMMEDIATELY as there are now drugs that have been shown to stop sereoconversion - ie the time that the virus actually takes hold within the host.

[Greener]

What does that actually do to the virus? (Excuse my ignorance on this one.)