mudpuppy Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Makes me wonder, what really WAS in that syringe... No, no, the study was conducted in Thailand, a region of the world the US Army has a longstanding relationship with. Scientists announced last month that a combination of vaccines gave a 31% level of protection in trials among 16,000 heterosexuals aged 18-30. http://news.bbc.co.u...lth/8315002.stm Slightly more hopeful than last years "cure" for AIDS: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/health/14hiv.html?scp=1&sq=aids%20patient&st=cse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanderk Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 It's mighty dicey to be pegging research results on sex trade workers in Thailand. Whatever became of the finding a year or two ago that Depakote could be a gateway to a cure? If my memory isn't too encrusted I thought the mechanism was that it brought the virus out of dormancy and could give the anti-retrovirals a chance to wipe it out. Paging Silver...Paging Silver...Is Silver in the house? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudpuppy Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 This? http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165547,00.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanderk Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 This? http://www.foxnews.c...,165547,00.html Yep, that's the one (though a pinko tree hugger like me heard it on NPR). I had a bit of a break in the action and tracked down a 2007 Aids Meds article. The initial study was a "Proof of Concept", in vitro investigation. The concept didn't quite hold up in vivo. Not exactly a failure, they said, but still something promising in luring the virus out of dormancy. The anti-retroviral meds have been mighty effective in combating the active virus. I lost a few college friends in the early days of AIDS and they went fast. It was brutal having to see an old dorm mate ravaged with AIDS Dementia. The life expectancies these days are much more encouraging. Back to the drawing board......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudpuppy Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 It is encouraging that the current treatments can add 24 years of life... But I'd rather have a cure. To this day, AIDS has a stigma, and it pisses me the fuck off. Hell, the NAME pisses me off. ACQUIRED Immune Deficiency... Just to make sure everyone knows, "hey, you did this to yourself." It is hard watching friends die of AIDS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
water Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 It feels like a war that so many people fought in and are still fighting but the country ignores. A longtime friend is HIV+. His t-cells are 315. But - the protease inhibitors so far are working. He is very healthy. I always feel a bit conflicted about these new drugs, vaccines. Where the fuck were these drugs when so many of my friends died? Sorry - just ranting. I agree about the cure. I'd rather have a cure than a vaccine at this point. (Heh - I could post this question in the "Would you rather...." topic.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkiemarie Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Ok, not getting too involved because I know next to nothing about viruses, but hasn't HIV and AIDS mutated so much that it's basically a series of different viruses, making it much harder to treat and/or find a vaccine for it? Just asking because I don't know much about it and that's a really shitty situation if my take on it is true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artemisia Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Ok, not getting too involved because I know next to nothing about viruses, but hasn't HIV and AIDS mutated so much that it's basically a series of different viruses, making it much harder to treat and/or find a vaccine for it? Just asking because I don't know much about it and that's a really shitty situation if my take on it is true. HIV does mutate fast. There are two super-super-"families" of it that I know of. Presumably this combination of vaccines (partially) protects against HIV-I. HIV-II exists in parts of Africa and is supposedly slightly milder. That said, any given person is going to have lots of slightly different versions of the virus. I guess an effective vaccine would have to target some product of the virus' genome that the virus "can't afford" to allow to mutate. (Or rather these mutant viruses are not going to make it in the long run.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nalgas Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Not to get totally off topic or anything, but the subject line of this thread keeps making me think Episode (H)IV: A New Hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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