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HIV Mutating (Super Strain Spreading)
The Independent UK ^ | 11-06-01 | Steve Conner

Posted on 11/05/2001 3:05:54 PM PST by Neuromancer

New strain of HIV is resistant to main drug
By Steve Connor Science Editor
06 November 2001

A new type of Aids virus can quickly turn resistant to one of the most effective drugs used to treat the disease. Scientists discovered the new strain among 603 HIV-positive patients who were so recently infected they had not yet even been given drugs. Their findings suggest the much-feared increase in drug-resistant forms of HIV is beginning to take root with a strain that has an in-built capacity to resist treatment with AZT, the principal anti-Aids treatment.

Although drug-resistant strains of HIV were discovered in 1992 they were almost invariably found in patients having treatment with one or more anti-viral drugs. While drug resistance has been seen in HIV-infected patients before, it has seldom been seen in untreated patients.

The latest strain was evidently transmitted among people who have never been exposed to AZT, suggesting that drug resistance is spreading rapidly within HIV-positive people who may not even know they are infected.

The latest study, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found several genetic mutations in the new strain of HIV made the virus perfectly poised for further mutations that conferred full AZT-resistance. Dr Garcia-Lerma said doctors would test patients for this new strain and report its prevalence so the general rise in drug-resistance could be monitored.

If such strains become widespread, that will be a severe setback in Aids treatment.


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hiv
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To: Jorge
"the fact is the Medical community unanimously rejects and condemns this theory as not only completely without merit, but extremely dangerous."

When I mentioned "cluttering up the thread", this is what I was talking about. "the fact is"??? Sez who??? What specific documentation have you provided to back your claims? Diddly Squat.

101 posted on 11/05/2001 7:16:12 PM PST by Time Traveller
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To: Neuromancer
I hope that you know that this is nonsense.

About 0.5% of the population of this world is HIV-positive. - Most of them don't even know it, and that is good, because if they never know it they are likely to live a long, happy normal life.

If they should ever find out, then they are in danger from then on. - Why? - Because when they find out, the ducktor will likely try to get them to take AZT, which is one of the chief causes of death in HIV positive people.

The virus has been around since the beginning of time, but the disease that it is credited with causing began about 20 years ago. The real cause of AIDS is heavy drug use over a prolonged time (10-15 years).

There are many people who have AIDS, but are not HIV-positive. There are also many people who have AIDS, and are HIV-positive, but were not HIV-positive when they first showed the symtoms of AIDS.

Read Peter Duesberg's book "Inventing the AIDS Virus" and find out the truth. - Don't be spooked by the smoke screen being put out by those who profit from prescribing deadly poisons like AZT, ddI, and ddC.

AIDS is even curable if you get off the drugs when the symptoms first show up. - It's not about sex, or HIV; it's about Drugs, and the damage that they do to the body.

IV druggies, Homo's, and popper users:     Wake up and see what you're doing to yourself.

102 posted on 11/05/2001 7:52:12 PM PST by editor-surveyor
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To: Neuromancer
You realize, of course, AZT was introduced back in 1987. Who is surprised the already stubborn HIV has become resistant in nearly 15 yrs?
103 posted on 11/05/2001 8:00:36 PM PST by newzjunkey
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To: wimpycat
I cannot add to your fine summary.
104 posted on 11/05/2001 8:03:11 PM PST by Neuromancer
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To: Senator Pardek
"Doesn't that tell us something?"

Yes, it tells us that AIDS is NOT a communicable disease, it is a medical syndrome, as was first recognized, that is caused by overwhelming the body's immune system with toxic substances over an extended period of time.

Recreational drugs cause AIDS, and so does AZT, but quicker.

105 posted on 11/05/2001 8:05:22 PM PST by editor-surveyor
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To: N.B.Forrest
Funny what kind of rights are important for the politicaly correct, isnt it?

It's very wrong that having HIV achieved de-facto civil rights status. A person has a contageous and fatal disease that has no cure and they have a right to go wherever they want. No one that they come in contact with has to know that they have HIV.

HIV is a nightmare disease. If you wanted to conjure up a science fiction space virus you would be hard pressed to imagine a worse disease. It's 100 percent fatal and it's incurable. It has a long latency period where a person might be a carrier but have no symptoms for as long as a decade.

But even an incurable disease can be controlled by contact tracing and isolation of infected individuals. The fact that this wasn't done is criminally negligent. The AIDS epidemic if one of the crown jewels of 20th century liberalism.

106 posted on 11/05/2001 8:05:51 PM PST by UnChained
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To: Neuromancer
Oh bugger.
107 posted on 11/05/2001 8:05:54 PM PST by SevenDaysInMay
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To: editor-surveyor
Recreational drugs cause AIDS, and so does AZT, but quicker.

I somewhat disagree. I'll bet anything that recreational drug use is rampant in the straight porn industry - yet no epidemic.

Again, what does that tell us?

108 posted on 11/05/2001 8:09:54 PM PST by Senator Pardek
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To: Neuromancer
AHHHHH the peace of mind one has being chaste for a decade. The first two years are tough but life gets better everyday.
109 posted on 11/05/2001 8:10:14 PM PST by oceanperch
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To: longtime_nyr
HIV disease is characterized by a gradual deterioration of immune function. Most notably, crucial immune cells called CD4+ T cells are disabled and killed during the typical course of infection. These cells, sometimes called "T-helper cells," play a central role in the immune response, signalling other cells in the immune system to perform their special functions.

A healthy, uninfected person usually has 800 to 1,200 CD4+ T cells per cubic millimeter (mm3) of blood. During HIV infection, the number of these cells in a person's blood progressively declines. When a person's CD4+ T cell count falls below 200/mm3, he or she becomes particularly vulnerable to the opportunistic infections and cancers that typify AIDS, the end stage of HIV disease. People with AIDS often suffer infections of the intestinal tract, lungs, brain, eyes and other organs, as well as debilitating weight loss, diarrhea, neurologic conditions and cancers such as Kaposi's sarcoma and lymphomas.

Most scientists think that HIV causes AIDS by directly killing CD4+ T cells or interfering with their normal function, and by triggering other events that weaken a person's immune function. For example, the network of signalling molecules that normally regulates a person's immune response is disrupted during HIV disease, impairing a person's ability to fight other infections. The HIV-mediated destruction of the lymph nodes and related immunologic organs also plays a major role in causing the immunosuppression seen in people with AIDS.
110 posted on 11/05/2001 8:18:50 PM PST by Neuromancer
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To: VeritatisSplendor
It would seem that that is the most likely case. Many lay readers do not understand just how smart and adaptive this killer is. African monkeys - Africans - Cubans Fighting in Angola - Haitians - American Homesexuals - Bisexuals - IV drug Users - Heterosexuals........
111 posted on 11/05/2001 8:25:50 PM PST by Neuromancer
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To: IceCreamSocialist
"What are you trying to say here? That being HIV positive doesn't naturally and normally lead to a breakdown in your immune system over time?"

Yes, that's exactly what he is saying, and he is right.

The HIV virus has been around since Noah's Ark without causing AIDS; the only difference is that now we have recreational drugs, and the entertainment media to promote them.

Drugs, and only drugs are the cause of AIDS, and AIDS is not even necessarily fatal if drug use is stopped soon enough.

112 posted on 11/05/2001 8:29:12 PM PST by editor-surveyor
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To: sistergoldenhair
Well I tried to post this Sunday, but I got so damned depressed
That I set my sights on Monday and I got myself some rest....

Very well said
113 posted on 11/05/2001 8:35:02 PM PST by Neuromancer
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To: Senator Pardek
"I'll bet anything that recreational drug use is rampant in the straight porn industry"

Senator, this may shock you, but there is no "straight porn industry."

The porn industry is dominated by homo/bi-sexual individuals, but even the straights that are in it die quite young, and usually of immune suppression/opportunistic infection.

You are right that there is no epidemic, but that is also true across the board. - There have not yet been 400,000 AIDS deaths in the western world. The exact number cannot be pinned down, because AIDS deaths where the victim is not HIV-positive are not logged as AIDS for purely political reasons.

114 posted on 11/05/2001 8:39:11 PM PST by editor-surveyor
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To: editor-surveyor
...but even the straights that are in it die quite young, and usually of immune suppression/opportunistic infection.

Please post a (reliable) link to that claim.

115 posted on 11/05/2001 8:44:01 PM PST by Senator Pardek
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To: Senator Pardek
It might be best if we searched for the facts.

After an outbreak of HIV among porn stars, the nonprofit Adult Industry Medical HealthCare Foundation was formed.

Los Angeles Times - Monday, May 21, 2001

Kristina Saverwein, Times Staff Writer

After an outbreak of HIV among porn stars, Mitchell and a Northridge doctor--with help from some X-rated companies--founded the Adult Industry Medical HealthCare Foundation in 1998. AIM soon became the leading clinic nationwide catering to workers in the multibillion-dollar, San Fernando Valley-based porn industry.

So far, Mitchell said, AIM has identified 11 HIV-positive cases among porn actors who might have otherwise gone undetected and exposed the virus, exponentially, to dozens, if not hundreds. She added that adult film actors, producers and directors recognize the profession's hazards, but consider the risk of infection so slight that they often don't insist on using condoms. In fact, most porn stars receive extra money--as little as $50--if they forgo condoms.

"I can't give people morals," she said, sighing. "But I can help them."
116 posted on 11/05/2001 8:45:18 PM PST by Neuromancer
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To: Jorge
Sad but true..
117 posted on 11/05/2001 8:46:36 PM PST by Neuromancer
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To: Neuromancer
11 cases? LOL. And I'll bet all can be traced to needle sharing.
118 posted on 11/05/2001 8:49:33 PM PST by Senator Pardek
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To: newzjunkey
We have been expecting it for a long time.
119 posted on 11/05/2001 8:50:53 PM PST by Neuromancer
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To: keithtoo
I'm looking all over my penis and I don't seem to be able to find those instructions. Are they supposed to be on a tag or what?
120 posted on 11/05/2001 8:55:36 PM PST by TN Republican
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