Man cured of HIV

Angilion said:
You could find out with a test, I think. If my memory serves me right, the genetic mutation that causes the resistance is known.

I'll look it up now...yes, it's CCR5-delta 32. One hell of a useful mutation, because it blocks a variety of viruses.

Interestingly, it's one of the pieces of evidence put forward to support the hypothesis that the Black Death was not bubonic/pneumonic/septacemic plaque caused by the bacteria Ysernia Pestis, at least not in northern Europe, Great Britain and Ireland. That's how I first heard of it a couple of years back, when I was reading up about the Black Death. The prevalence of CCR5-delta 32 mutation is far, far higher in that area (and amongst the descendants of people who were in that area back then) than elsewhere. It was argued that this is a result of the death rate being so much higher in people without CCR5-delta 32 than those with that it skewed the prevelance of CCR5-delta 32.
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So they reckon black death could have been somehow related to HIV? Interesting :)
 
vincent1989 said:
you must die horribly and in a fire ! -_-
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I didn't make the joke, it was a fairly childish one made over, and over, and over in the south park episode I was referencing.

Oh, and we all die by the way. I'm sorry if I gave away the ending of life for you. Its been reviewed and universally condemned, but sod it there isn't much we can do about it. The only thing we can do is try to improve the quality of life for those who are still living.

So taking stupid internet jokes seriously is hardly living well. If you want to know the people with some of the sickest senses of humour, try doctors. They have to get through their day somehow...
 
Captain Planet said:
I've joined the Anthony Nolan trust to donate bone marrow should I be a match for a leukaemia sufferer. Im crapping myself if it happens though because it is supposed to be rather painful :(

#EDIT: Made me think, going to link ANT into my sig :)
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I joined this many years ago. At one point I was found to be a match with a 17 year old German lad with leukaemia.I had a lot of further tests and was found to be a third level match which is an absolutely perfect tissue match.
I was just about to start the arrangements for a marrow transplant when it was cancelled. Although they couldnt give precise details for reasons of identity protection I was able to gather that he suddenly came out of remission and died.

I still think about this young man and if only the tissue match had been found a few weeks earlier he might still be alive today. As pointed out here the transplant process is not without discomfort for the donor but the benefits are enormous, particularly in the case of ethnic minorities.
 
Shoseki said:
I didn't make the joke, it was a fairly childish one made over, and over, and over in the south park episode I was referencing.

Oh, and we all die by the way. I'm sorry if I gave away the ending of life for you. Its been reviewed and universally condemned, but sod it there isn't much we can do about it. The only thing we can do is try to improve the quality of life for those who are still living.

So taking stupid internet jokes seriously is hardly living well. If you want to know the people with some of the sickest senses of humour, try doctors. They have to get through their day somehow...
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i know it was a southpark joke...cartman says it over and over, kyle gets angry...someone's dense today :rolleyes:;)
 
int said:
So they reckon black death could have been somehow related to HIV? Interesting :)
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No, they don't. They think it was a viral haemorrhagic fever caused by an unknown virus. Maybe one that's still around today, maybe not, no way to tell.

They think it was also ysernia pestis infection, at least in more southerly areas. The twin epidemic scenario explains (a) why it was so much more deadly than other ysernia pestis plagues, (b) why it spread the way it did, a way which is not consistent with the movement of rats, (c) why quarantining humans successfully halted the spread of the disease when it was used (rats would not have been affected by that quarantine) and (d) why the symptoms described match both. You could get massive haemorrhaging with scepticemic plaque, but that's a very rare variant of ysernia pestis infection, not the norm.

The CCR5-delta32 mutation provides a generalised resistance to a variety of viruses. It's not that they think that the black death was related to HIV, it's that they think that the same mutation confers resistance to both viruses (and others).
 
Angilion said:
No, they don't. They think it was a viral haemorrhagic fever caused by an unknown virus. Maybe one that's still around today, maybe not, no way to tell.

They think it was also ysernia pestis infection, at least in more southerly areas. The twin epidemic scenario explains (a) why it was so much more deadly than other ysernia pestis plagues, (b) why it spread the way it did, a way which is not consistent with the movement of rats, (c) why quarantining humans successfully halted the spread of the disease when it was used (rats would not have been affected by that quarantine) and (d) why the symptoms described match both. You could get massive haemorrhaging with scepticemic plaque, but that's a very rare variant of ysernia pestis infection, not the norm.

The CCR5-delta32 mutation provides a generalised resistance to a variety of viruses. It's not that they think that the black death was related to HIV, it's that they think that the same mutation confers resistance to both viruses (and others).
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Ta for that, I'm pottering off to read some more on it :p
 
Muffin` said:
then you bring out a drug which supresses the HIV
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That's already happened. From what a doctor at the local GUM clinic was telling me, if a person contracts HIV in Britain these days, as long as it's picked up on then they have the same life expectancy as that of anyone else. It simply doesn't lead to deaths any more. Sure you'll have to take medication for it for the rest of your life but hey, that's no different to having to control diabetes.
 
Trojan said:
That's already happened. From what a doctor at the local GUM clinic was telling me, if a person contracts HIV in Britain these days, as long as it's picked up on then they have the same life expectancy as that of anyone else. It simply doesn't lead to deaths any more. Sure you'll have to take medication for it for the rest of your life but hey, that's no different to having to control diabetes.
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That isn't necessarily true - we don't really have the long-term data sets to be able to comment on that yet, as HIV and AIDS has only really been recognised since 1981. Even on cART (combination anti-retroviral therapy), viral load maintains at a base level and the drugs that are used aren't nice in the slightest. It's no walk in the park.
 
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Trojan said:
That's already happened. From what a doctor at the local GUM clinic was telling me, if a person contracts HIV in Britain these days, as long as it's picked up on then they have the same life expectancy as that of anyone else. It simply doesn't lead to deaths any more. Sure you'll have to take medication for it for the rest of your life but hey, that's no different to having to control diabetes.
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That's so naive and inaccurate it begs belief.

HAART doesn't cure the patient nor does it remove all the symptoms. It will buy you a mean of 32yrs, depending on viral loads. Not to mention HAART is only effective in about 50% of patients.

There are about 2.1 million deaths, and 2.5 million new infections worldwide every year.
 
int said:
Ta for that, I'm pottering off to read some more on it :p
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You seem to much better educated in this area than I am, so please let me know what you think of it. I don't know enough to be able to evaluate their hypothesis. It could be complete burble for all I know.
 
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