ilweran on 22/9/2006 at 16:26
Quote Posted by BR796164
Perhaps the development of AIDS in HIV infected persons is more complex than we previously thought?
There are different strains of the virus as well. I read somewhere that the behaviour of the virus has changed since the safe-sex message started to get through to people. The more virulent strains that kill people quicker were more prevalent because they had a very good chance of being passed on quickly, before the host died.
Lot's of diseases are the same- it's why health professionals have been alarmed by the drop in the number children receiving the MMR vaccination in the UK. The faster and easier a disease can spread the more dangerous it becomes.
fett on 22/9/2006 at 16:50
Carini are you *really* an HIV researcher or just a paid actor who is part of the elaborate government plot to cover up this heinous crime? If it's the later, I'd like to know about the pay scale.
Turtle on 22/9/2006 at 17:38
As a human being BR549 makes me :mad:
Lhet on 22/9/2006 at 19:10
I've heard some cases where people have HIV but don't have any symptoms...
I think it's basically just HIV is the disease and AIDS is the symptom. So yeah.
SubJeff on 22/9/2006 at 21:13
Time for skool.
HIV is a virus. It infects and destroys a particular class of immune cell. It integrates its own DNA with the host's DNA and can thus stay dormant for many years in that state. When and why does it become active? You tell me.
It is a highly complex virus in that it has a unique way of fooling the human immune system into virtually ignoring it, thus we cannot really fight it ourselves. It's actually quite savagely elegant in it's biochemical trickery. I'd admire it if it didn't do so much damage.
Once it starts to multiply it ends up killing all the cells it infects. You then have a damaged immune system. It is this damage which then makes you... immunocompromised. You then end up susceptable to a range of different things that a person with a normal functioning immune system would never really be in danger of (like the bug that Carini's username is named after). It is some of those things that kill you, not the virus itself, and the presentation and course of the disease is very complex. In medicine when we have a group of medical issues/signs/symptoms that are caused by or associated with one underlying cause (broadly speaking) we call it a Syndrome. Thus AIDS.
There is little doubt that HIV causes AIDS because there is so much evidence pointing towards it. Some people seem to be more resistant than others. Why that is I have no idea, I don't know if anyone does. The HIV virus does have multiple strains though, and medical treatment that aims to prevent the virus from multiplying is tweaked so that you minimise the chance of a highly virulent strain being the predominant strain from the start; and from that you can deduce that the strains are different in terms of... potency, if you like. Why am I nerding about HIV/AIDS? Dunno. I'm sure Carini can outnerd me though.
Agent Monkeysee on 22/9/2006 at 21:19
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. AIDS isn't a thing people, it's a description of the state of your immune system. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It's not a NEW disease that HIV concocts out of nothing, it's the RESULT of HIV's action on your body.
HIV attacks and kills T-cells. This is indisputable. When enough T-cells die your immune system shuts down. THIS IS INDISPUTABLE. There's no further causitive chain to show. There isn't some additional THING that needs to happen to call it AIDS. AIDS is just another name for "destroyed immune system". It's like saying running your car into a tree doesn't cause a smashed car or that killing every member of a football lineup doesn't result in the collapse of the team. Car + Tree = CRUNCH because of PHYSICS. It's an unavoidable causitive chain. HIV + T-cells = dead immune system because of BIOLOGY. AIDS is just the description of the collapse due to the extermination of T-cells.
The exceptions are few and far between and generally rely on some genetic predisposition that makes the particular person's t-cells difficult to kill off or something, but HIV still attempts to attack the T-cells.
edit: beaten like a t-cell
Gingerbread Man on 22/9/2006 at 21:32
i could have sworn i said that on the previous page :(
no one likes me
Agent Monkeysee on 22/9/2006 at 21:36
My first version of the post credited you but it didn't test well :(
SubJeff on 22/9/2006 at 21:41
Quote Posted by Gingerbread Man
i could have sworn i said that on the previous page :(
no one likes me
But there is only one page. Your memory/eyes/forum settings got the AIDS
I like your cooking stories
Agent Monkeysee on 22/9/2006 at 21:44
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
But there is only one page. Your memory/eyes/forum settings got the AIDS
There's 2 pages. No one uses your moon-commie forums settings, jerkface.
