A working AIDS "vaccine"...

[Qdrop]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12039614/

very exciting....

though it does open the book to a few big questions...
such as:

why only a prevention, and no cure? i have a good understanding of viruses and immunology...and understand that the AIDS virus is basically the KING virus, an evolutionary marvel that can outsmart virtually anything, and mutates constantly...
yet is that the only reason...or is $$ playing a big factor?
a cure would ultimately mean no more $$ for pharmacuetical companies...in contrast to the billions they make off treatments.
by that logic, is it any wonder that these companies, instead of finding a cure, find a VERY EXPENSIVE pill combo that must be taken every day to prevent infection- again, another constant revenue stream for the Pill companies.

also:
as the article points out....does this just encourage more promiscuous behavior? giving a green light to unprotected, high risk sex..even though other VD's are not protected against?
is there a moral argument to be made?

put on your thinking caps, fuckers....

[ericlee]

I always thought money was the cure for it. Didn't Magic Johnson have it? He seems to be doing fine nowadays.

[bigblu89]

There hasn't been a cure for any "major" disease or ailment since, what? Polio?

Once the drug companies realized there's money in preventing, but not in curing, there have been less and less cures for things.

Just wear a fucking jimmy hat.

I may not the the "playa" some others are, but I've never found myself in a situation where I couldn't hold off for 12 seconds to roll a condom on.

To me, AIDS is the kind of disease, or whatever you want to call it, that you pretty much have to try and get it. The blood transfusion thing is way over, and if you're sharing needles you desreve whatever shit you get.

Yes, condoms break, but for the most part, if you wrap your shit, or make sure your partner does, you could fuck a different person every day, and most likely won't get the High Five.

Buying a 12 pack of condoms every 3 weeks or so is much cheaper than taking theses pills.

[bigblu89]

I always thought money was the cure for it. Didn't Magic Johnson have it? He seems to be doing fine nowadays.

I don't think he ever had the AIDS, just the HIV.

There's been way to many celebs dying of the AIDS, that it had to take more than money to cure Magic.

Maybe you need money and a wicked skyhook?

[Nuzzolese]

So, the part of the population who could potentially afford the vaccine, are those who would have to "try" to get it?

[Freebasser]

^ (y)

AIDS can be passed to babies in the womb you know. I don't think they tried to get it.

[Nuzzolese]

^ (y)

AIDS can be passed to babies in the womb you know. I don't think they tried to get it.

Capital point, Freebs!

[The Notorious LOL]

we cant cure the cold virus, so aids seems like a longshot.

[instigator7022]

This is great. Horray!

[roosta]

now how are we going to keep the blacks and the gays down???

[The Notorious LOL]

they'll release AIDS II: Viral Boogaloo

[Qdrop]

they'll release AIDS II: Viral Boogaloo

AKA: Bird Flu

[Qdrop]

now how are we going to keep the blacks and the gays down???

vote more republicans into office.
does it every time.

[cosmo105]

money's probably the biggest factor. no $ in cure, only treating symptoms. that being said, viruses are going to fuck us all in the end. hopefully not literally.

[Freebasser]

I can see it now - Amoeba Enema II starring Phlegm Jeremy

No?


No.

[cosmo105]

*cough*


nice try, though

[The Notorious LOL]

money's probably the biggest factor. no $ in cure, only treating symptoms. that being said, viruses are going to fuck us all in the end. hopefully not literally.



With AIDS theres what...maybe 1,000,000 americans who have it, but if there was a vaccine for it...every single person would get it with their MMR shots. Theres more money in a cure for something like that. Something like arthritis though, yeah they'll never cure that.

[tracky]

There is a cure (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&r=1&l=50&f=G&d=PALL&s1=5676977.WKU.&OS=PN/5676977&RS=PN/5676977), it's even got a patent :rolleyes:

[The Notorious LOL]

I think that AIDs is considered to be an “it’s your own damn fault” disease much like lung cancer is. Yes there are exceptions, but a lot of the time the patient himself is at fault. So therefore, people don’t have an interest in curing these poor “victims” as much as they would for curing a bone cancer victim. I am not being judgmental, I am stating facts. This is the way that people feel.

Yeah those South African pre-teenage girls who got AIDS from rape were just asking for it like the asshole coal miners are just asking for lung cancer. Fuck em!

[HEIRESS]

HIV is a retro-virus
there is basically no keeping up to it
plain and simple
this is why drug cocktails are used, when you have contracted the disease and have even developed full blown AIDS, you are given a shat-load of different toxic chemicals that kill off the most of the viruses in your body if you infected, but of course not all because retroviruses basically mutate every goddamn time they replicate because the enzymes that do the proofreading of RNA sequences do not have the same strict reading and correcting abilities as those that do the same for DNA during replication
so you take the drug cocktail, kill most of the HIV hanging out or whatever other viruses/bacteria/fungi you've contracted in your immunocompromised state, you feel fine for a while and take no drugs at all so you can live a somewhat normal life
then the virus' et al. starts makin you feel like shit again, so you throw another bout of chemicals into your system makin you feel even more like like ass, and then you float into another period of feeling semi-fine again.
its a goddamn vicious cycle and not much a life, though its better than nothing

there will never be a cure for the HIV virus within the next couple decades, there may be short term ones and of course better drugs that last longer before becoming obsolete but the virus will keep on mutating and we stupid humans will not be able to keep up

this vaccine wont work either
well it may work, but only for awhile
shit it will probably be inaffective by the time the trial runs are done with
how many renditions of penicillin have we had to come up with since its discover, why? because bacteria can mutate too
But bacteria are like the retarded inbred half-cousins to viruses, they have no where near the same mutagenic properties

viruses are vicious, they are gentically designed to adapt and survive because they always need hosts, thats a fact
so basically and I have no hope of seeing any big steps in the prevention/cure field in the my lifetime even

They need to work on a vaccine that is actually a virus
a totally neutral virus that will stay dormant for an entire human's lifetime and can be spread to every cell in their body thus preventing any other virus from infecting it because a cell can only be infected by a single virus at a time
its the only way
its gonna take a shat-load of time for anything like this to ever be cooked up so yet again there's basically no hope

jesus, Im a negative scientist
really I do have hope because there are too many goddamn people dealing with this fucking illness, im just trying to be realistic

[cosmo105]

^that's a really good idea, the dormant virus one.

[The Notorious LOL]

a dormant virus is similar to the principle of a vaccine. The first vaccine was cowpox which protected from smallpox. Vacc meaning cow. Cows rule.

[Nuzzolese]

I'm so glad Heiress contributed to this. I was waiting for that.

[HEIRESS]

a dormant virus is similar to the principle of a vaccine. The first vaccine was cowpox which protected from smallpox. Vacc meaning cow. Cows rule.

naw, most vaccines basically initiate a small scale response which results in the production of antibodies against the particular infection which acts as a memory bank in the immune system so that when indeed you are exposed to the same disease causing agent your body will be able to respond quickly and efficiently and thus prevent such an infectious agent from settin up shop on the block mang knawsayinnnnnnnnn

[Sarky Devotchka]

I'm glad heiress is a scientist.

there's nothing more annoying than people pontificating on complicated subjects they really know nothing about.

BUT HEIRESS WHAT IF THE NEUTRAL VIRUS MUTATES?

also, I think that some of you are still thinking about this on a local scale...only considering sluts and junkies. it's way beyond that now.

[Nuzzolese]

I hope u r not referring to myself?

I have done my own research on the matter. Who is to say who is qualified and who is not to talk?

I don't htnk that only sluts and junkies have or can get AIDS...we've all heard of rape victims or nurses getting pricked with needles and the like.

There, Sarky. See, she's considering everyone!

[Sarky Devotchka]

oh, my bad. I thought she forgot about the nurses!

[The Notorious LOL]

*shocking revelation*


everyone is at risk for HIV in some context or another. While its more prevelant in certain communities, it doesnt exclude anyone so its important for everyone to be aware of it regardless of the circumstances.

[Nuzzolese]

Har de har....actually my major was almost nursing. And seriously, I am not trying to be mean nor judgmental. The main reason I am getting all of this attitude is because the truth hurts. I didn't say that I necessarily believed what I wrote was right, but other people do feel the way that I described.


No, I understand what you were saying; that most people regard AIDS as a disease that happens to people who had it coming. Not that you regarded it that way, just that you were speculating on the lack of funds put towards a cure. I just didn't agree with that. I mean, intuitively I assume people these days regard AIDS and the HIV virus as a seriously high risk and a high priority problem for the whole planet...but then my intuition about the masses is usually too optimistic to be accurate, so you could be leaning on the correct side.

[marsdaddy]

If HIV originated in monkeys, why are they not extinct?