Origin of AIDs

Sep 09, 2008 10:41

So I saw this documentary called " The Origin of AIDS". It hypothesizes that AIDS was spread to humans by a polio vaccine given to the Congo in the late 50's. I posted about vaccines in general in another community using this documentary as a segway and got my ass handed to me. So I thought I'd see where blackfolk sit on this subject. Maybe its ( Read more... )

aids, science, theory

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From a microbiologist's perspective... espnchick1920 September 9 2008, 16:07:43 UTC
It is quite plausible. The primate version of HIV is SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus). SIV and HIV are VERY similar to each other and both have the ability to mutate rapidly to survive in their enviroments (this is well known by anyone who has been on anti-HIV medicine for a considerable length of time but has to change regiments due to the development of drug resistance by their HIV). Humans can be INFECTED with SIV but they do not develop simian AIDS (or a human version of simian AIDS) because the virus can not complete its replicative cycle within human cells. The same is true of HIV within primates, and it is why there is only ONE species out of hundreds of species of monkeys that can serve as a proper animal model for HIV/AIDS research. Now, that being said, if SIV is consistently exposed to human cells, at some point over time, it will begin to mutate so that it CAN infect and complete its replicative cycle within humans. When it can do that, it has gone from being SIV to HIV ( ... )

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... espnchick1920 September 9 2008, 19:07:18 UTC
Awwww...thank you. You have NO idea how much I needed to hear something like that right now!!!

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... simplecity2htwn September 9 2008, 19:26:58 UTC
You have the very enviable gift of being able to explain technical concepts in simple terms. Normally you egghead microbiologists scientific professionals start talking to lay people and their eyes glaze over within seconds, but this is not the case with any of the explanations you've provided me.

I say all this to say that you should never let this talent go to waste.

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... espnchick1920 September 9 2008, 19:37:10 UTC
Thank you, sweets. You'd THINK it would be appreciated here at a university but these students are too busy bitching about the fact that I take points off even if they are five minutes late. (If I had a dollar for every time I hear "But it's only 8:05!" for a class that starts at 8:00...)

I mean...seriously...if you can figure out a way that I can use this talent more effectively (and get paid), PLEASE let me know. I feel like it is going to waste here and said talent (as often repeated by medical/dental/pharmacy students, in other words...students who actually are working towards some shit) is the reason I decided to become a professor in the first damn place...

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... parlance September 9 2008, 20:47:45 UTC
IAWTC

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... darkrosetiger September 9 2008, 22:02:40 UTC
You're pretty much made of win, you know that, right? You explained that so even I got it.

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... dahled September 9 2008, 22:41:38 UTC
thanks for that sis

this is why i love blackfolk

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... kaneohestyle05 September 10 2008, 06:08:28 UTC
What an explanation. Thank you. I wanna take your class now!

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... mercedes600 September 10 2008, 13:39:44 UTC

Question, I thought HIV/SIV could not live outside of the host. How do the viruses transfer in the tissue of a chimp from a perti dish to a vaccine and then a human subject?

Also are there any accounts of people having to survive on monkey meat, I would like to read up on that?

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... espnchick1920 September 10 2008, 14:39:47 UTC
It is not that they can not SURVIVE outside of the host. It is that they can not REPLICATE outside of a host cell. Once again, remember that the VACCINE is cultivated within monkey (not chimp...they ARE different animals) cells. If those cells/tissues are already infected with SIV/HIV, then it is possible to collect it ALONG WITH the vaccine. Remember, this was back in the 40s and 50s, therefore, they a) did not know about HIV/SIV at the time (the first documented case of HIV/AIDS was a Bantu man in 1959 but even then, that was diagnosed WELL after the fact based off reading the case history...it became more medically mainstream in the late 70s/early 80s) and b) they did not have (or think to use) the type of testing that would ensure the purity of the vaccine. It actually happened more often than folks realize in the early stages of vaccine development. There were actually hundreds of children who acquired polio because there was a batch of vaccine in which the virus was not completely killed and, therefore, children were given ( ... )

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... mercedes600 September 10 2008, 15:49:01 UTC
It's not incredibly far-fetched to believe I just wanted to read up on it.

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... espnchick1920 September 10 2008, 14:44:06 UTC
Oh...and understand that I said that it was for SURVIVAL. I didn't say folks go off eating monkeys just to do so (although there ARE some cultures where monkeys are considered to be a delicacy...so it's a matter of cultural perspective...we eat cattle...Indians think we're fucking crazy for eating their gods and, therefore, WE'RE savages to them). No, I don't buy into Africans being savage, etc. However, we have GOT to stop thinking about what white folks think about us and our African brothers and sisters. If it is the truth...it is the truth...regardless of the spin.

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Re: From a microbiologist's perspective... mercedes600 September 10 2008, 15:49:32 UTC
I understood what you meant.

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