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Two Women Found With HIV-Immune Mutant Gene
Related Links Top of the: day, week, month.
One man's constant is another man's variable. -- A.J. Perlis
One man's constant is another man's variable. -- A.J. Perlis
mirrored... (Score:3, Informative)
Wang Zhuoqiong
2004-10-01 05:17
SHENZHEN: Two women have been identified as carrying a mutant gene that is immune to HIV/AIDS, the first such cases uncovered in China, a researcher said.
The finding is the joint effort of a research programme, "Association of Human Genetic Polymorphisms with HIV Affections," jointly conducted by the University of Washington in the US State of Washington and local Infectious Disease Hospitals and medical institutions in Guangdong Province.
Tuofu Zhu, associate professor of University of Washington and associate director of the Clinical Core at the Centre for AIDS Research (CFAR), introduced the programme to China a year ago as a part of his global research in nations in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia.
"Before, such mutant genes were only found in Caucasians. The finding has encouraged us to do further research in China, with the aim of developing medicines to prevent and cure HIV/AIDS for different races,"said Zhu.
China is now at a key moment in adopting effective measures to control and prevent HIV/AIDS as the disease moves from high risk populations to the general population, in most cases though sexual transmission, Zhu pointed out.
Zhu said that setting up a research centre in Guangdong Province is appropriate as its population has made it the best platform for collecting diversified samples.
"With the largest mobile population in China, we can get samples from migrants who are from other parts of the country," said Zhu.
Since a greater number of patients infected with sexual transmitted disease in particular are reported in Guangdong Province, sample collections are more efficient than other regions in China, Zhu added.
So far, according to Zhu, his programme in Shenzhen has identified 11 Exposed Seronegatives (ES) since January.
Zhu explained that the immune systems of some individuals may be capable of resisting HIV infection. These individuals who do not appear to be infected with HIV despite multiple sexual encounters with HIV infected partners are referred to as exposed seronegatives (ES).
To be specific, any one who has conducted sexual activities at least twice weekly in four consecutive months with an HIV-infected partner might be identified as ES.
Of 11 ES cases, two cases have later been identified as carrying the mutant genes.
In Zhu's opinion, if medicine functioning similarly with the genes was put in the vagina and rectum, the HIV virus couldn't find its carrier to enter the human body and thus would be expelled.
In Shenzhen, both confirmed samples are women who have been exposed to HIV for many years but remained uninfected.
One of them, in her 40s, has kept a regular sexual life with her husband without any protection measures for nine years. Her husband, who was infected with the deadly virus by blood transfusion in 1994, was hospitalized in Shenzhen's Donghu Hospital in July last year.
However, due to the limited qualified samples, Zhu said it is still too early to draw any conclusion from the programme, adding "we definitely need more support from the local hospital, medical institutions and government to collect more data from ES people."
Re:Immune (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Immune (Score:5, Informative)
From the article
"Before, such mutant genes were only found in Caucasians. The finding has encouraged us to do further research in China, with the aim of developing medicines to prevent and cure HIV/AIDS for different races,"said Zhu.Sounds like some mutant genes have been found previously, so I am not sure if this will add any new information to the fight against AIDS.
China is now at a key moment in adopting effective measures to control and prevent HIV/AIDS as the disease moves from high risk populations to the general population, in most cases though sexual transmission, Zhu pointed out.China had better be prepared for a potential disaster. Even if the presense of this "mutant" gene does lead to some sort of cure, it will probably take years to develop and test. In the meantime, China, along with most Middle Eastern and Asian countries, has a high risk of having an AIDS related disaster of a scope way beyond what we now see in Africa. We're talking tens of millions of people infected and/or dying all across the Middle East and Asia.
Not as interesting as it sounds... (Score:4, Informative)
Not really news (Score:5, Informative)
The only novel thing about this discovery is that it was in Asians, vs. the Caucasian populations in which immunity had previously been reported (and I suppose African as well, even though the Kenyan prostitutes as referenced above turned out to not be immune). The article is pretty worthless, not even listing what the "mutant genes" are, but it's a pretty good guess that CCR5 and/or CXCR4 is involved.
Re:Lucky ladies! (Score:5, Informative)
Trust me, that abrupt "stoppage" usually lasts much, much longer than nine months...
Re:Spontaneous mutation? (Score:3, Informative)
If you believe in that sort of thing. The theory seems to be that it prevents the virus from binding in the first place. It has no chance to mutate, within the host at least.
Re:Lucky ladies! (Score:5, Informative)
Gohnorrea
Herpes
Chlamydia
Syphillis
G
HPV
Hepatitus
Trichomoniasis
and more! Lucky bitches...
In order....
Curable.
Nasty stuff, but not fatal.
Curable.
Curable.
Nasty stuff, once again not fatal.
Nasty stuff, not fatal unless it causes cancer.
Possibly fatal.
Nasty stuff, but curable.
HIV is the queen mother of STDs, once that is out of the way, there will be a lot more au naturale love happening in the world.
LK
Re:Genetics at work? (Score:5, Informative)
HIV is most certainly NOT only 25 years old.
It's extremely old, they have preserved tissue samples from almost 50 years ago or so that have been found to contain the virus (the subject died in exactly the same way as the first cases presented here)
(an english sailor died of a oppertunistic diseases, and after he died, tissue was preserved for later study.)
The event that has made HIV into a new epidemic is massive changes in social morality. Originally, HIV was called the Gay-Related immuno-deficiency syndrome or somesuch, because it was primarily affecting people who were outwardly gay.
Of course, it turned out that these people were just starting to be very broad in their choice of partners, and of course, people were starting to share needles for drug use.
ashridah
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Genetics at work? (Score:5, Informative)
Mutations happen all the time - 0.0000000000000214/nucleotide/generation according to these guys [nih.gov]. Now multiply that by 3 billion nucleotides in a human, and 70(?) days to replace all the cells in your body. Most of the time, the mtuation is fatal and the cell dies. Most of the rest of the time, it does nothing at all. Once in a while, you get a mutation that is actually beneficial. And once in a while, that mutation happens to occur in gamates, so it actually gets passed on to children. That's clearly what happened in this case.
seen this immunity before... (Score:5, Informative)
Geneva - Researchers have uncovered unusual behaviors of human immune systems that seem to have protected certain babies in Canada [aegis.com], prostitutes in Thailand [aegis.com] and Africa, and gay men in San Francisco from HIV, despite exposure to the AIDS virus.
The protections do not appear to be genetic, and may offer some critical clues to those hoping to make a vaccine against HIV.
At Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Dr. Kelly MacDonald and a team of pediatricians noticed something odd earlier this year: HIV-positive mothers did not pass the virus to babies who were born with immunologically incompatible blood. In cases of incompatibility, the mother has one genetic type of immune system markers, and the baby a different set. This can put the baby at risk of being attacked by the mother's immune system.
But, in the case of HIV-infected mothers, this immunological incompatibility saved the babies from HIV, MacDonald reported yesterday. The finding was based on a study of 111 mother / child pairs.
MacDonald believes that a key factor in the babies' genetic makeup - called A2/A6802 supertype - by fortunate coincidence prevents HIV from infecting the child. When the mother and child share the same genetic makeup in their immune system, MacDonald discovered, the child is 2.63 times more likely to get infected with HIV.
Since approximately 40 percent of the population worldwide has the A2/A6802 supertype, it makes it an attractive target for vaccine design, MacDonald said.
The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied 280 prostitutes in Thailand who had worked in brothels for three years or more, and a group of non-prostitute Thai women. Not surprisingly, the prostitutes were far more likely to be infected with the virus, and 47 percent were HIV-positive, the CDC reported yesterday.
Remarkably, however, nine of the prostitutes were negative for HIV, even though they had genital herpes [aegis.com] and syphilis - clear indications of unsafe sexual behavior. The women did not have any of the genetic mutations that have been shown to protect some Caucasians from HIV. But they did apparently have complete immunity. Cells of their immune systems were killing every HIV to which they were exposed, the CDC team discovered. And laboratory studies revealed that their CD8 T-cells, a type of white blood cell, were secreting a factor which, when mixed in a petri dish with human cells and HIV, stimulated immune cells to destroy the virus.
Dr. Jay Levy of the University of California in San Francisco has presented evidence of a CD8-produced factor that stops HIV, as well. For years he has tried to isolate the mysterious substance, to no avail. But it could result, he said in a speech, in a way to maintain control of the virus without the need for antiviral drugs.
Sharon Stranford, a researcher in Levy's laboratory, examined the immune system cells of gay San Francisco men who have been exposed repeatedly to HIV and never become infected. She said that the CD8 cells in these men make a mysterious factor that protects against HIV. But it is not the same as the one discovered in Thai prostitutes, Stranford said, because it blocks HIV without prompting immune system cells to kill the virus. It works by blocking the ability of HIV to make copies of itself, Levy said.
Finally, a CDC team working in Abijan, Ivory Coast [aegis.com], has also found a group of uninfected prostitutes. They, too, lack any genetic protection. And their ability to fight off HIV is also immunological. The team hasn't yet worked out the details, researchers said, but it is clear that immune system cells in the African prostitutes are highly activated, as if constantly ready to go to war.
Immunity? (Score:5, Informative)
The specific 'mutation' involve CCR5, a coreceptor of HIV-1. An uncommun deletion called CCR5delta32 make it so that M-tropic HIV-1 can't enter CCR5+ cells in homozygote individuals (2 copies of the mutant gene). Heterozygotes (having a functional CCR5 and a mutated one) show less resistance to infection (70% resistance, estimated).
HIV-1 can exhibit a tropism (T-tropic) for another coreceptor, CXCR4, for which no mutation is known, so total immunity isn't exact; we can talk about resistance at best. M-tropic viruses are associated with de novo infection, and a switch to T-tropism is thought to be a turning point in the degeneration to AIDS (but not always).
Even CCR5delta32 individuals can be infected (althought have far less risk than you and me). Even then, the infection progress far more slowly than in normal individuals... they're called long term non-progressors. Won't develop AIDS in their lifetime, but still infectious, which can be dangerous...
Re:It seems unlikely. (Score:5, Informative)
Hmmm...Is the parent a nice molecular-biology troll or just a gem of ignorance mixed with self-confidence?
"Because there's very little in the virus that is guaranteed to be common to ALL instances of said virus, it is hard to see how immunity could exist, even in theory."
The resistance mutation depends from the absence of a particular chemokine receptor on human white blood cells. In principle, the HIV virus could use another receptor to enter. In practice it's quite improbable the virus can mutate his whole capsid proteins to get advantage of a totally new receptor.
"Then, you have other problems. HIV is detected in a number of ways, but probably the most common way is to detect the antibodies to the virus. This causes an obvious problem. If your immune system is damaged, in some way, it may not be able to detect the virus and/or produce antibodies to it. Either way, any technique for detecting HIV through the antibodies would fail."
You obviously have no grasp of immunology. HIV infects primarily subsets of T cells. They are not B cells, that produce soluble antibodies. B cells are not attacked by HIV,therefore you argument is bullshit.
(In fact, B cells are indirectly affected by HIV [sciencedaily.com], but only in late stages of AIDS disease.)
"So much so that they could fight the disease and not even need to generate antibodies to do so."
You have no grasp of immunology,it's obvious now. Your body doesn't "feel the need" for antibodies.It just produces them when encounters an antigen. In fact, you probably already have cells with anti-HIV antibodies: they're just very,very few and are not activated.(Wanna know why? RTFM, i.e. a molecular immunology textbook)
"In theory, since we don't actually know in practice."
We know. Check other /. comments and what I wrote before.
"Provided the self-destruct triggers faster than the virus can spread"
It seems you know nothing about virology and apoptosis too...
"...you're probably not going to live very long anyway, and your quality of life isn't going to be noticably better than those with the disease. In fact, it would probably be a whole lot worse. But, hey, if that's what these two women want for their life, that's their problem. "
If these women were immunodeficient, physicians should have noticed it immediately. Such a severe immunodeficience is, like you seem to understand, practically incompatible with life.
resistant, not immune (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Immune (Score:2, Informative)
CBC had a documentary on it [www.cbc.ca]
It's only now coming to light, really. Yahoo [yahoo.com] and a quick Google search. [google.com]
Re:It seems unlikely. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:It seems unlikely. (Score:3, Informative)
HIV is detected in a number of ways, but probably the most common way is to detect the antibodies to the virus. This causes an obvious problem.
Screening for HIV is typically a cheap, fast antibody-based test. However, any positive is then confirmed via much more specific tests.
The only way to be immune, then
WTF do you think HIV does? What does the I in AIDS stand for? HIV doesn't kill people; opportunistic infections kill people whose immune systems are compromised by HIV.
This is like calling a pair of cement shoes in a swimming pool of cyanide "protective" against cyanide poisoning because it'll only take a couple minutes to drown.
Our immune system is actually quite effective at fighting HIV. That's why the symptoms associated with seroconversion last only a few days, and then people end up living a number of years before finally being overwhelmed.
Suggesting that starting off with an immunodeficiency is somehow better than waiting for HIV to give you one is, I think, the most ridiculous bit of interesting/insightfully-moderated random Slashdot speculation I've read in at least 45 minutes.
But, hey, if that's what these two women want for their life, that's their problem.
Nice.
CCR5delta32 is probably the mutant gene (Score:5, Informative)
Even the statement about putting the "gene" in the vagina or rectum is not new: see microbicides [google.com].
Just a word to the wise, news like this will rarely, if ever, scoop a scientific publication in Science or Nature. If the discoveries truly have any scientific merit whatsoever, you'll more likely read about it in these journals or the media commotion stirred by these publications. In other words, unless somewhere in the article is says "results of these studies published in the journal [place name of journal here]," the results have not been peer reviewed. Therefore, "there's nothing to see here, move on."
Come to Asia and taste it, buddy ! (Score:5, Informative)
You sez:
"culturally Asians seem to be a lot less
promiscuous, which would imply that this
disaster doesn't seem so imminent"
This is so only to show others.
Asian culture is at its best in the sex scene.
On one hand, they will pretend that they are not sexually promiscuous, and on the other hand, the vast majority of Child Prostitution in the world happen throughout Asian countries. You can find child prostitutes in Indonesia, China, India, Kampuchia (formerly known as Cambodia), Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Malaysia and so on.
If you are willing to pay, you can even participate in the "deflowering" act, where you'd get a virgin child - male or female - for his / her first night.
What you do to them, as long as you don't kill them, is entirely up to you.
Re:Genetics at work? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Immune (Score:5, Informative)
My biology teacher covered it as part of our lesson on HIV, about 3 years ago. Basically, it has to do with the structure of their white blood cells. Specifically, they lack the CCR-5 protein for the virus to latch on to. The best part is that people can function just fine without this protein, so there don't appear to be any ill effects. The trick now is figuring out how to confer the immunity on those not born with it.
A simple search for "ccr-5" will give a whole bunch of articles for anyone who's interested.
Re:It seems unlikely. (Score:3, Informative)
Other primates are already immune to HIV - Chimps, it seems, caught it a long time ago. It decimated their population - but some had the immunity. All chimps today are immune to it.
Re:Immune (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Immune (Score:5, Informative)
RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Stupid Question (Score:2, Informative)
Immunizations against HIV aren't effective for a couple reasons: First, the virus mutates so quickly that what you're immunized against might not protect you from infection. Second, the virus itself kills off the white blood cells that would be activated by the immunization, making it basically pointless.
Re:Plague Survivors (Score:3, Informative)
it's not that there aren't any delta32 posessors in asia or africa. there are. just that in europe, those that didn't have it were wiped out during the plague. so the concentration of delta32 in europe is much much higher since present day europeans were decendents of delta32 carriers. and anyone that didn't have delta32 didn't stick around to pass on there non-mutated gene.
in asia and africa, you didn't have to survive the plague (since there hasn't been one like in europe) to be able to pass your genes. hence the very low concentration of delta32.
to the parent post:
as far as i can remember, delta32 prevents the virii from latching onto the white blood cell. i believe the virus has to hijack WBC to launch attack against other WBCs rendering the defence machanisms useless.
interestingly, plague infection and AIDS infection work with the same mechanism (the virus puncturing a WBC and then hijacking it) and delta32 prevents the puncturing. so decendents of those who survived the plague have a high chance of having delta32 which would then give them immunity from AIDS. which then explains the AIDS epedimic in africa and asia since the inhabitants were not necessarily decendents of people that had to have delta32 to survive to pass on their genes.
Re:Tell me it ain't so ! (Score:2, Informative)
That is in fact how everyone does from AIDS. A weak immune system isn't itself terminal, however, without defenses otherwise weak illnesses are life-threatening.
Re:Tell me it ain't so ! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:It seems unlikely. (Score:5, Informative)
Read this and learn: [rcn.com]
Origin of HIV
Genome sequencing of different isolates of HIV-1 and HIV-2 shows that each is related to retroviruses that occur in primates in Africa. These are designated simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIV) although they do not cause immune deficiency (or any disease) in their natural host. However, on those occasions when a SIV accidentally infects a primate of a different species, it does cause disease in the new host. The human epidemic is one example.
HIV-1 is most closely related to a SIV found in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes)
HIV-2 is most closely related to a SIV that occurs in the sooty mangabey (Cercocebus atys).
Genome analysis also permits the construction of phylogenetic trees which reveal different clades of HIV just as such analysis reveals evolutionary relationship between species.
(emphasis mine)
Re:Dubious Science (Score:3, Informative)
The "medicine" is the unmutated, exposed part of the protein receptor, a recombinant protein, and a delivery mechanism (probably linked to an Immunoglobulin stalk, in an emulsion in suppository form.)
Placed prior to sexual intercourse, the recombinant protein would competitively bind to the HIV surface and render it harmless.
um, no (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Tell me it ain't so ! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Genetics at work? (Score:3, Informative)
I'm thinking you don't understand the basic concept of how evolution works?
A species doesn't try to evolve, in reaction to a threat or danger or disease. Rather, by random chance, some freak is born, quite by accident, who is immune to HIV (in this case). That's the first step. Step two is, they reproduce, and pass it on to their kids, who pass it on to their kids. Step three is, people who aren't immune to HIV die of AIDS, while those who are immune live normal lives. Voilà, evolution in action.
(By the way, I'm a Creationist; I do not believe humans evolved from lesser animals.)
CCR5 Delta 32 - same immunity for Black Plague (Score:3, Informative)
completely wiped out by the black plague, they did some gene
research and linked it to the specific marker CCR5 Delta 32,
and those ppl that had the marker from both lines of their
parents were immune, and if just one were resisitant and had a
chance of living through the black plague but contracting it
The ppl that had both markers from both parents were immune
They found this same gene mutations has the same effect with
AIDs as it blocks the uptake process needed to do its terrible
process
Peace,
Ex-MislTech
Re:um, no (Score:4, Informative)
perhaps a misnomer today since the second world [Communist world aligned against the US-Led block] is no more [except china N-Corea etc.]
Not totally new (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.geocities.com/endeavour_uksa/article.ht ml [geocities.com]
s _n6_v18/ai_19447788/pg_2 [findarticles.com]
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1511/i
Re:Tell me it ain't so ! (Score:1, Informative)
Third World
Sheesh
Strange idea that HIV virus doesn't cause death (Score:3, Informative)
That is in fact how everyone does from AIDS. A weak immune system isn't itself terminal, however, without defenses otherwise weak illnesses are life-threatening.
IMO it's a very weird idea of causation that wants to say the main factor leading to death (the virus) is not a cause, just because there had to be a second contributory factor there as well.
As noted in the immediate parent post, the HIV virus breaks its sufferers so badly, that they die from something normally minor, that others just bounce off. Saying these deaths 'aren't due' to the virus is like saying that the spark didn't cause that forest fire, because, see, there was all that oxygen around, and that's what caused the fire, wouldn't have happened without it y'know!
-wb-
Re:RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Come to Asia and taste it, buddy ! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Genetics at work? (Score:3, Informative)
You mean like the fact that humans are not single cellular organisms?
I think you may have forgotten to multiply by the number of cells in the human body...
Re:um, no (Score:4, Informative)
As bluFox pointed out [slashdot.org], 3d world refers to Non-Aligned nations.
See Wikipedia's definition [wikipedia.org].
'Third world is a term originally used to distinguish those nations that neither aligned with the capitalist West, the "First world", nor with the Socialist East, the "Second world".'
Third world has nothing to do with development, it refers to whether you were with the Capitalistic (US) or Communistic (USSR) blocks.
Man, Slashdot. Sheesh.
Re:Lucky ladies! (Score:3, Informative)
Syphilis can be fatal and often was (eventually) before treatments for it were developed. If it isn't caught in its first stage it is no longer completely curable and will slowly progress to the brain, the tissue of which it gradually destroys over time.
You basically get to lose your mind (literally and figuratively) before you die. It's not a good way to go.
Then again, ever since being unknowingly exposed to (seriously) almost every single STD on that list including HIV due to a cheating spouse (who knew the other woman was infected) I've got very little pity for the people who go around fucking whomever despite knowing the risks.
Vectors of disease that knowingly spread these diseases (this goes double for ones like HIV) deserve to be shot. But maybe I'm a little too biased to be speaking on the matter, and now I've strayed off-topic...
Re:It may not be relative (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, I once saw a show on PBS where some scientists did a clever test.
You may be referring to Dr. Stephen Marquardt [discovery.com] who found that faces considered to be beautiful conform to certain proportions [discovery.com]. It is based on the Golden Ratio [wikipedia.org], which has many recurrances in nature, such as in the chambers of a nautilus shell.
FightAIDS@Home (Score:3, Informative)
Identical twins can be different sexualities (Score:3, Informative)
Where identical twins have been brought up under completely different conditions and one is gay, there is only a 50% correlation with the sexuality of the other twin. This suggests that the environment plays a significant role in the development of sexuality, though the genes or conditions within the womb also play a role.
Basically, it's not simply one thing.
Re:Tell me it ain't so ! (Score:4, Informative)
So how come HIV infection rates in developed countries are still increasing?
http://www.healthscout.com/news/68/516241/main.ht
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-02-11-hi
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_pag
http://www.hivdent.org/publicp/ppIHDS122003.htm [hivdent.org]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3856963.stm [bbc.co.uk]
Re:Stupid Question (Score:3, Informative)
AIDS means: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and we say someone has AIDS if they have acquired the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This virus works by attacking your immune system's foundation: white blood cells. In seronegative people (people without HIV) white blood cells take care of killing off any "exotic cells" that can get you sick. White blood cells work by recognising a cell's signature (a mixture of protein and/or enzymes) but the AIDS virus has a stealth system (a protein or enzyme) which fakes a signature similar to one common in other cells found in your body. To add insult to injury the white blood cells are what the AIDS virus uses to reproduce. It enters a white blood cell and uses it as food and shelter until it can divide a few times and burst out in bigger numbers. Scary isn't it?
It's a real challenge for doctors around the world and they're trying all kinds of angles. Many have tried to change the protein shell of the aids virus, making the white blood cells more "intelligent" and all kinds of other things. So far AIDS is winning. Use condoms or be in a faithful relationship with a seronegative person(someone without AIDS), or if you believe in that you can always abstain.
Re:Patents are the real key (Score:5, Informative)
(Yes, I know not believing everything you read is genereally bad for the karma. So mod me down).
The wonders of google:
CCR5 Mutant Gene Sequence Patented for AIDS diagnoses
Actually this one is more appropriate: Here is another article [aegis.com] on a general CCR5 Gene Patent from Human Genome Sciences. This article goes quite in depth w/ regards the consequence of the patent filing on drug research w/ CCR5 inhibitors.
-bloo
Re:Genetics at work? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:RTFA (Score:3, Informative)
> Ashke-Nazi Jews? So, what the heck is that?
Could be a troll but I'll bite [wikipedia.org] anyway.
Re:Tell me it ain't so ! (Score:4, Informative)
My father is the chairman of the Canadian branch larger organization that deals with children worldwide. As part of that mandate they have come to view AIDS as perhaps THE greatest problem that they have to deal with.
Basically, AIDS creates widows and orphans. And widows & orphans cause more poverty & more starvation. Not just because THEY are starving or poor, but because it robs their country of productive people and potentially productive people. You really see this in the schools. In countries like Tanzania & Zambia, they're losing teachers to AIDS faster than they can train them! Obviously this translates into less educated people, and that ultimately translates into fewer teachers (among many other things). And the cycle continues.
My father's been to many countries over there to see the problem first hand. In some places, it IS getting better. But very, very, slowly. Other places it's just getter worse every day.
I had the opportunity to go over in May 2004 and I spent 10 days in Zambia & Tanzania (the latter is making better headway). I can say that the problem is as bad as my father & his organization think, and it's far worse than most people in the West have any clue about. It's easy to talk about numbers, but it's a lot harder to put a value on the social and personal costs...and those are enormous.
Worst though, it was goddamn frustrating. My overreaching emotion throughout the trip was anger. Because by and large the people in those countries were getting better! All those old clichés about how poor and hungry the African countries may have been true, but they were starting to get out from under that; you could see it. But then AIDS kicked them right in the teeth and it's like watching someone who'd started to crawl out of quicksand start to slide back. It's disheartening.
AIDS has probably set the continent back 15 years. And that'll probably get worse. In Zambia, I think there are 10 MILLION orphans. 10 million!!! That's a goddamn 1/3 of the population of Canada!
And, of course, even if scientists manage to isolate a gene that prevents the infection, and bottle it, and distribute it, Africa will be the last place on earth that gets it. Because they're in debt already and have little money anyways. Hell, it costs US$3 for a pill that reduces the chances that a baby born from a mother with HIV will also have HIV to less than 10%...and most of the people there can't afford it. Or worse, can but don't know about it because the people there who have them can't afford to educate the people about it. And so it spreads
Re:Lucky ladies! (Score:3, Informative)
And as another poster pointed out, syphillis can kill. And it's not a particularly fun way to go.
Re:That's not proof (Score:3, Informative)
So, all dogs are the same species. As you say, different breeds of dog have different characteristics. But those characteristics don't stop breeding, so they don't make two breeds racially different - even though they do make them phenotypically distinct. The proof that the "0.24%" is insignificant is that this difference doesn't cause biologically separate populations."
You are mostly wrong. Biologists define _species_ that way ( mate + produce viable offspring). But who defines race by ability/inability to interbreed? It's obvious to anyone that the races can and do interbreed and produce viable offspring.
"Race" is closer to "breed". Human races are a product of probably more haphazard breeding, so the breed characteristics are not as distinct as they are in dog breeds, but there ARE characteristics.