AIDS cure...?

[Zup]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113/ap_on_he_me/eu_med_aids_treatment

Interesting development...I'm glad there isn't a huge hype of this yet, since it could so likely turn out to be nothing more than luck, but I think this has great potential.

[Neo Samus]

That's fascinating.

[Zombie]

That's awesome!

[Triad Orion]

Hmm. Cautious optimism may be appropriate for this. Science knowledge grows exponentially every few years, so they may be on to something. Let's hope they can get the funding they need to find out for sure.

[Rambo]

+1 to unprotected sex

[Zup]

Yes, because a bone marrow transplant is just as easy as an abortion. No responsibility!

[relyanCe]

Yes, because a bone marrow transplant is just as easy as an abortion. No responsibility!

Seriously. Regardless, this is very interesting, but I would echo that cautious optimism bit.

By the way, Zup, your sig is amazing and I'm sigging it. lol

[Rambo]

Yes, because a bone marrow transplant is just as easy as an abortion. No responsibility!

WHAT? You've kindled my interest in actually reading the article.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

And there goes population control down the toilet...

[OverCoat]

But the army worked SO HARD on that virus

[Less Ashamed Of Self]

Relatedly, I recently watched a really interesting TED video about how we should prioritize all of the world's issues (malaria, hunger, global warming, etc) and that we should logically be investing a lot of money in the easiest one's to solve instead of investing a little money into all of them.

He took some of the biggest problems and, in the end, suggested that the top four TO tackle go:

4: Malaria

3: Free Trade

2: Malnutrition of micro-nutrients

1: AIDS

He said this in Feb. 2005... well before this discovery was a factor.

Fingers crossed eh?

[yangfeili]

AIDs is kind of goofy in that it can very easily and cheaply be "cured" via behavioral modification. Actually getting everyone to go along with that behavioral modification, of course, is the hard part. So the "billions of dollars of research" route may, indeed, be easier.

[Triad Orion]

Well, it's not entirely that simple. It's avoidable in the United States and most of the West. But in Africa, where it's a huge problem, behavioral modification isn't sufficient to deal with the problem anymore. When a significant portion of the population has the disease, finding a cure ends up being more important because they can't necessarily say for sure who has it and who doesn't.

So, in their case, billions of dollars of research could save tens of thousands of lives of current infectees and countless more that may emerge in the future. Are tens of thousands of marrow transplants feasible? Absolutely not, but one day gene therapy may be effective enough for mass use, but the only way to get there is to fund it.

[OverCoat]

Money is no object when it comes to saving lives

well, it is, but I wish it wasn't

[Blue123]

Money is no object when it comes to saving lives

well, it is, but I wish it wasn't

How true...

[Thin Crust]

"I am Legend" imminent.

[Strike911]

Lives are no object when it comes to money.

.... i sEE wHAt u dID tHAR!

[Maco70]

Somebody had to;

[Asaudan]

AIDS will stop being a problem two millennia from now, when African men finally realise that having sex with a virgin doesn't cure the disease, and stop running around raping babies and young girls. Aside from this illusion, it's really a kind of self-remedying condition. Either you watch out for it, or you die with it.

[The Xyco]

I wouldn't get one's hopes up too much, granted that they completely wiped out this guy's immune system and started from scratch.

[The Derrit]

AIDS will stop being a problem two millennia from now, when African men finally realise that having sex with a virgin doesn't cure the disease, and stop running around raping babies and young girls. Aside from this illusion, it's really a kind of self-remedying condition. Either you watch out for it, or you die with it.

That's a completely unfair assumption to make. Not everyone gets it from being retarded as you seem to say. Even if we were to cordon off Africa from the rest of the world AIDS would still be a growing problem.

[Thin Crust]

That's a completely unfair assumption to make. Not everyone gets it from being retarded as you seem to say. Even if we were to cordon off Africa from the rest of the world AIDS would still be a growing problem.

Considering that Russia has the fastest growing rate for the percentage of AIDs carriers.

[Soma]

I had an Aids test this week, all is well.

Carry on.

[Rambo]

Considering that Russia has the fastest growing rate for the percentage of AIDs carriers.

That's just bad luck. It's a direct result of Russian hookers being the best around.

[TheHands]

It makes a lot of sense that one would have to destroy the whole immune system to destroy the virus. It's the same way that you occasionally have to reformat your hard drive when you're hit with some nasty [digital] virus. Only real problem is that it isn't easily done on a grand scale, and only the grotesquely rich will be able to cleanse themselves.

Shame it's progress too late for Freddie Mercury.