San Diego man could have aggressive HIV strain

[truthpusher]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050215-9999-1n15aids.html

S.D. man could have aggressive HIV strain

Unidentified resident, rare N.Y. case linked
By Cheryl Clark
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 15, 2005

LENNY IGNELZI / Associated Press

San Diego County public health officer Dr. Nancy Bowen yesterday urged people who think they might be infected with HIV to get tested.

An unidentified San Diego resident may be infected with the same rare, aggressive and highly drug-resistant strain of HIV found last week in a New York City man who has rapidly become ill with AIDS, health officials said yesterday.

"(The local person's) HIV has a similar molecular makeup as the patient in New York City," said Dr. Nancy Bowen, the San Diego County public health officer who held a press conference about the finding yesterday afternoon in San Diego.

more:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050215-9999-1n15aids.html

[Walt Starr]

1. Now the big question, did some government scientist alter the

standard HIV virus in a lab somewhere?

Obligatory ------> :tinfoilhat:

[mhr]

2. Regrettably, I would Put Nothing (NOTHING) Past The Criminals Currently

Occupying the White House.

No tin foil hat required.

Their mendaciousness knows no bounds!

[KingoftheJungle]

3. They wouldn't need to. The original HIV easily mutates on its own...

and due to the rules of genetics, "organisms" who have the shortest life span evolve the quickest. Add to the fact that HIV is a retrovirus whose genetic material is RNA, and the mutations are even quicker. In such systems, it is only a matter of time and selective pressure (use of HIV drugs) that a more resiliant organism will emerge. Life always finds a way, and retrovirii like HIV find the way faster than any other organism.

[pandemic_1918]

6. 3-DCR HIV is a Recombinant

3-DCR HIV is almost certainly a recombinant, pulling together genetic regions linked to drug resistance, CXCR4 tropism, and wild type RC

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02150504/Creating_3DCR_HIV_Recombinant.html

[tandot]

11. Oh Please! We all know that mutation and all that evolution crap is BS

HIV was created by God to punish those evil homosexuals.

Mutations - Schmutations...Science - Schmience ...

Who gives a !@#$% about that stuff you call facts and science. We all know that the Bible is right. We never walked on the moon! Global Warming doesn't exist. And what is that stupid stuff about the earth being like a !$%^& ball, or round, or whatever??? We all know it is flat.

You Dummies have to get smart as the Repukelicans. They have everything right. The Bible says so. They are smart...just like their Educaishon Prezeldent.

[Warpy]

4. No, the technology isn't up to that

HIV is incredibly fragile. Remember, it took them years to even find it.

The virus is a fast mutator. Some fast mutators, like influenza, may start out deadly like the 1918 pandemic, then slowly attenuate into something most people will survive.

HIV seems to be going the other way, mutating into something much more virulent and a much more efficient and rapid killer.

It's especially disturbing that none of the present antivirals will work on the new strain.

So can the conspiracy theories and stock up on condoms. They may be your best hope.

[LisaL]

7. Well, I think the technology is definitely up to that.

But I think that the virus just mutated on it's own.

[Liberal Veteran]

5. Not even close to the most likely scenario.

The human body acts as an eco-system/laboratory in and of itself for HIV.

In the event of sub-optimal suppression of the virus and the selective pressure of triple antiviral medication, it's really is just a matter of time until the dominant form of the virus in the body is the multi-drug resistant kind.

Couple that with unsafe sex and you have an outbreak of multi-drug resistant virus.

[pandemic_1918]

8. HIV Not Standard

HIV is not standard, it recombines all of the time.

[frustrated_lefty]

9. An exercise in futility, but what the hell.

The HIV-1 genome is roughly 9,250 or so nucleotide base pairs in length. The HIV reverse transcriptase, which plays an essential role in the viral replication cycle, mis-incorporates nucleotides at a rate of about 1 in every 4,000. "Mis-incorporation" in this instance amounts to a single point mutation in over 66% of the cases. Basically, every time HIV replicates, the patient stands a chance of developing 2 "mutant strains." The virus replicates roughly once a day, so the chance of gathering mutant strains expands exponentially.

Talk to a clinician with research experience and they will not describe a patient infected with a single strain of HIV. They will describe a patient infected with a "quasi-species" of HIV. There are an insane number of mutant HIV strains in any patient. HAART simply selects for those few mutants which resist HAART, which in turn expand.

We'll see this same progression again in a few years when integrase inhibitors hit the market.

What do we do about this? How do we respond to drug resistant strains of HIV?

1) Avoid casual sex. If you can't, use a condom, sensation be damned.

2) If you don't have enough confidence in your partner to leave your life or death in their hands, use a condom. It's your life on the line.

3) Don't expect medical breakthroughs to save your ass for doing something stupid. Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. If the combined reverse transcriptase/protease/integrase inhibitors don't stop HIV (and, in my professional opinion, they will fail miserably), where do you expect the next cure to come from?

I don't question any person's sexual preference or activity. Just address the issue with care and thoughtfulness. It's your life, perhaps the life of your child you are protecting.

And now my wife is proselytizing at me, so kudos for now.

FL

[mojavekid]

10. Whaaaaadiyasaaaaaaay????????

....just kidding.

[pandemic_1918]

12. Genetic Changes

Yes, HIV does not read press releases, it just goes about its business of genetic change and natural selection (but the process is not as random as most believe).