30th anniversary of AIDS

[jkjsooner]

Since there's been so many gay threads around, I decided to add my own sorta gay thread...

A couple of weeks ago there was a lot of talk about the 30th anniversary of AIDS. I think this was dated back to the MMWR report from the CDC.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/june_5.htm

We're also coming up on the anniversary of the first report in the mainstream media - a NY Times article.

http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/03/us...mosexuals.html

Anyway, for some reason I got fascinated on the subject - a subject I barely thought at the time other than being scared to use a public toilet. I don't think I even know of an outbreak of the mysterious disease until Rock Hudson got it.

There's a lot of interesting articles in the NY Times archives on it. From reading the articles, one thing was very clear. There was an assumption that if it was an infectious agent that a person would get sick very soon after being exposed to that agent. It was inconceivable that the period of dormancy could be approaching a decade. This lead many in the scientific community to believe it wasn't an infectious agent, if it was an infectious agent that it must be very difficult to transmit, that the infection rate was very low, etc. It's funny how so many researchers/doctors/scientists were led astray but this one simple assumption. They simply had no idea that when they first reported on the handful of cases that there were already tens of thousands infected.

There's also a very interesting Frontline documentary about the epidemic.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids/

The one thing I take away from all of this, and I'm sure this is going to be somewhat controversial, is that the minority of gays who were extremely sexually active in the '70s do deserve some blame. One negative to homosexuality is that there isn't the female controlling the rate of sexual promiscuity. If a gay person is so inclined, they can have sex with 15-20 guys a night and people were doing just that in the '70s. For 99.99% of straight men this simply is not an option.

I don't think this minority of gay men knew the risk they were putting society in and for that they deserve somewhat of a pass but let's face it, having sex with 15-20 random strangers a night (whether it be hetero or homo relations) is a recipe for an epidemiological disaster. Had it not been AIDS it would have probably been something else (and there was plenty of other diseases going around in this community as well). The same applies to IV drug users. Both are just a breeding ground for all sorts of nasty diseases.


Anyway, maybe someone will find these articles interesting. I love reading old articles with the benefit of hindsight.

[The]

[StoopTroup]

Catchy thread title

[GKeeper316]

i remember when i first heard about aids... scary ****

its good to know that we've come so far in its treatment from the early days of the disease.

[Wishboned]

i remember when i first heard about aids... scary ****

its good to know that we've come so far in its treatment from the early days of the disease.

Even the possibility of a cure...

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/201...a-man-of-aids/

[StoopTroup]

Just never have teh buttsecs when your man is on his period.

[jkjsooner]

Even the possibility of a cure...

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/201...a-man-of-aids/

Yep, but there's a lot of work to do. They definitely can't give bone marrow transplants (event if they could find enough HIV immune donors) to all HIV positive people. It's too risky and way too costly.

But maybe the knowledge gained will lead to a realistic cure.

[jkjsooner]

Just one more thing from my post, I want to be clear that I am not blaming all gays nor do I think that anyone deserved to get AIDS.

One other point, the leaders of the blood industry and their accountants/attorneys deserve to be publicly executed.

This is why in some cases there needs to be no limit on legal liability. Some unethical companies will choose the bottom line over everything else and the only way to force them to think about their actions is the prospect that they might get sued to oblivion.

[Sooner_Tuf]

I have an idea. If the people that have it don't spread it around won't it die off with them?

[GKeeper316]

I have an idea. If the people that have it don't spread it around won't it die off with them?

unfortunately the majority of people in the world living with aids are in africa, and put more creedence to thier local tribal witch doctor instead of actual medical professionals and the witch doctors tell them stupid **** like having sex with a virgin will cure them.

[jkjsooner]

I have an idea. If the people that have it don't spread it around won't it die off with them?

What percent of HIV positive people know they are HIV positive?

There was actually a study led by a UNC team recently that showed that people on the antiretroviral cocktails are almost entirely noncontagious. The study was ended early because the results were so striking and statistically significant. The take-away from this is that people who are HIV positive should start taking their medications immediately instead of waiting for their t-cell count to go down to a certain level.

If you could identify those who have HIV and supply them the antiretroviral drugs you could start a decline in AIDS cases and start towards a path of ridding the world of HIV. The problem is that you will never be able to identify all of the HIV positive people.

[StoopTroup]

Isn't riding what spread the disease?

[jkjsooner]

Isn't riding what spread the disease?

I thought I changed that before there were any responses.

[Turd_Ferguson]

I read that you can get aid's from a mosquito...I can't figure out how the hell somebody could **** a mosquito...

[soonercruiser]

i remember when i first heard about aids... scary ****

And it's still not scary???
No need to change behavior.....

[StoopTroup]

I read that you can get aid's from a mosquito...I can't figure out how the hell somebody could **** a mosquito...

You have to get them really drunk

[yermom]

I read that you can get aid's from a mosquito...I can't figure out how the hell somebody could **** a mosquito...

you need a really small dick, and probably deserve to die anyway

[Blue]

[StoopTroup]

heh

[SunnySooner]

Wasn't there a Swiss flight attendant that was Patient Zero or something? Some guy that REALLY got around, and because of his occupation, he unknowingly spread the disease much faster than it would have spread if he had been, IDK, a farmer or whatever?

And nowadays, AIDS is kinda like just a chronic condition you have to take a bunch of meds for, like diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis. It seems like it's no longer a death sentence, it's completely treatable, just ask Magic.