[JMP300z]

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So have any of you looked into HIV/AIDS? I think all of us remember the fear when AIDS was first discovered in the 80s. I heard of a guy in my town committing suicide after finding out he was HIV positive.

Anyway, the more I read about it, the more it looks like this was a huge hoax. For example, why aren’t all prostitutes dead? Why has the number of people who are HIV positive remained at 1 million for over 25 year (in the US)? Why has no health care worker ever gotten AIDS from a needle stick but 1500/year get hepatitis? Did you know that it was determined that Kaposi’s Sarcoma (the disease that Tom Hanks had in Philadelphia) cannot be caused by HIV?

Anyway, I find this subject fascinating precisely because no one talks about it, or seems to know anything about it beyond sound-bites from celebrities.

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As a student of medicine/health care worker who sees patients on a daily basis and has dealt with personally with a needle stick (as have my colleagues) and as someone who has taken a good amount of microbiology, immunology and epidemiology, I can say you might be on crack.

I did not know that kaposis sarcoma was not an HIV related disease. I only skimmed the above posts but a link to a relevant study would be nice. As of 2 days ago when I took my national boards, kaposis sarcoma was still associated w/ HIV.

Also, did you ever think for a second that the reason the number of people infected with HIV has stagnated is because of the sheer amount of attention it was getting? I mean its nice to see results from the advertisement campaigns and research done no? The drug regimens (HAART) have become amazingly better as has the funding for the patients needing these drugs. If detected early (key) a patient with HIV can lead a decent life. That does not mean it isnt terrible thing and that it is easy to live with.

Also, what you say about hep b and hiv is true. However, what you dont realize is that in health care, hep b is a big friggin deal. ALso, Universal or standard precautions are stressed to prevent any problems, not spec. b/c of HIV.

And what you said in your other post about AIDS etc and the 26 people with those illnesses possibly being just those illnesses. Those illnesses are almost never seen in people w/o severely weakened immune systems. Other than the genetic diseases (SCID, Brutons, IgA def etc) and patients on chemo or other drug therapies, HIV is the major cause of a weakened immune systems.

The point being, HIV isnt a HOAX, it may not be as easy to get as you may have believed, but is a definite real threat.

-JP