That virus is a pussycat.Although far from being incompetent, Duesberg gets it wrong this time.
(1997)
"If there are two things that make people irrational they are erections and addiction."Here's another one, aimed at the Pope, addressing the Church's concern that condoms lead to promiscuity.
"I've got news for you Benedict, I carry condoms all the time and I never get laid!"You will appreciate both a lot more if you watch the actual TED video:
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Image via WikipediaFightAIDS@Home is now a project on the World Community Grid . This means more benefits for our Members. For example, you will be able to see your Member statistics, create and join teams with other members, and participate in discussion forums .
Being part of World Community Grid is simple -- and the software is free, secure, and will not affect how you use your computer!
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“What mattered to me as person living with HIV was to be told that HIV did not cause AIDS. That was nice. Of course, it was like printing money when the economy is not doing well. Or pissing in your pants when the weather is too cold. Comforting for a while but disastrous in the long run.” Winstone Zulu, Zambian AIDS Activist and former denialistThis sums up 200% my personal experience and attitude. I was diagnosed in 2006. Utterly shocked, the day after I was given my diagnosis/sentence (the staff were horrible to deal with) I scoured the internet looking for answers: how bad will I get and how quickly? how many years had I left? (The answer was ten years but it's been 13 already without a hint of a problem).
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Maggiore had long been a controversial figure, particularly following the death of her 3-year-old daughter, Eliza Jane Scovill, in May 2005. The Los Angeles County coroner concluded that Eliza Jane had died of Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia as a result of untreated AIDS. Maggiore had not taken medication to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV to her daughter during pregnancy, and she did not have Eliza Jane tested for HIV during her daughter's lifetime. A veterinary toxicologist (and AIDS denialist retained by Maggiore to review the autopsy report disagreed with the coroner's conclusion, stating that he believed Eliza Jane's death was due to an allergic reaction to amoxicillin.
Taken from Wikipedia: Christine_Maggiore
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Image by Scoobay via FlickrI was looking for something to do with my new year's eve, browsing for ideas when checking what is going on in Berlin at that time of year brought me to this article Bone Marrow Transplant Cures Man of HIV in which we learn about the unusual case of a person with hiv who no longer has hiv following, well, a bone marrow transplant.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=5f3375a8-8ed2-4ff5-941a-bd7ebab43460)
A young Scottish guy who tested positive and then tested negative again in 2002. His boyfriend at the time was hiv-positive, I seem to remember, and so baffled doctors explained he must have developed immunity from that. I believe Andrew did not agree to undergo further tests which would have made some light over that mystery and maybe helped find a cure or an explanation. Well done, Andrew! Here are some top links about Andrew if you want to make your own research.
The great boxer was diagnosed with hiv in 1996 (Same year as me!) and always proclaimed that the diagnosis was rubbish. Then in 2007 he was hiv-negative again!! He always resisted treatments and denounced them vehemently. Tommy Morrison also claimed that the hiv+ diagnosis was a way his opponents found to keep him off the boxing ring. Well done, Tommy!Pity, I don't know if there was a follow-up to his status reversal by doctors... but I am sure he doesn't care. What a fine looking fighting machine!
This anonymous patient lives is from Berlin, Germany. In 1995-1996 he was hiv-positive and got started on anti-retrovirals. Then, against his doctor's advice, stopped his treatment. Surprisingly, his viral load which had been very high previously, remained at zero - Hiv couldn't be found in his blood or his lymph (the place where hiv hides and is very difficult to eradicate). Apparently, the Berlin patient is still hiv-positive (traces of the virus are found in his body) but his body keeps the hiv under control. Well done, Berlin patient!Before the availability and widespread use of HAART, people with AIDS usually died of an infection or cancer that was related to HIV infection. With HAART, fewer people with AIDS die of these conditions. They live longer and eventually die of causes that are unrelated to HIV infection.The authors state 'HIV causes AIDS.' OK, so far I can follow. So then, when someone with AIDS (that's serious already a condition), the researchers looked at their death certificate to see what killed them. This is where I get confused: some of them died of HIV-related causes. Some others died of non-HIV related causes.
68,669 people with AIDS 13 years of age or older who were reported to the New York City HIV/AIDS Reporting System and Vital Statistics Registry between 1999 and 2004.
This is a difficult question. I have no idea what drives irrational beliefs. Here are some conjectures:
* Perhaps the AIDS deniers are racist. Most of the lives lost to this nonsense were in Africa. The president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, was for years influenced by the AIDS deniers before adopting the scientific view. Maybe the AIDS deniers want to maximize the death toll in Africa.
* Perhaps the AIDS deniers are homophobic. Their policies may be crafted to kill as many homosexuals as possible.
* Perhaps the AIDS deniers are religious fundamentalists. They may believe that AIDS is God's just punishment for recreational drug use, homosexual intercourse, illicit sex, etc., and scientists should not intervene in God's plan. * Perhaps the AIDS deniers are hoaxers. They don't really believe what they preach; they just want to see how many people they can fool, how many scientists they can irritate, and how many times they can get their names on the web.
* Perhaps the AIDS deniers are eugenicists. They may be trying to improve humanity by ridding the planet of the most gullible people, the very folks who take their advice.
Hepatitis B Drug Can Compromise HIV Treatment - Science Daily (press release)
World Health Organisation: Drug Resistance: HIV/AIDS
Tweaks to its amino acid components boosted its anti-HIV potency by two orders of magnitude. Tests also showed that some derivatives of the molecule are highly stable in human blood plasma, and non-toxic even at very high concentrations.That it is non-toxic is great news but as slusich points out in a comment, how many times have we heard of new, miracle molecules being discovered, cures promised in the next few years? As time passes and we never hear of those wonderful discoveries, we get disappointed and see more of our friends dying.
(2004)