Smallpox Vaccine Could Prevent AIDS

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at George Mason University have published a preliminary report which suggests that the Smallpox vaccine might be able to slow the spread of AIDS. Various news stories have suggested that it may be due to the vaccine interacting with the CCR5 receptor, which is a cellular infection route in another related poxvirus, and also commented on the rise of AIDS in the years after smallpox was declared eradicated and the smallpox vaccine was no longer given as a matter of course."

Comments

Excellent News

[kurosawdust]

This development has the potential to offer hundreds of thousands of slashdotters a world of new opportunities for Not Getting Laid.

Study the recently vaccinated.

[Futurepower(R)]

Recently those in the U.S. military were vaccinated against smallpox. It seems easy to track whether they have a lower incidence of AIDS infection.

Re:Study the recently vaccinated.

[IshanCaspian]

Yes, but the sexual behavior of the US military is hardly indicative of the larger population.

Re:Study the recently vaccinated.

[crow]

While your point is valid, the military should have excellent records as to cases of AIDS among its personnel. So while they wouldn't be able to compare against the general population, they could compare against the expected number based on military statistics.

Of course, troop behaviour changes depending on deployment, so it may still be impossible to generate statistically-significant results.

On the other hand, there is also the population of health care workers who were vaccinated. Study them.

Re:Study the recently vaccinated.

[Elwood P Dowd]

No, that wouldn't be a problem at all.

You test them all now. Also test a large group of healthcare workers that were not vaccinated.

In five years, you test them all again.

Compare the deltas.

No, it's not the most conclusive peice of evidence ever, but it'd be very very interesting.

All military vaccinated. No serious side-effects.

[Futurepower(R)]

Addition to my parent post: This article on a U.S. military web site implies that ALL U.S. military personnel are vaccinated against smallpox: Smallpox Research Project Data Presented

Apparently they were doing what I suggested in my parent post, although the research report doesn't say that: GMU, GW in Patent, Ethics Dispute. The Washington Post article is badly reported, because it doesn't mention the scientific basis for believing smallpox vaccine could stop AIDS.

Hope

[Anonymous Coward]

I just hope that people don't use this announcement, and others like it, to convince theirselves that it's a-okay to go out there and bleep people without protection. I remember reading recently a story, I believe it was in the New York Times but I might be mistaken, that more and more youths (teenagers to those in their upper 20s), feel that AIDS and other STDs are under enough control that they no longer need to use preventive measures.

I've seen two people I cared about very much die due to AIDS over the years. It's a horrible and painful way to go, both for the person infected and for the family and friends involved. If a risk only involves you, that's one thing. But the risk of AIDS involves you, your partner(s), and those who care and love you.

Re:Hope

[penguin7of9]

With already available medication, they can live for an indefinite time more.

That's a dangerous myth. Yes, some people are long term survivors. Yes, medication has helped some. But HIV/AIDS is still a disease that greatly shortens life expectancy. And the treatments are often disfiguring and have serious side-effects. And then there is just the hassle and expense of it all.

In 10 years, medications are expected to be much better and have fewer collateral effects. Specially considering that in 10-15 years genetic therapy will probably already be available.

That's a big gamble, given that so much is still not understood about HIV.

[Older people] tend to be more conservative and think on the long run.

Yes, that's because many of the "less conservative" thinkers have eliminated themselves from the population before becoming old.

Re:Dose of Common Sense Prevents All STDs

[ahknight]

You just need some principle and discipline.

You are so on the wrong site.

Re:All military vaccinated. No serious side-effect

[thinmac]

Well, not *all* U.S. military personnel get the smallpox vaccine. How do I know? I'm one of the ones who hasn't recieved it yet.

The official line is that people get the vaccine if they are deployed in an area in which smallpox is "endemic". I put quotes around it because obviously it's not endemic to anywhere anymore, but the general wisdom is that that means anywhere they're likely to drop it on us.

So, if you're in Iraq you get it, obviously. If you're in San Diego and are unlikely to get deployed elsewhere any time soon, you don't. I'm not sure about places like Germany or Japan, where there are large U.S. installations but not a huge risk of biological attack.

A lot of people are getting it, though. The study you suggest would almost certainly be worthwhile.

think a bit

[boarder]

Have you ever considered that maybe they patented it so that some large corporation COULDN'T? This could be a goodwill patent, similar to releasing code under the GPL (nobody can horde it completely for themselves).

Also, if I make or discover something that completely changes the world and makes it an amazingly better place, you better fscking believe I'm going to patent it and make money. I would release it to the world at a fair price (i.e. not marking it up 1000% like most drug companies), but make some money on it.

HIV-Smallpox Interplay =~ Asthma-Measles Interplay

[reporter]

The fascinating quote is below.

Based on the natural history or spread of HIV in Africa, Weinstein and Alibek proposed that declining immunological responses to smallpox -- due to the elimination of the disease and the discontinuation of immunizations -- may have been associated with the emergence of HIV.

This observation bears an uncanny resemblance to the observation that eliminating various childhood diseases causes a person to later become susceptible to other illnesses. Please visit the web site, "MEDIA REPORTS ASK THE QUESTION: IS THE CURE WORSE THAN THE DISEASE? ". In "Plagued by Cures", "The Economist" observes that the incidence of asthma rose sharply after the elimination of measles, for example.

I would wager good money that Dr. Raymond Weinstein has stumbled onto the cure for AIDS. Please read "Smallpox Vaccine Could Prevent AIDS". All previous attempts tried to attack HIV directly but failed because the virus (1) mutates too rapidly for vaccinations to succeed or (2) cleverly hides in remote cells that anti-viral drugs cannot reach. On the other hand, this proposal by Weinstein to use smallpox vaccination to close the door (i. e. the CCR5 receptor) to HIV infection instead of killing the virus directly just might stop HIV infection.

I am optimistic.

... from the desk of the reporter

Re:HIV+AIDS=Biggest Hoax of 20th century

[inertia187]

I don't know what to think about this. But there are apparently a lot of "authorities" who say this.

If it's a hoax, they've pulled the wool pretty well. Not only the population, but every medical journal too.