Slashdot Mirror
AIDS Virus Now Estimated To Be 100 Years Old
ChazeFroy writes "A new study estimates that the AIDS virus, HIV, started to circulate in the human population between 1884 and 1924, with a more focused estimate at 1908. This is much earlier than the previously-held estimate of 1930. 'The new result is "not a monumental shift, but it means the virus was circulating under our radar even longer than we knew," says Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona, an author of the new work.' The article also speculates that HIV first began to spread in Kinshasa, Congo."
If this is a serious post about a serious topic, there's some serious delusion going on right here. Who thought it was a good idea to trust Horowitz? I can't seem to find my previous comment, but anyone interested in seeing how much smoke an antivaccinationist lunatic selling trinkets and water can blow to convince ignorant but well-meaning people into hurting themselves and their children, just go to his website. Or read what he's written and compare it to the reality of the situation, how HIV works, how vaccines work, how he distorts facts to inflate dangers and assign blame. Anyone with rudimentary knowledge of HIV and statistics can see the flaws in his argumentation, but if you're still interesting there's some easy things and some hard things you can do.
Easy things would be listening to what experts on the subjects have to say about him, people who have done actual lab work and put in the time studying to understand these things. Or you could listen to the "debate" on the Infidel Guy Show between him and SA Smith where the irrational, non-sequitur anger rises up multiple times. The hard thing would be actually learning about HIV itself, but it would also give you the knowledge necessary to speak in an informed matter on the topic and not have to make the oh-so-hard decision of believing scores of scientists from various fields versus a patent medicine quack.