AIDS-Like Virus New Threat To Koala
An anonymous reader writes "A virus that may weaken the immune system of koalas, similar to HIV in humans, is a new 'wild card' among threats facing the species and nearly all koalas in the Australian state of Queensland could already be infected."
I'm pretty sure I know how this all started..
Sleep 18 hours a day and eat the rest of the time. If they gambled too they could be my ex!
oh no Drop Bears now with AIDS, even scarier
It's not a typo if you understood the meaning!
Why is it always the Koalas with STDs? First it was chlamydia, now it's this thing. I blame the tourists.
Does anyone else feel mildly offended every time they see that stupid hat icon they use for Australian stories now? I mean seriously ... is this a serious news site? It'd be like using a picture of Speedy Gonzales for Mexican stories, or a fat man with a mustache saying "mamma mia!" for Italian ones.
GOD HATES KOALAS!!1!!
If it didn't work with year 11 students at my high school I doubt it would work with our other fauna.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
And you should have used protection -- that Koala's a whore!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
And now we know why Geeks will inherit the earth.
That God hates gay koalas
And by that I mean the stereotype that Australians are easy going people who don't take themselves too seriously.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
I think it is time to introduce...
KONDOMS ...condoms custom tailored for Kualas !!!
I wonder what the koala pope has to say about Koalas' promiscuous behavior!
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
The only HIV-like aspect of the virus is that it is a retrovirus. It may even be harmless. BTW, does anyone have data on the prevalence of non-HIV retroviruses in humans?
Set your phasers on "funky"!
No insult intended to gay people.
Hey, you forgot the kangaroos, you insensitive clod!
Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
I don't really see the big deal. The only reason AIDS is a problem is because we tend to feel bad when a large portion of our population dies off. This is bears (ok, bear-like animals) in Australia, natural selection will sort it out.
"Update: BoardTracker recently replaced its spiders with Koalas.."
http://www.boardtracker.com/boards/4/
Um ... a "friend" of mine wants to know. Can it be passed to humans. Just out of curiosity ... yes of course it is. Oh and what are the early symptoms/
The nature article to the news story seems very interesting. As retroviruses have to integrate themselves into the cells genome to replicate, if the retrovirus infects a germline cell the virus can become incorporated into the animals genome and passed to their offspring. This seems to be already happening with this virus and it gives a chance to study the process in action.
About 8% of our genome is probably from ancient viruses which "invaded" our genome millions of years ago. Generally they become deactivated by mutation but they have been implicated in the growth of mammal embryos and the placenta. It would be pretty cool if the placenta, a defining feature of most of the mammals is due to a virus!
The most dangerous drug
Give the Koala's sex-education, hand out condoms and demonize gay sex, because it's for teh gays...
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
Hey, no karma whoring.
No. Next question?
Best Slashdot Co
... and the Koalas!
Yeah one had sex with a monkey then it spread... duh!
All right, I've HAD it! Who's been buggering the poor, cute little koalas?
Nothing to see here but us trolls...move along...
... Because cows already got Mad Cow Disease and chicken already got chicken disease!
I can't even imagine I've said this..
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
How long before someone gets the bright idea to put their thing in that hole,
and start a whole new cross species aids problem.
Was the last time in Africa with baboons?