Slashdot Mirror
AIDS Vaccine Breakthrough
Doc Ruby writes "Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in MD, USA announced they've disrupted the means by which HIV stops the immune system from attacking it. From the article: 'Scientists say they have found a way to disarm the AIDS virus in research that could lead to a vaccine. Researchers have discovered that if they eliminate a cholesterol membrane surrounding the virus, HIV cannot disrupt communication among disease-fighting cells and the immune system returns to normal. [...] "By stealing cholesterol from the envelope of the virus, we can neutralize the subversion," said Graham. "We've broken the code; we can shut down the type of interference that HIV is having on the immune system."'"
Laugh all you like, but if people actually took that advice a few years ago we wouldn't have AIDS anymore.
That and "Don't share needles".
Abstinence is the worst of all the safe-sex choices.
The best way to describe it is, "It is 100% effective, when used correctly. When not used correctly it is 0% effective, and among females and males between 14-25 it has a very high failure rate."
How many non-Slashdot users do you know that are 25 years old and never had sex?
Check out my sci-fi book "Lacuna" at http://goo.gl/MVxX8
Aye, and if my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a wagon.
The problem with this advice – and pretty much every other "just say no" solution to a social or medical problem – is that it ignores human nature... and the empirically documented fact that it simply doesn't work. Some people inevitably will have unprotected sex, will share needles, and will do everything else that they're told not to do. A "solution" that ignores this fact is one that is not 100% effective.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Problem is there is this nasty thing called "religion" whose adherents keep on insisting that condoms are somehow wrong, and that sex is for procreation only.
A big part of the problem is all those religious jerks that are coming to those third world countries to insist on that. Fortunately they're not getting all that much traction in civilized places, but in third world countries it's devastating.
Add to that ridiculous notions held by people in some of those countries, like that sex with a virgin will cure you, and you have one horrible mess as a result.
Kicking out all those missionaries and bringing in some proper education would do wonders.
That's... 100% backwards. If i had sex with a hundred women (yeah, i'm on slashdot, i wish) got AIDS and died, but that sex resulted in a half dozen kids then natural selection would favor me a hell of a lot more than someone who practiced complete abstinence.
Natural selection only "cares" (yes, i'm anthropomorphizing it, get over it) if you have kids and how many. It doesn't give a damn if you survive the process or not.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank