Early treatment may be key to stopping transmission, says top AIDS doc
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comThirty years on, AIDS fight may shift to treatment focus
Seeded on Fri Jun 3, 2011 5:05 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
- msnbc.com sites & shows:
- TODAY
- Rock Center
- Nightly News
- Meet the Press
- Dateline
- Morning Joe
- Hardball
- Ed
- Maddow
- Last Word
- msnbc tv
Leave a Comment:
very good information we just need to make this a priority like we did going to the moon. There have been studies where they have at least created a gel/lube that helps to stop the passing of the HIV virus lets get this to work a 100 percent then at we can stop the transmission as most of the times people use some sort of lube so we know they will use it if not a condom.
we also need to make the system more simply to help the ones who are Positive. we need to realize that spending money on keeping people healthy and in a good environment saves money. You just need to prevent people that are HIV Positive from getting to the point that they have to live below poverty in order to get treatment. You also need to get people with a doctor that can manage their health and can make sure they have a stable place to live and have a good support. This would help solve the problems and would cost us so much less money. Yes would cost some at the start but once you fix the problem and get things to where they need to be then you will save.
I am also sadden to see with this being a very important subject that not many people have commented.
My uncle died of AIDS in 1993. He was part of that "California Sexual Revolution" that happened in the late '70's and early '80's, when at the time people thought the worst thing they had to worry about was herpes or hepatitis. He was also part of the early rounds of testing of AIDS medications, the ones that weren't so successful.
If all we can aim for is treatment for now, then so be it; we need to make this a priority in our health care community. People with HIV can live long, healthy and productive lives, but proper treatment needs to be disseminated around the world, especially places like Africa and Asia where the HIV/AIDS rate is booming.
I only wish this knowledge, and these treatments, had been around when my uncle was alive.
sec - You need to deal with the real world. Do you honestly handing out tubes of lube in the gay community will help?
Hey bill in houston ...You do know that HIV/AIDS is more prevalent and passed more easily by heterosexuals right? Yeah, I didn't think so. Know something before you comment.
Hey steven maybe you should know something before YOU comment. Every medical text and book clearly states HIV more easily passed and prevalent among gays here a couple stats I pulled off the CDC so you can think it over:
M F total
Heterosexual contact*
3,832
6,561
10,393
Male-to-male sexual contact
17,005
-
17,005
"fact, 3 out of 4 HIV patients are men
The data reveals that homosexual males are at an increased risk than heterosexual males.
Out of the total diagnosed cases of HIV, more than half were infected through homosexual male contact, about 30% through heterosexual contact"
Maybe you should take your own advice.
Chris incorrect...you cite only US statistics when this is a world-wide problem requiring a world-wide solution. In the United States, the group with the highest rate of HIV infection is men who have sex with men (CDC, 2005). In most regions of the world, however, the group with the highest rates of HIV is people who have heterosexual intercourse. Also, in the US while men currently compose the majority of HIV patients, less than half (~47%, CDC) of those contracted from homosexual relations, but still the highest risk group (i.e. easily passed) is middle-aged black women. Go figure.
Just thought I'd check back....thanks MmmMmmBeer....at least you are one of the few, UNLIKE Chris, who always seem to think that everything revolves around the U.S.
Sorry, I wrote that incorrectly. I meant that you (MmmMmmBeer), knows that everything does not revolve around the U.S.
Bill in Houston I do live in the real world I think its you that dont. I did not say not to have safe sex just that it would be more likely people would use lube when having sex. I never said anything about it just being given to gay people and if you look at the research and who is infected more its the so called straight people. Its people who cant get their head out of the sand like you and see how we can all work together and solve problems that need to be cured.
So, we're giving up on "safe sex", are we...? Why are we not surprised at that approach's failure? AIDS has become a growth industry, for better or worse.
I heard aids came from black people screwing monkeys have you heard of this ?
That is a pretty common rumor Steve-413960, I think even my grandmother believes that, lol. However, the HIV virus descends from the related simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), which infects apes and monkeys in Africa. There is evidence that humans who participate in bushmeat activities, either as hunters or as bushmeat vendors, commonly acquire SIV. Most HIV researchers agree that HIV evolved at some point from the closely related SIV.
steven thanks for the info! I knew it had more to do with eating bushmeat than it did to do with any kind of sexual intercourse, but I hadn't heard it.
An inoculation before sex is NOT what the world needs. 165 country's and we can't get a world class scientific lab set up with the worlds most brilliant minds in one room to work on a cure? Because those same scientists are a bunch of egotistical schmucks looking for glory?
Or that we can spend billions of dollars on bank bailouts, but only a million on aids research?
What crap is that?
If you're interested in an HIV cure or AIDS cure, watch this video...
www.ted.com/talks/seth_berkley_hiv_and_flu_the_vaccine_strategy.html
Of course they're working on a treatment....everyone knows that there isn't enough profit in curing a disease anymore....If you cure someone, you just lost a customer who had to buy pills that cost $200+ a piece. We will NEVER see AIDS/HIV cured because of the insanely greedy pharmaceutical companies...
Please take an immunology or pharmacokenetics course. Then perhaps you'd understand why it is near impossible to "cure" these type of diseases, even after decades of study. There is no magic silver bullet. Also if you knew anything about the pharma industry, you'd know their pricing is based on clinical utility. The value of a cure would therefore be equivalent to a life time of treatment. So yes, if a cure COULD be developed (which it cannot with our current knowledge and technology) it would definitely be marketed at a PREMIUM so those greedy companies would still make their profit and people would still get cured. In the mean time, until technology and research catch up, the best they can do is treat sick individuals and prevent the spread of the disease.
By the way, if you truly believe in this pharma conspiracy theory to make everyone so sick, why do you think there is all this emphasis on prevention?
After 30 years of research we have found it is better to treat a disease early to help slow the spread! Are you kidding me, it took 30 years to figure out you need to treat a disease early.
These people should consider themselves lucky. Alot of people without this disease die from older age ailments younter than some of these. Lets face it when you get older your body just starts to fail. Stop whining, be happy your alive.
Just for the record I did not post the comment above. Somehow they got my name with this post mixed up. We need research to cure all diseases. They should all be a priority.
Safe sex in the gay community and not sharing needles in the drug community is the way to stop the spread of AIDs.
Really Bill, again....not sharing needles in the drug community A+, but read my comment above you dope... #1.3
It's been said "There is no money to be made in a cure, only the Research". Unfortunately, this world is full of greed.
Unfortunately, that statement "has been said" (past tense) and these days no longer holds true in the pharma or biotech industry. The research has been extremely costly to pharma companies without much return, so they are rethinking the R&D model (so clearly there is little-to-no money left in research). Yes, the world is full of greed, and a cure would have a value equivalent to a lifetime of treatment....and people would pay that premium. Until the technology catches up, treatment and prevention are the best options.
As we watch America slowly go down the drain. The World must be laughing their heads off at us. We are bankrupt, high unemployment, numerous other problems, yet we prioritize on this. If your gay be gay, why is it always got to be national news in your face?