AIDS Experts Mystified by Harmless HIV

So, now the AIDS experts bunglers are simply "mystified" at HIV+ patients who are healthy!

"What in the heck is going on in people that successfully control this virus?" Walker asked a news conference held at the 16th International Conference on AIDS.

Hey, Genius, a 9000 nucleotide virus (genetically very stupid), that barely infects 1 in 1000 t-cells  (practically inactive) is more of a pussycat, than a tiger.

"If we can figure out how people are doing that, we can try to replicate it."

Well, Genius, avoiding poppers on the front end and AZT on the back end, would be a great start!

In other news, the UN declares that food is a basic necessity for fighting HIV. In a related press release, the UN climatology experts declared that the sun is a basic necessity for not just warmth, but light, too;)

Comments

[Claus]

Hank,

“Elite” HIV patients mystify doctors.

What an incredible article with some incredible statements. The moment of truth really seems to be drawing nearer - fast.

According to Walker, a ‘proper’ HIV+ person off ARVs is expected to die within 2 years. That’s a bold assertion since the stats shows something else, at least for those who give up all ‘unhealthy behaviour’. The 2 year estimate, however, would seem to fit neatly the initial gay party crowd on recreationals and AZT.

An 'elite patient' is one that apparently NEVER develops AIDS! (first time admission that HIV=AIDS=death is an erroneous assumption?). In addition to the ‘elite patients’ there’s a group of long term non-progressors off drugs (How large? Calculating from the 2 years life expectancy, anybody who’s asymptomatic 3-4 years or more?), that do not develop symptoms either except their viral load counts are higher (T-cell count lower?) than the ‘elite’.

The ‘elite patient’ status is determined by a relatively low viral load (Viral load never lies does it? So these people are not false-positives). If the viral load exceeds a certain level, people, in this part of the world at least, are put on drugs. Only if people escape the drugs, they have a chance of becoming elite patients. A LOT of these escapees become ‘non-progressors’ or elite patients in fact, comparing the number to how few are able to refuse the drugs.

In Dr. Walker’s estimate, the ‘elite’ alone constitute 1 in 300. What’s the ratio of patients never developing AIDS or dying from liver failure on ARVs? How many of these patients wouldn’t have died even without the drugs?

Since the viral load level at which drug intervention is deemed necessary has not been determined with reference to the working definition of ‘elite patient’, but the other way round, a lot more people would probably become drug free non-progressors or ‘elite patients’ if drugs were never administered to anybody who’s not symptomatic (seriously ill), but instead strict diets and appropriate exercise.

Whichever way one looks at it, the conclusion is at least 1 of 2: No drugs = better chance of survival, or the tests, including viral load, are flawed.

Now there’s only one lurking suspicion left. Since the non-progressor issue has been known for almost as long as the virus itself, why has it taken 20 years to start real research into it?
Is it really because the human genome wasn’t sufficiently mapped out, as Dr. Walker implies, or could it be the expected conclusions were not very attractive to the industry?:

“They will compare key genetic sequences of the "elite" patients to genetic readouts from healthy people and from other HIV patients. Maybe a few genetic variations can explain what is happening, Walker hopes.”

Insurgent advice: Don’t get your hopes up to high concerning patentable genetic variations Dr. Walker. Don’t get ‘em up too high.

[Lise]

You’re right Claus. And Hank’s other article “Food a basic need in HIV fight’ proves again that the traditional wisdom of ordinary folk is much greater than laboratory scientists. Just listen to Jeune:
Living proof: 28-year-old Joseph Jeune was skeletal before being placed on a food program that included rice, beans, iodized salt and at one point, meat. His family had already purchased his coffin.
"I wouldn't be alive," Jeune, a shoe-shiner from Lascahobas, Haiti, told Reuters through a translator.
"It's the guts that hold up the body. If the gut is empty, how can you stand up?"

To Jeune and every responsible mother, it is common knowledge that everything begins with the gut and what you put in it. But to scientists this is for some reason always breaking news. Here is something I found on that other blog:

"(Sat Jul 29) Professor Satya Dandekar, who led the study, said that, while ARV could be quite successful in reducing HIV’s presence in the blood, the virus still thrived. “The real battle between the virus and exposed individuals is happening in the gut immediately after viral infection,”
If we are able to restore the gut's immune response, the patient will be more likely to clear the virus,” Professor Prindiville said. “You can’t treat any infectious disease without the help of the immune system.”

I have only one question: why don't these people ever listen to what their mums tells them?

[noreen martin]

Wow, I have never heard of a proper HIV person or an elite patient status. I guess after reading the above, that I should count down all the days off the meds, so far 210 and counting. All of this reminds me of old saying, "Those who say that it can't be done, should not stand in the way of those doing it"!