HIV/AIDS
sa smith | August 24, 2012NOH MAH GAWD!!!
Mysterious Disease Leaves Patients With AIDS-like Symptons, But Not HIV
Researchers have identified a mysterious new disease that has left scores of people in Asia and some in the United States with AIDS-like symptoms even though they are not infected with HIV. [bolding original]
Researchers identify rare adult immune disease in Asia
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified a new disease among people in Asia that causes AIDS-like symptoms but is not associated with HIV.
HIV-like immunodeficiency observed in Asia
Researchers have discovered an…
sa smith | July 27, 2012Many ERV readers are aware of 'The Berlin Patient'-- The fellow who has seemingly cleared the HIV-1 virus after receiving a bone marrow transplant to treat his lymphoma (we say 'seemingly' because we dont really know what 'cured' is with HIV yet).
The Berlin Patient was a rather unique case in that he got a transplant from someone who is CCR5 negative. CCR5 is the dominant co-receptor HIV-1 uses to infect host cells. The idea was, if most of the patients HIV-susceptible cells were killed with radiation/chemo, and they were replaced with donor cells that lacked CCR5, then any virus…
sa smith | July 24, 2012Despite the fact that the radically religious and conservative politicians like to focus on homosexual males and IV drug use leading to HIV-1 infection, the fact of the matter is, heterosexual women are the fastest growing group of HIV-1 patients in the US (and Africa, and Asia)-- even women in committed relationships (usually considered 'low risk').
It then naturally follows that if heterosexual women are getting infected, then the babies born to these women are also at risk of contracting HIV-1.
Unfortunately, this is the group of HIV-1 patients that I study. Babies born to HIV-1 positive…
sa smith | July 3, 2012If you are reading this blog, you already know all about how a huge portion of your genome is parasitic junk DNA (~40-45%), a fraction of which is retroviral junk (ERVs, ~9%). If youre new here... SURPRISE!
Sure, we have a gene here, a promoter there (maybe) that was domesticated for human genome use, but its junk, and that is a good thing. I mean, if our genome was 9% retrovirus and every one of them was active, we would all be dead from the insertional mutagenesis alone.
So your genome and cells have evolved lots of ways to make sure your junk DNA stays junk... but I guess ERVs are like…
lborkowski | June 26, 2012by Kim Krisberg
Just a few years ago in Butte County, Calif., it wasn't unusual for public health workers to administer more than 1,000 free HIV tests every year. In true public health fashion, they'd bring screening services to the people, setting up in neighborhoods, parks and bars, at special community events and visiting the local drug treatment facility and jail. The goal was prevention and education, and no one got turned away.
That was before 2009, which is when California state legislators cut millions in HIV prevention and education funds from the state budget. The cut meant that…
sa smith | June 20, 2012Luc Montagnier was once one of Gods of Science.
Dude was head of one of the groups of scientists who ultimately discovered HIV-1 was the cause of the AIDS pandemic.
Wonderful science that amazes me-- The things they could do when we didnt know anything, when they didnt have the technology that I have-- Amazing.
Im not the only one-- Montagnier got part of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008 for his part of the work.
And then... something went wrong...
As cataloged by Orac, Montagnier started pushing any number of absurd, if not blatantly anti-science agendas-- from homeopathy and autism woo,…
sa smith | June 14, 2012Welp, I cant blame this one on pop news.
The latest controversy over the HIV-1 patient functionally cured of HIV/AIDS shouldnt be that big of a deal. Scientists are asking the question "What does it mean to be 'cured' of HIV? What is our definition of 'cured'? How will we know 'cured' when we see it?"
Those are actually damn good questions. HIV-1 can infect cells and remain dormant for years and years and years. You might *think* the virus is gone, but it really isnt. Its just hiding. Or, maybe those 'hiding' viruses are stuck, and finding them doesnt mean the person is at risk of…
sa smith | May 31, 2012I can think of at least two 'worst nightmares' for vaccine designers.
Your vaccine looked super in animal models and such... but it turns out to be directly harmful to people. And not 'some' people. All people.
Your vaccine actually does the opposite of what you want it to do-- instead of preventing the disease, it makes people more prone to the disease.
That second one is a nightmare come to life for a group of HIV-1 scientists:
Extended follow-up confirms early vaccine-enhanced risk of HIV acquisition and demonstrates waning effect over time among participants in a randomized trial of…
sa smith | May 25, 2012If you had asked me 6 years ago about using gene therapy to fight HIV/AIDS, I would have given you a nice rant about how expensive it is, how non-viable it is in the places that need anti-HIV strategies the most, how dangerous it can be, and I would have been damn offended you even considered it. Waste of valuable resources.
Flash forward to today... I am actually starting to think its not such a bad idea.
Well, specific kinds of gene therapy for HIV-1 might not be such a bad idea. One such idea is 'Chimeric Antigen Receptors', or, CARs. CARs are half laboratory designed antibody (to…
sa smith | May 18, 2012I have a some updates on a few stories I covered the past couple of weeks:
Some people who proclaim to have 'chronic fatigue syndrome' show everyone just how NOT CRAZY they are... by transcribing my entire interview with Conspiracy Skeptic by hand (they cant hold a job you see-- 'brain fog') and comparing me to a cheerleader/goat, and fantasizing about me getting my comeuppance for daring to speak negatively about St. Judy Mikovits (ie-- tell everyone the bullshit she and her comrades have been up to). Just to be clear, these folks are NOT CRAZY. THEYRE NOT FUCKING CRAZY GODDAMMIT!!!! We…
sa smith | May 15, 2012There are two groups of people I would be perfectly happy if they all just disappeared. Like, right now.
1-- Politicians
2-- Clergy/reverends/pastors/whatevers
Even the shittiests, hipsterish of musicians contributes more to positive to society than those two groups of people. Stephanie Meyer has contributed more positive to society than those two groups of people. The fictional characters on the HBO television show 'Girls' (I cant even hate watch that show) have contributed more positive to society than those two groups of people.
Politicians and 'people of god' are useless, stupid…
sa smith | May 14, 2012So some panel at the FDA just approved this antiretroviral drug, Truvada-- they say its okay to prescribe this drug for HIV negative people to keep them from getting HIV.
Im going to this news the nicest way possible:I think there were a lot of MDs, and very few PhDs, on this FDA review panel. If you know what I mean.
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I have been over this before--The Pill for HIV-1The Pill for HIV-1: Never mindThe Pill for HIV: A bad idea, actually
--Prescribing an antiretroviral to negative individuals to prevent HIV is a neat idea. When it comes to this particular antiretroviral, it appears…
sa smith | April 18, 2012Via jonnyneviripine:Maria Papagiannidou died last Sunday. Another very public and active denialist has kicked the bucket; sad but predictable. Her face and "story" is all over the internet. You can read more about her there. I know she contacted some people I know about starting HAART but presumably she left it a bit late. She and her husband did everything within their considerable powers to rubbish HIV science, question the medicine and scare people away from treatment: for that she's now paid the ultimate price.
Maria Papagiannidou (or ÎαÏία ΠαÏαγιαννίδοÏ, if youre Greek),…
sa smith | April 17, 2012This is just another excuse to poke fun at the stupidity of Creationists--
Creationists try to lecture us all the time about how 'perfect' our immune system is. How wonderful and precise and intelligently designed it is obviously points towards the existence of a creator god (aka the Christian god).
Well, if our immune system is the best their god can do, then we should all be worshiping HIV-1, because its 'smarter'. Its been outwitting our immune systems for well over a century, and outwitting some of the best thinkers of our time and the best technology we have to offer for three decades…
sa smith | February 16, 2012Conceptually, having something like The Pill anyone could take every day to prevent HIV-1 infections would be a good idea. Take some kind of preventative antretrovirals when you are sexually active and feel you are 'at risk', maybe prevent some new HIV-1 infections.
We had hopes that an antiretroviral drug Tenofovir would work in precisely that manner. It kinda worked as a microbicide for women. And then it kinda worked as a pill in homosexual men.
And then it turned out that in other larger clinical trials, Tenofovir didnt work well at all, in pill or microbicide form.
Tenofovirs failures…
sa smith | February 14, 2012Hey, do you all remember Michael Behe?
Dude was for real 'famous' a while back (not just 'Christian famous'). He went on talk shows and news programs (including the Colbert Report) to talk about his personal brand of Creationism, Intelligent Design.
Unfortunately, things 'didnt go as planned' with Intelligent Design. The courts didnt buy ID, in no small part thanks to the asshatty defense of it given by Michael Behe.
Even The Arguments Regarding Design 'think tank', the Discovery Institute, has abandoned ID in favor of pushing 'academic freedom' bills in state legislatures.
Behe also helped…
sa smith | January 30, 2012Im glad none of you accused me of joking or exaggerating when I told this story:A *very* common exchange I have with the general public regarding HIV-1:
Person-- Where did HIV-1 come from?Me-- HIV-1 is related to a virus we can find in African primates, SIV. SIV crossed over from chimpanzees to the human population to make 'HIV' sometime in the late 1800s, early 1900s. This event happened at least three times, giving us the three groups of HIV-1, Groups M, N, and O, however it most likely has occurred numerous times over the course of human evolution, it just never lead to a pandemic like…
sa smith | January 24, 2012We in the skeptic community like to make fun of naturopaths and homeopaths and all the snake oil salesmen out there. While its a good ol laugh here in the West, if not nostalgic, the damage these charlatans can do in other parts of the world is not funny at all.
Long-time readers of SciBlogs might remember someone named Matthias RathIn the battle of science versus woo...The Dr. Will Sue You Now - A stolen chapter from Ben Goldacre's book Bad Science
Homeboy got rich taking advantage of desperate HIV/AIDS patients in Africa. Gave them some 'magic potion' of Vitamin C to cure HIV/AIDS HE…
denialism | January 9, 2012Via Ed
If you ever wondered what motivated this particular HIV/AIDS denialist this video makes it obvious. Duesberg comes out and blames homosexual promiscuity for AIDS rather than a virus. I think examples like this make it clearer that the ideology responsible for this denialism is plain just plain homophobia after all. This is, of course, appealing to right wing ideologues so where does Duesberg end up? On right wing radio with the American Family Association's Brian Fischer proposing the absurd "AIDS was invented for gays to steal grant-money" conspiracy theory. I think the…
sa smith | January 6, 2012I think the unofficial Favorite Journal of ScienceBlogs has got to be the journal, Medical Hypotheses. It used to be, you could take two different approaches if you wanted to publish in Medical Hypotheses. 1-- Smash your face into your keyboard for 15 minutes. Submit for publication. Or, the less expedient 2-- Leave your laptop open on your bed and let your cat walk/take naps/play on the keyboard for a couple of days. Submit.
See, Medical Hypotheses had no peer review step in its publication process, so the kookiest, most dumbdiddilous crap could get published there, from anti-vax idiocy…