HIV cure?

[PenguinHunter]

Caution over HIV 'cure' claims

Doctors say they want to investigate the case of a British man with HIV who apparently became clear of the virus.
Andrew Stimpson, 25, was diagnosed HIV-positive in 2002 but was found to be negative in October 2003 by Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust.

Mr Stimpson, from London, said he was "one of the luckiest people alive".

The trust said the tests were accurate but had been unable to confirm Scotsman Mr Stimpson's cure because he had declined to undergo further tests.

A statement from the trust said: "This is a rare and complex case. When we became aware of Mr Stimpson's HIV negative test results we offered him further tests to help us investigate and find an explanation for the different results.


"So far Mr Stimpson has declined this offer."

A trust spokeswoman added: "We urge him, for the sake of himself and the HIV community, to come in and get tested.

"If he doesn't feel that he can come to Chelsea and Westminster then he should please go to another HIV specialist."

'Miracle'

There have been anecdotal accounts before from Africa of people shaking off the HIV virus.

Mr Stimpson, who is originally from Largs in Ayrshire, said: "There are 34.9 million people with HIV globally and I am just one person who managed to control it, to survive from it and to get rid of it from my body.

"For me that is unbelievable - it is a miracle. I think I'm one of the luckiest people alive."

Mr Stimpson told the News of the World and Mail on Sunday that he became depressed and suicidal after being told he was HIV-positive but remained well and did not require medication.

Further tests

Some 14 months later he was offered another test by doctors, which came back negative.

He sought compensation but has apparently been told there is no case to answer because there was no fault with the testing procedure.

He has told the papers he would do anything he could to help find a cure.

Deborah Jack, chief executive of the National Aids Trust, said: "This appears to be a highly unusual case and without further tests it is impossible to draw any conclusions for people living with HIV.

"The virus is extremely complex and there are many unknowns about how it operates and how people's bodies react to it.

"Therefore, if this case were able to shed further light, it could be extremely valuable for research into treatments or a cure."

Vaccine clue

Aids expert Dr Patrick Dixon, from international Aids group Acet, said the case was "very, very unusual".

"I've come across many anecdotal reports of this kind of thing happening in Africa, some quite recently, but it's difficult to verify them," he told BBC News 24.

"You have to be rock-solid sure that both samples came from the same person, no mix-up in the laboratory, no mistakes in the testing, etc.

"This is the first well-documented case."

He said the case was important because "inside his immune system is perhaps a key that could allow us to develop some kind of vaccine".


Copied from BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4432564.stm

It'll be interesting to see what happens with this.

[2ds]

I like hiv, it renforces the fact that all your actions have consequences.

-2ds

[Rhu]

I have absolutely nothing to add to this topic, except it reminded me of the words of one visionary:


I dunno how much AIDS scares y'all, but I got a theory: the day they come out with a cure for AIDS, a guaranteed one-shot cure, on that day there's gonna be fucking in the streets, man.

Here's hoping it is true, entirely for selfish reasons.

[Ivy]

Perhaps not what you had in mind posting this, PH, but to me the article presents an interesting ethical dilemma.

Millions of people are dying of AIDS, and this one guy seems to have gone from HIV+ to HIV- by means unknown to the medical community. Obviously he cannot be forced to submit to further testing, but is it ethical for him to refuse when his case could potentially help save millions of lives? In a larger sense, would a person be ethically obligated to become a guinea pig if doing so is likely to prevent millions of deaths?

[Wiki]

MAGIC JOHSON IS CURED. If you have the millions, they will direct you to the secret natural and unpatentable treatment that cures you. If you dont have the millions of dollars, you only get the drug coctails that make the drug companies rich, as there is more money to be made from your slow demise.

There is little profit in cures, there is plenty to be made from drugs that will sustain you.
Drug companies and the FDA make way too much profit from the corrupt system.

They could prevent cavities for good by bacterial manipulation and engineering, but think what would it do to the dental industry income? What powers that control would allow this to happen?

The Facism in this country is perverse.

Big corporations will continue to lobby the politians for their own special interest and gain, at the expense of you and your children. It IS the American way.
These are the entities that run this country. Their greed, deception, corruption, and control has little accountability and rarely suffers any true consequence.

Bi-partisan politics will not save us in the USA. Nuclear weapons will not protect the world but only destroy it.

I have no faith in mankind to solve its problems, only to compound them.

My only hope is that the creator of mankind one day will have mercy on our souls.

And if you dislike or dont believe in God, then you are stuck with the hopes that mankind achieves peace, racial, and economic harmony, prior to destroying ourselves. Maybe the rescue of friendly aliens at best, otherwise your existence remains somewhat in vain.

Have a nice day!

[PenguinHunter]

Perhaps not what you had in mind posting this, PH, but to me the article presents an interesting ethical dilemma.

Millions of people are dying of AIDS, and this one guy seems to have gone from HIV+ to HIV- by means unknown to the medical community. Obviously he cannot be forced to submit to further testing, but is it ethical for him to refuse when his case could potentially help save millions of lives? In a larger sense, would a person be ethically obligated to become a guinea pig if doing so is likely to prevent millions of deaths?

Actually that is one of the thoughts that went through my mind as posted this. I was thinking it could make for a good movie or book. He doesn't seem all that enthusiastic to get back to the tests at the moment. If the situation gets desperate could probably be bought, but still hard to know what to do if he decides not to go back. Does he have any claim to a cure discovery if one is developed? He doesn't have to do much of the work to figure out how his body works but it is HIS body after all.

[PenguinHunter]

MAGIC JOHSON IS CURED. If you have the millions, they will direct you to the secret natural and unpatentable treatment that cures you. If you dont have the millions of dollars, you only get the drug coctails that make the drug companies rich, as there is more money to be made from your slow demise.

There is little profit in cures, there is plenty to be made from drugs that will sustain you.
Drug companies and the FDA make way too much profit from the corrupt system.

They could prevent cavities for good by bacterial manipulation and engineering, but think what would it do to the dental industry income? What powers that control would allow this to happen?

The Facism in this country is perverse.

Big corporations will continue to lobby the politians for their own special interest and gain, at the expense of you and your children. It IS the American way.
These are the entities that run this country. Their greed, deception, corruption, and control has little accountability and rarely suffers any true consequence.

Bi-partisan politics will not save us in the USA. Nuclear weapons will not protect the world but only destroy it.

I have no faith in mankind to solve its problems, only to compound them.

My only hope is that the creator of mankind one day will have mercy on our souls.

And if you dislike or dont believe in God, then you are stuck with the hopes that mankind achieves peace, racial, and economic harmony, prior to destroying ourselves. Maybe the rescue of friendly aliens at best, otherwise your existence remains somewhat in vain.

Have a nice day!


Good thing this didn't happen in the USA then! :smooch:

[Ivy]

MAGIC JOHSON IS CURED. If you have the millions, they will direct you to the secret natural and unpatentable treatment that cures you. If you dont have the millions of dollars, you only get the drug coctails that make the drug companies rich, as there is more money to be made from your slow demise.

There is little profit in cures, there is plenty to be made from drugs that will sustain you.
Drug companies and the FDA make way too much profit from the corrupt system.

They could prevent cavities for good by bacterial manipulation and engineering, but think what would it do to the dental industry income? What powers that control would allow this to happen?

The Facism in this country is perverse.

Big corporations will continue to lobby the politians for their own special interest and gain, at the expense of you and your children. It IS the American way.
These are the entities that run this country. Their greed, deception, corruption, and control has little accountability and rarely suffers any true consequence.

Bi-partisan politics will not save us in the USA. Nuclear weapons will not protect the world but only destroy it.

I have no faith in mankind to solve its problems, only to compound them.

My only hope is that the creator of mankind one day will have mercy on our souls.

And if you dislike or dont believe in God, then you are stuck with the hopes that mankind achieves peace, racial, and economic harmony, prior to destroying ourselves. Maybe the rescue of friendly aliens at best, otherwise your existence remains somewhat in vain.

Have a nice day!

I feel like I just read the Dr. Bronner's soap bottle. :) (You know I love you Wiki!)

PS in case the Dr. Bronner reference was too granola-mom for this crowd: http://iconocla.st/dr.bronner/

[panda]

And if you dislike or dont believe in God, then you are stuck with the hopes that mankind achieves peace, racial, and economic harmony, prior to destroying ourselves. Maybe the rescue of friendly aliens at best, otherwise your existence remains somewhat in vain.
My existence is in vain if the world doesn't solve all of its problems? My life is worthless if the world is imperfect?

How does that make any sense?

In summary: :wtf:

[distraction tactics]

LATE-BREAKING NEWS!! 9/11 CONSPIRACY!! HIBBLYHOOBEEEJABULALONGLIA$#$^$

man, that was emotionally exhausting...

Did you know the motor companies have actually created an internal combustion engine that CREATES gas? Thing is, it will never go to market because then all the oil companies will go out of business and shit, you know what happens when Dick Cheney's Halliburton (shot JFK) stock profits head south... money stuff doesn't work like it should.. and uh, gays start getting married and it's a complete destruction of the American Way of Life!!

[tinribz]

Surley all we need to do is get a small sample of his blood, add some green dye from a test tube and put the antidote in to the water supply.

Oh yeah, I don't live in a movie. Do I?

[eyebyte_atWork]

I truely believe that humans will die off sooner than later - not so much by the hand os mankind - but by viruses - eventually they will get us all.

[Wiki]

My existence is in vain if the world doesn't solve all of its problems? My life is worthless if the world is imperfect?

How does that make any sense?

In summary: :wtf:Yes, I said in vain. If you want to be worthless then go talk to Hustler ;)

[ApeTheDog]

He never had aids in the first place. Not hard to get cured of it like that.

Oh look. I just cured myself of aids just now.

And I did it again now!

Anyway, it was a media hype. I don't really know the fine details either - just that he never had aids in the first place. I heard from scientists that a cure for AIDS can be expected within perhaps 20 years or so.

[nottaprettygal]

Anyway, it was a media hype. I don't really know the fine details either - just that he never had aids in the first place. I heard from scientists that a cure for AIDS can be expected within perhaps 20 years or so.

I don't think it's media hype, but it sounds to me like his original test was a false positive. Although I'm sure false positives are very rare, somehow I'm willing to bet that magically being cured of HIV is slightly rarer.

[ApeTheDog]

I don't think it's media hype, but it sounds to me like his original test was a false positive. Although I'm sure false positives are very rare, somehow I'm willing to bet that magically being cured of HIV is slightly rarer.

I think it was, but maybe we differ about the interpretation. For me, the media hype is how this news showed up in every newspaper I know of, on this forum, on slashdot, on digg.com, and so on - when the results hadn't even been verified.

But yes, I'm sure nobody did this on purpose. I think it's akin to the nature of the need for a cure for cancer that anything that seems to lead to one gets immediate media exposure.

[nomir_dva]

I truely believe that humans will die off sooner than later - not so much by the hand os mankind - but by viruses - eventually they will get us all.

I don't think it's possible, not from any naturally-occuring pathogen, anyway. We're too good at reproducing. The virus could kill 99.9% of the people and the survivors would take it upon themselves to repopulate the planet.

[tinribz]

Then again, maybe this could be a new dinosaur extinction theory?

[panda]

My only hope is that the creator of mankind one day will have mercy on our souls.

And if you dislike or dont believe in God, then you are stuck with the hopes that mankind achieves peace, racial, and economic harmony, prior to destroying ourselves. Maybe the rescue of friendly aliens at best, otherwise your existence remains somewhat in vain.

Have a nice day!

vain Audio pronunciation of "vain" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vn)
adj. vain·er, vain·est

1. Not yielding the desired outcome; fruitless: a vain attempt.
2. Lacking substance or worth: vain talk.
3. Excessively proud of one's appearance or accomplishments; conceited.
4. Archaic. Foolish.


Idiom:
in vain

1. To no avail; without success: Our labor was in vain.
2. In an irreverent or disrespectful manner: took the Lord's name in vain.
You're clearly saying that our lives are without worth if we're eventually destroyed or we don't solve all of our problems.

I'm saying that's bullshit.

[Claverhouse]

No, Wiki's right --- and this has been mentioned here enough --- fairly obviously, without a God+Afterlife to give meaning, then every single action you make for whatever impulse is ultimately pointless. You could in your lifetime, cure cancer/AIDS, bring entire enforced world peace about, and end hunger: once you are dead though, you will be nothing and your beneficiaries will also be nothing to you since you are nothing, and nothing to themselves when they are inevitably nothing.

It's a win-win game for Nothing.


Claverhouse http://intpcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/ninja.gif


Didn't get his point about fascism though, I can't think of any place where there's less fascism than the US: even the military, the traditional allies of fascism in order for it to rule, have far less say than big corporations. And corporations aren't the same thing as fascist corporativism.

[panda]

No, Wiki's right --- and this has been mentioned here enough --- fairly obviously, without a God+Afterlife to give meaning, then every single action you make for whatever impulse is ultimately pointless.
Of course it's ultimately pointless. I meant that we can give (subjective) meaning to our lives, if we choose.

Anyway, I don't see why there has to be perfect harmony on earth for us to do so. And how "aliens" would give our lives meaning, I have no idea.

[Wiki]

Look I like you guys (and the karate kitty is awesome). You dont need me to tell you you have worth, do you?
Its like cleaverhouse elaborated whatever you do its dust to dust.

[Claverhouse]

Anyway, I don't see why there has to be perfect harmony on earth for us to do so. And how "aliens" would give our lives meaning, I have no idea. We could fight them. And that would make us realise how futile are our differences and so bring us all together in happy harmony with universal democratic values, regardless of sex, age, race or mental ability. See Mars Attacks.



Claverhouse http://intpcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/ninja.gif

[panda]

You dont need me to tell you you have worth, do you?
Certainly not. In fact, the very question makes my skin crawl.


Its like cleaverhouse elaborated whatever you do its dust to dust.
Yes, of course. However, the idea that the world must be in perfect harmony in order for the heathen to find worth is laughable.

[panda]

We could fight them. And that would make us realise how futile are our differences and so bring us all together in happy harmony with universal democratic values, regardless of sex, age, race or mental ability. See Mars Attacks.
:rofl:

Ok, that was funny.

[PenguinHunter]

He never had aids in the first place. Not hard to get cured of it like that.

Oh look. I just cured myself of aids just now.

And I did it again now!

Anyway, it was a media hype. I don't really know the fine details either - just that he never had aids in the first place. I heard from scientists that a cure for AIDS can be expected within perhaps 20 years or so.

I believe he tested positive several times. The odds of that are slim. I'm skeptical but I'm not about to call it bullshit yet. There were pretty strange circumstances around the thing. I'm pretty sure they still have his old samples so at the moment they are checking out them to see if they screwed up back then or if he really has managed to fight off the virus. There have been reports of the virus weakening speculations of similar "cures" happening in different parts of Africa. He wasn't "cured" exactly, but if his body has managed to produce antibodies which bind with a part of the virus that doesn't change (the notorious difficulty in dealing with HIV/AIDS) then a cure may come significantly faster.

If not, oh well. . . made for a feel good story.

[2ds]

I didn't htink this was particularly unusual.. unlikely buti beleive some peoples immune systems were able to fight it?

-2ds

[afton]

Be careful not to let the condom slipped when you have sexual intercourse.
YOu can contract HIV that way.

[tinribz]

No, Wiki's right --- and this has been mentioned here enough --- fairly obviously, without a God+Afterlife to give meaning, then every single action you make for whatever impulse is ultimately pointless.

I would guess this has come up before but in what way does religion give a meaning to life or answer the question why are we here?

I see the religious types smugly wandering around like they hold all the answers but it is wot. Souls are created on earth go through this bizzare test for good or bad and then go to eternal torture or eternal pleasure....? Wot is the point in that, what exactly does it achieve? What about rehabilitation! Or will that be in the revised edition.

[Neppy]

Dammit! I can't believe he refuses to be tested further. Well, I can see why he wouldn't want doctors and scientists prodding at him with sticks, but damn.

:blink:

[Claverhouse]

I would guess this has come up before but in what way does religion give a meaning to life or answer the question why are we here? I have no idea whether it does, or whether there is a question as to 'why are we here ?' There's an old army song, sung in trenches, barracks and queues: 'We're here, because we're here, because we're here, because we're here, because we're here, because we're here' [ad infinitum] Why should there be an answer ? And are you or anyone else important enough to be vouchsafed an answer by the Keepers of the Gates of Dawn if they happen to know the answer ?



I see the religious types smugly wandering around like they hold all the answers but it is wot. Souls are created on earth go through this bizzare test for good or bad and then go to eternal torture or eternal pleasure....? Wot is the point in that, what exactly does it achieve? What about rehabilitation! Or will that be in the revised edition. That's only according to some religions... for buddism as an example you combine both religion and atheism to come up with a system whereby part of you is reborn in cycles of suffering and purification in order to end up as ineffable nothing: a drop returned to the sea, Whereas christian faiths, and Islam postulate eternity in one place or the other as a consequence of your scorecard here.

Anyway, what does it matter ? God may not care what you think, believe or do. Whatever happens you are no worse off than not existing at all. The point is that God+Afterlife do provide a reason for doing something down here: if you only have say 70 years of existence before being blanked out into nothingness forever --- just like that ---and most of that rubbish, there's certainly no point in doing anything at all.


Claverhouse http://intpcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/ninja.gif