Hiv @ MindSay 
Some people are misled to believe that if they take birth control pills, they are protecting themselves not only from getting pregnant but also from infection with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, birth control pills or other types of birth control, such as intrauterine devices (IUDs), Depo-Provera, or tubal ligation will NOT protect you from HIV and other STDs.
According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the male latex condom is the only birth control method that is proven to help protect you from HIV and other STDs. If you are allergic to latex, there are condoms made of polyurethane that you can use. Condoms come lubricated (which can make sexual intercourse more comfortable and pleasurable) and non-lubricated (which can be used for oral sex).
It is important to only use latex or polyurethane condoms to protect against HIV and other STDs. "Natural" or "lambskin" condoms have tiny pores that may allow for the passage of viruses like HIV, hepatitis B and herpes.
If you use non-lubricated condoms for vaginal or anal sex, you can add lubrication with water-based lubricants (like KY jelly) that you can buy at a drug store. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, you should never use oil-based products, such as massage oils, baby oil, lotions, or petroleum jelly, to lubricate a condom. These will weaken the condom, causing it to tear or break.
It is very important to use a condom correctly and consistently - which means every time you have vaginal, oral, or anal sex. If you do not know how to use a condom, talk with your doctor or nurse. Don't be embarrassed.
Also, do not assume that your partner knows how to use a condom correctly. Many men have never had anyone show them how. The biggest reason condoms fail is due to incorrect use. Male condoms can only be used once. Research is being done to find out how effective the female condom is in preventing HIV and other STDs.
A 42-year-old in Germany, previously suffering from AIDS, has not had the disease detected in his system for nearly two years following a bone marrow transplant. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal sent to us by fiveacez : “… The breakthrough appears to be that Dr. Hütter, a soft-spoken hematologist who isn't an AIDS specialist, deliberately replaced the patient's bone marrow cells with those from a donor who has a naturally occurring genetic mutation that renders his cells immune to almost all strains of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.”
The mutation is rare, but not exceedingly so. According to the report, about 1% of Europeans have a natural immunity to most strains of HIV. On the downside, the transplant itself is also risky, with a mortality rate of 30%.
Nonetheless, it’s an interesting potential breakthrough in the search for a cure to one of the world’s most deadly diseases. Definitely give the WSJ article a read for some more details about it.
Apparently two years ago, someone out there has a natural immunity to the HIV virus. A patient with HIV received a bone marrow transplant from this person, so the HIV virus can't infect the white blood cells. The patient is still HIV free.
All I have to say is FINALLY! It's about time we got a cure for a disease that widespread.
ok then..here you go
The arrival of colonial cities in sub-Saharan Africa at the dawn of the 20th Century may have sparked the spread of HIV.
US experts analysed one of the earliest samples of the virus ever found, in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1959.
The study, published in the journal Nature, suggests the virus may have crossed from apes to humans between 1884 and 1924.
They believe newly-built cities may have allowed the virus to thrive.
| | I think the picture that has emerged here, is that changes the human population experienced may have opened to the door to the spread of HIV Dr Michael Worobey University of Arizona, Tucson |
Aids, the illness caused by HIV, was first reported by doctors in 1981, but the virus had been around for many decades before that.
HIV is not a single virus - there are a number of different strains and subtypes of strains, some sharing the same "founder event" in history, in which a single human was infected.
Scientists believe that these "founder events" may have involved eating monkeys infected with a similar virus.
Research published last year found the viral ancestor of a subtype of HIV responsible for most modern cases in the US and Europe in a blood sample taken in Leopoldville, the capital of Belgian Congo - now Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Now the same team, from the University of Arizona at Tucson, has found another sample containing a different subtype in a 1960 sample from a different patient in the same city.
HIV ancestor
By analysing the genetic differences between the two viruses, and calculating the amount of time these differences would take to evolve, they now say that the two probably have a common ancestor dating from at least 50 years earlier.
Dr Michael Worobey, who led the research, said: "Now, for the first time, we have been able to compare two relatively ancient HIV strains.
"That helped us to calibrate how quickly the virus evolved and make some really robust inferences about when it crossed into humans, how the epidemic grew from that time, and what factors allowed the virus to enter and become a successful human pathogen."
HIV was and remains a "relatively poorly transmitted" virus, he said, so the key to the success of the virus was possibly the development of cities such as Leopoldville in the early 1900s.
The large numbers of people living in close proximity would have allowed more opportunity for new infections.
"I think the picture that has emerged here, is that changes the human population experienced may have opened to the door to the spread of HIV," he said.
Professor Paul Clark, a researcher into evolutionary history at the University of Edinburgh, said that while the finding was mainly of "historical interest", it might provide more clues about how the virus changed over time.
He suggested that it was likely that all of the early cases of "group M" HIV-1 - the strain causing 19 out of 20 modern infections - happened in the Leopoldville area.
He said: "We can now paint a remarkably detailed picture of the time and place of origin of HIV-1 group M viruses and their early diversification, and thus of the prehistory of the AIDS pandemic."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7646255.stm
GET A DAMN CLUE ALREADY!!!
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