molefeuvre@watarts.UUCP (Michael O LeFeuvre) (01/11/85)
There is one thing about aids I have never understood. Perhaps this
is because no one knows, but I haven't read much about it lately so
here goes.
1. Why is it so specific to male homosexuals? I realize other
people do get it, but the dominant group is gays, a very
minority goup of the population.
2. In net discussion of the HTLV-3 blood test, someone said that
70-80% of HEALTHY homosexuals tested positive. If this is because
of exposure to the virus, my first question becomes, why is
this virus so specific to gays.
Carlo @ the U of Waterloohollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (Jerry Hollombe) (01/14/85)
>From: molefeuvre@watarts.UUCP (Michael O LeFeuvre) >Subject: A Lay question about AIDS? >Message-ID: <8211@watarts.UUCP> > > 1. Why is it so specific to male homosexuals? I realize other > people do get it, but the dominant group is gays, a very > minority goup of the population. I know of two theories on this point. One seems reasonable, the other frighteningly paranoid. Reasonable: One of the primary vectors of AIDS is anal intercourse. This is because the lining of the rectum isn't built for such treatment and can develop tears which provide a direct path to the bloodstream. The virus (or whatever) is carried and passed on in semen. Paranoid: It is rumored that AIDS may be part of a biological-warfare experiment being performed by our own military. The rumor contends they are testing a virus that attacks only people with certain specific body chemistry. Ultimate goal: a bug that kills only Russians (for example). Legionaire's Disease is said to have been a prototype. I would discount these as paranoid ravings but for the fact that our military was actually caught doing something almost as cold-blooded in the San Francisco Bay area not so long ago. They deliberately released a tailored mild flu virus in the Bay area to see how the winds would disperse it, based on patterns of who caught the flu. Five innocent, unknowing citizens DIED because of that experiment. Since then, I don't put ANYTHING past them. (If any of this is true, I suppose I'll be quietly abducted, interrogated, and disposed of in the next week or so -- all for passing on cocktail party conversation. Who says it's 1985?) -- ============================================================================== ... sitting in a pile of junk on the runway, wondering what happened ... The Polymath (Jerry Hollombe) Citicorp TTI If thy CRT offend thee, pluck 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. it out and cast it from thee. Santa Monica, California 90405 (213) 450-9111, ext. 2483 {vortex,philabs}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe
rbg@cbosgd.UUCP (Richard Goldschmidt) (01/17/85)
Never fear, your paranoid interpretation is just a delusion :-) >It is rumored that AIDS may be part of a biological-warfare experiment >being performed by our own military. The rumor contends they are testing a >virus that attacks only people with certain specific body chemistry. >Ultimate goal: a bug that kills only Russians (for example). Legionaire's >Disease is said to have been a prototype. > >The Polymath (Jerry Hollombe) {vortex,philabs}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe Legionaire's disease has been around for at least 50 or 60 years, since they have found anti-bodies against it in human serum collected long ago. It is probably much older than that, and just wasn't recognized as a separate form of pneumonia even though it primarily affects immune-compromised people. A recent Science article suggested two possible origins for AIDS. The one I like best is that it is a mutant form of a chicken virus. As part of some voodoo ceremonies Haitian men bit the heads off live chickens, and came in contact with the chicken virus. It spread through the male prostitutes who participated in the cult, and when these prostitutes were exported to the U.S. they spread the disease. The other origin suggested was from Africa several hundred years earlier. So it seems rather unlikely that this provides an instance of biological warfare. Rich Goldschmidt {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax,allegra} !cbosgd!rbg ARPA: cbosgd!rbg@ucbvax
werner@aecom.UUCP (01/17/85)
> >From: molefeuvre@watarts.UUCP (Michael O LeFeuvre) > >Subject: A Lay question about AIDS? > > > > 1. Why is it so specific to male homosexuals? I realize other > > people do get it, but the dominant group is gays, a very > > minority goup of the population. > I know of two theories on this point. One seems reasonable, the other > frighteningly paranoid. > > Paranoid: > It is rumored that AIDS may be part of a biological-warfare experiment > being performed by our own military. The rumor contends they are testing a > virus that attacks only people with certain specific body chemistry. > The Polymath (Jerry Hollombe) Where do people come up with these things? The virus has been around Africa for years, and does not solely affect gays there. It is passed, both in Africa and among non-Gays in the US (mostly IV drug users) much more efficiently from men to women than from women to men, mostly because semen contains cells that could be infected with the virus (as does in some people, saliva). Hence it would, for similar reasons, pass efficiently from men to men. It's not actually gays, per se, it's only sexually active gays, and they are also highly overrepresented among a whole variety of rare diseases, mostly sexually transmitted ones, but also hepatitis, etc. Also, remember, one of the first AIDS victims back in 1977 admitted having over 2000 sexual partners (I think in the previous year alone, but that number may be over several). A few people like that and that's all you need for a major epidemic. Conclusion: given the mode of transmission of the virus (in blood, semen and saliva) and the fact that healthy carriers can pass the disease, and given the promiscuity of a visible subgroup of the gay population, it's not really much of a suprise (now anyway that more is known) that gays are overrepresented among AIDS victims. -- Craig Werner !philabs!aecom!werner What do you expect? Watermelons are out of season!
act@pur-phy.UUCP (Alex C. Tselis) (01/18/85)
In article <182@ttidcc.UUCP> hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (Jerry Hollombe) writes: >>From: molefeuvre@watarts.UUCP (Michael O LeFeuvre) >>Subject: A Lay question about AIDS? >>Message-ID: <8211@watarts.UUCP> >> >> 1. Why is it so specific to male homosexuals? I realize other >> people do get it, but the dominant group is gays, a very >> minority goup of the population. > >I know of two theories on this point. One seems reasonable, the other >frighteningly paranoid. > >Reasonable: > >One of the primary vectors of AIDS is anal intercourse. This is because >the lining of the rectum isn't built for such treatment and can develop >tears which provide a direct path to the bloodstream. The virus (or >whatever) is carried and passed on in semen. > Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there such a thing as "gay bowel syndrome"?
sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (01/20/85)
>Reasonable: > >One of the primary vectors of AIDS is anal intercourse. This is because >the lining of the rectum isn't built for such treatment and can develop >tears which provide a direct path to the bloodstream. The virus (or >whatever) is carried and passed on in semen. It's important not to turn a single, controversial article in the JAMA into popular folklore--the facts simply aren't there. About all one can say now about the transmission of AIDS is that it requires the exchange of bodily fluids. The present epidemiology of the syndrome is adequately explained by the characteristics of the populations in which it occurs. -- /Steve Dyer {decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer sdyer@bbnccv.ARPA
werner@aecom.UUCP (01/25/85)
> >One of the primary vectors of AIDS is anal intercourse. > > The virus (or > >whatever) is carried and passed on in semen. > Steve Dyer responds: > It's important not to turn a single, controversial article in the JAMA into > popular folklore--the facts simply aren't there. Well, it was actually more than a single article, and there were similar articles in Science and Nature. The facts are: 1. HTLV-3 (the Aids-Related Virus) is found primarily in blood, but also in saliva and semen, and maybe other places that haven't been explored yet. 2. The rectum is a) bacteriologically speaking, an exceptionally dirty place, and b) not designed for intercourse (wrong epithelium). However, Steve does have his point. Just because something makes sense logically, doesn't mean it is correct. Also, just as a grammatical point, the use of the word "vector" was wrong. The correct phrase should have been "means of transmission." -- Craig Werner !philabs!aecom!werner What do you expect? Watermelons are out of season!
rbg@cbosgd.UUCP (Richard Goldschmidt) (01/28/85)
There is a multi-million dollar AIDS study in progress in Pittsburgh, and the
director of that study gave a recent seminar presenting their preliminary
results. They have found that the active sexual partner is much more likely
to spread AIDS than the passive partner, and that oral-anal contact is
suspected as being 8 times more important than intercourse as a factor in the
spread of AIDS. The presence of the virus in saliva thus becomes a very
important clue.
Rich Goldschmidt {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax,allegra} !cbosgd!rbg
ARPA: cbosgd!rbg@ucbvaxdarrelj@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Darrel VanBuer) (01/30/85)
Nova next week (i.e. Feb 3-9) on PBS will be devoted to AIDS (at least in
Los Angeles, but I believe this is one of the series PBS tries to present
nationwide the same week). I have no advance information other that the
topic. Nova is usually of high quality, but has occasionally lapsed into
"In Search of" kinds of coverage. Hopefully this will be one of the good
ones.
--
Darrel J. Van Buer, PhD
System Development Corp.
2500 Colorado Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90406
(213)820-4111 x5449
...{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,orstcs,sdcsvax,ucla-cs,akgua}
!sdcrdcf!darrelj
VANBUER@USC-ECL.ARPA