From: danwell@IASTATE.EDU (Daniel A Ashlock)
Subject: Re: aids
Reply-To: danwell@IASTATE.EDU (Daniel A Ashlock)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 17:36:46 GMT

In article <41474.2B637B2B@puddle.fidonet.org>,
Stephanie.Merino@p0.f14.n346.z1.fidonet.org (Stephanie Merino) writes:
> Hello there.   My name is Stephanie Merino.  I am a senior at
> Bonnersferry High school.  I am extremely concerned about my childs
> generation and the effects of aids on them. It seems to me that
> unless a cure is found soon or people start concerning themselves
> more with safe sex or at least monogomous relationships she has a
> very slim chance of surviving.

   I'm going to teach my children how to protect themselves; the nice thing
about aids is that you can avoid it in most cases by unilateral action.  The
big exception is emergency blood transfusion (if you need non-emergency 
surgery, donate you own blood ahead of time.  It really is the best possible
even aside from aids protection). 

> Our population is rapidly

   Not really.  Our population is being slowly taken over by this disease.
The concern is because it appears to be roughly 100% fatal. 

> being
> taken over by this disease and it seems as if nobody is too
> worried.

   Lots of people are worried and, with the new administration, that worry
should take on a more tangible $$$ form.

>  What are the statisics for aids?  How many people are
> being diagnosed with the HIV virus everyday?

   Thats a very complicated question; I think it's several hundred a day in the
U.S.  In India they aren't trying to diagnose it.  In some African cities 
something like half the people have it.

>  At what speed is
> research being done?  

   Incredibly fast.  The problem is that HIV (the aids virus) is a very strange
new virus.  It replicates itself in an abnormal fashion and has multiple
biochemical attack channels.  We have probably done 30 years worth of research
on retroviruses and the immune system in the last 5 years, it's just we started
knowing so little (see, this is why you should fund basic research:  you know
stuff before it's a panic).

> Are we getting any closer to a cure?

   Maybe.  A couple vaccines are being tested.  Killing HIV is easy in a test
tube.  The big problem is that the damn virus hides dormant inside cells for
_years_ somethimes so it can be very hard to get the drug in.  In addition
standard tricks like injecting killed viruses to give you and aquired immunity
don't work becase even dead HIV viruses or pieces of them are wildly toxic or
bioactive.

>  I was
> also wondering If anyone knows aids statistics for North Idaho
> alone???

    Sorry, no info.

> Also what is the leading cause of aids? Sexual activity? 

   Depends of who and where you are.  If you don't use drugs, drugs aren't a
risk.  If you and your spouse are manogamous, sex isn't a risk.  In the U.S.
the primary means of transmission varies.  In SanFrancisco it was gay sex.
In New York it was needle sharing.  Transfusions are a very unlikely cause
now that we can screen but they seem to happen at a low rate all over.
  
> Sharing intervenous needles??  Transfusions?  IF anyone can help to
> inform me more on the statistics or answer any of my questions I
> would be greatly appreciated. 

   Hope this helps.

Dan
Danwell@IASTATE.EDU
Newsgroups: k12.ed.science