:clap:

for a bit of background info for fax (who seems interested), HIV/AIDS is a retrovirus.

No, you're right. The virus itself has only RNA, but after it injects itself into the host cell it essentially hijacks the machinery of the cell and then due to an enzyme known as reverse transcriptase, can create DNA.

The first major AIDS drugs (including AZT), were reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Unfortunately, the virus quickly builds a resistance to them, which is why doctors often prescribe two, along with a protease inhibitor.

Thanks, Mr. H5N1. So, does HIV have DNA, or not? Based on that description, it appears so.

FAX

Hamas, if you've something to say to me, do it on the board, please.

Technically no, but they possess the requisite "chemicals" to allow them to create what's known as complementary viral DNA.

The incredible curable AIDS.

from my incomplete understanding of HIV/AIDS, yes and no. (I'm more interested in hemorrhagic fevers like ebola, etc.)

it 'basically' (and it's hard to put into layman's terms, because it's a field filled with jargon and complex biochemical pathways) a RNA retrovirus that writes itself into our genetics, uses the machinery of our cells to reproduce itself, and shuts down our immune system via 'helper-T' cells.

RNA

Why? You'll end it like you do every other disagreement, and I don't want to see it derail/hijack this thread.

Got it. Thanks, Mr. 'Hamas' Jenkins.

FAX

basically it uses our cells' machinery to replicate itself much like our dna does in dna transcription (aids virus is actually 'written' in genetic code via messenger rna)

Considering the post that you responded to, I'm curious as to what offended you. You think junkies deserve, what, compassion?

Fascinating. My confusion was sponsored by the fact that certain drugs used to treat HIV are designed to deliver "bad" DNA building blocks. For some reason, I took this to mean that the virus was using these materials for its own DNA during replication. My bad.

FAX

You posited your take as though anyone who gets the virus currently does so out of stupidity or recklessness and deserves no sympathy.

That's just woefully ignorant. Moreover, although there are definitely people who know that they are playing Russian Roulette, there are often many, many people who are being infected by things that are out of their control.

Take a global view of the problem. It's easy to judge a sex worker in Thailand or a prostitute along a truck route in Africa, but doing so with our knowledge of viral transmission and their knowledge of HIV-AIDS is completely asinine. There are still several places in Africa where it is believed that having sex with a virgin will cure you of AIDS.

Furthermore, there are dozens of women who, as a byproduct of the cultures that they live in, must be subservient to men. Rape, and/or a compulsion to have sex with any man who asks are sad facts of some of these areas.

Additionally, places like the Phillipines have had huge explosions in HIV infection because of the religious influence of the Catholic Church, who expressly forbids condom usage. Of course this doesn't stop sex, but when you are indoctrinated into a faith from birth, it's hard to think logically and rationally about safe sex choices, especially when safe sex with a condom is considered a mortal sin.

But it's also not as cut and dry as you would think in America.

The fastest growing segment of HIV infection is in black women, and this is largely due to the fact that they are being infected by their partners who are having sexual dalliances behind their backs (as part of the down low subculture), picking up bugs, and taking them home.

Now, should you expect a women who has been with a man for a year and is on the pill to use a condom every time they have sex. Technically that's "unsafe" sex, but it sure as hell isn't bug chasing.

Finally, it's not mere happenstance that the poorest areas of this and other countries are also those with the highest rates of HIV infection.

And this doesn't bring into consideration other factors like AIDS fatigue and Condom fatigue.

If you were to extend your claims to their logical conclusion, you would be damning of a large segment of the population.

Yes, there are definitely segments of the population that are reckless and self-destructive when it comes to their health, but saying that people get AIDS/that it's easy to catch only because they are blatantly stupid is one of the most ignorant things I've ever heard.

= You don't DIE from AIDS doesnt cure it. Step in right direction.