All you need to know about HIV

[zzmoronzz]

4 weeks testing accurate meh? i thought minimum of 3 months?

[AfA_hmor]

can u provide the date of your HIV test and a description of the volunteer? aproximate time would be good also.

[ronaldko]

艾滋病的感染几率：肛交的被插入方>肛交的插入方>阴道交的被插入方>阴道交的插入方>口交的被插入方>口 交的插入方，正确、全程使用质量可靠的安全套性行为不是严格意义上的高危行为。

[Big Sexy]

AIDS: 'Major advance' seen in revolutionary gene therapy

AFP - Monday, February 16

PARIS (AFP) - - The world's largest experiment using gene therapy to combat the AIDS virus has yielded "a major advance," demonstrating that the technique is both beneficial and safe, scientists said on Sunday.

Data from an advanced phase of the test process confirms that the quest to use transplanted genes to roll back the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is valid, they said.

Doctors led by Ronald Mitsuyasu of the University of California in Los Angeles recruited 74 HIV-infected volunteers for the experiment, whose results are reported online by the journal Nature Medicine.

Half the group were given blood stemcells that had been infiltrated by a crippled virus containing a key gene, while the other were given a harmless lookalike substance.

The gene encodes something called an RNA enzyme, or ribozyme for short -- a small molecule that, like a spanner thrown into a machine, is intended to block HIV from replicating once it infects a cell.

Stemcells are progenitor cells, which means that when they replicate, future generations of those cells will carry the same genetic code.

The goal was to see whether these novel stemcells, by being shielded from HIV thanks to the ribozyme, would survive the body's immune defences and whether HIV, denied a haven for reproduction, would retreat.

Forty-eight weeks after the so-called OZ1 experiment began, there was no statistical difference between those who had received the gene and those who were given the placebo.

But at the 100-week mark, there was encouraging news: in the gene group, the viral count was significally lower. And the count of CD4 cells -- immune cells that are depleted by HIV -- was higher.

The stock of new blood cells, though, became rather depleted. Four weeks after they were introduced, a DNA test found the modified cells were present in 94 percent of participants in the OZ1 group, which fell to 12 percent by week 48 and to just seven percent at week 100.

None of the gene group experienced any adverse reaction to the therapy.

The treatment "is safe and has efficacy, albeit modest," the study says.

"It shows the potential of the gene therapy approach for the treatment of HIV and represents a major advance in the field... [it] can be developed as a conventional therapeutic product."

Gene therapy arose in the latter years of the Nineties as a golden dawn in medical research.

It conjured a vision whereby a gene, slotted into cells, would either correct a flawed gene that caused disease or, as in the case of the OZ1 trial, block progression of a pathogen.

But the prospects suddenly darkened when an 18-year-old American, Jesse Gelsinger, tragically died in an experiment in 1999 to reverse a rare metabolic disorder. In several other incidents, gene-based treatments caused leukaemia.

Amid a tightening of regulatory oversight, gene therapy has only recently yielded what appears to be its first cures, reviving the immune systems of children with severe combined immunodeficiency, or SCID.

In the field of HIV gene therapy, scientists are exploring more than half a dozen avenues for delivering genes to thwart the AIDS virus.

If HIV gene therapy works, doctors hope patients may be able to scrap, or at least reduce, their regimen of antiretroviral drugs.

These powerful compounds can have toxic side effects, develop viral resistance and have to be taken for the rest of one's life.

In an interview with AFP, Mitsuyasu said this experiment was a Phase II trial in the long, three-phase process to test prototype treatments for safety and effectiveness.

He said he would not put the technique to the final, third phase of the process. Instead, the team would learn from its experience, modify the technique and start again with tests on a smaller group of volunteers.

Mitsuyasu was upbeat.

"I think it gives some hope to this approach being used in HIV and perhaps in other diseases as well, in cancer and congenital defects where we know that there is a gene that might be replaced or fixed," he said.

"It's a positive finding for the field, and should move the field forward."

[Big Sexy]

Growing HIV rates among gay, bisexual men in Asia
source Growing HIV rates among gay, bisexual men in Asia

Fri Feb 20, 9:12 am ET

HONG KONG – The AIDS virus is spreading rapidly among gay and bisexual men in Asia as younger people shun condoms and authorities fail to increase awareness of the disease, health officials said Friday.

The epidemic will worsen dramatically in coming years unless there is better education and stronger political will to combat the disease, warned Massimo Ghidinelli, the World Health Organization's regional adviser on HIV/AIDS.

His comments came at a news conference after a seminar in Hong Kong at which regional AIDS experts discussed the growing trend.

Asia is believed to have the world's largest number of men who have sex with other men, with a preliminary estimate of 10 million, according to WHO.

While describing the figure as "extraordinary high," Ghidinelli said it still appeared to be conservative because of the stigmatization of male-to-male sex.

WHO said fragmentary information from the region indicated a rapid spread of HIV among gay and bisexual men, but that full data weren't available. The seminar was called to strengthen efforts to study and address the problem, it said.

Ghidinelli said low condom use among younger men in male-to-male relationships was fueling the transmission of HIV.

"Younger men engaging in sex with men are entering into a sexual arena without the same level of awareness and without taking the same level of protection that the older generation was taking," Ghidinelli told a news conference.

Ghidinelli said the AIDS experts agreed at the conference to set up a regional task force to collect information on male-to-male transmission and to strengthen measures to fight the disease.

[goldcoin]

Recently i received an email showing a ppt file on HIV sponsored by Action For Aids which very good and I wanna to post it here but don't how to do it.

[ptgary]

You can upload it at the following file hosting websites, then paste the resultant links here:

YouSendIt - Send large files - transfer delivery - FTP Replacement
Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire

[LLKM]

Dear friends,
i have a ques, if i shower and immersed in the bath tub with a FL, what are the chances of a HIV infection? Can the virus travel through the water and infect me??

Please advise, thanks!!

[bubblesperm]

Need some help from you guys, had contracted STD about 7-8years back. The WL holding my dick and rub onto her pussy only . Ater that put on a condom before intercourse. About 2 days later had some white discharge when urinating and also a burning sensation . Went to a doctor and was given a jap and oral medications. Then pain and discharge gone the next day. But up till today got no other problems or symtoms. So what are my chances of getting HIV? Got scared after reading this thread. Will go for a scan really soon.

[Big Sexy]

no worry.. u are safe.

Originally Posted by LLKM

Dear friends,
i have a ques, if i shower and immersed in the bath tub with a FL, what are the chances of a HIV infection? Can the virus travel through the water and infect me??

[mehka]

hi, i would like to ask, as i am abit worried. lets say if my partner is HIV+. i penetrated once unprotected however she was wet. am i at high risk? even if i only thrust inside once? cause put it inside unprotected for a second then i realized and put on condom instead. thanks

[Big Sexy]

if she is HIV positive then there is a chance that you would get it.. of course the number of time of penetration counts too..

Originally Posted by mehka

lets say if my partner is HIV+. i penetrated once unprotected however she was wet.

[mehka]

Originally Posted by Big Sexy

if she is HIV positive then there is a chance that you would get it.. of course the number of time of penetration counts too..

Thanks for clarifying, however, must her viginal fluids go into my urethra to contract it , since I have no cuts or sores, but is it hard for the fluid to get into the urethra?

[sammyboyfor]

Originally Posted by mehka

Thanks for clarifying, however, must her viginal fluids go into my urethra to contract it , since I have no cuts or sores, but is it hard for the fluid to get into the urethra?

The HIV virus can penetrate mucous membrane.

Read all about it at :

HIV Transmission

[mehka]

Originally Posted by sammyboyfor

The HIV virus can penetrate mucous membrane.

Read all about it at :

HIV Transmission

ok thanks alot! very helpful