Subject:
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Re: Why is AIDS such a big deal?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 1 May 2000 22:12:20 GMT
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Reply-To:
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jsproat@+antispam+io.com
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Viewed:
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381 times
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Christopher Tracey wrote:
> It is a threat, maybe not to national security, but a threat nevertheless.
> HIV/AIDS could cause the deaths of millions of people in a short time, it
> already has, it will in the future.
So could anoxia, or ingesting too much water. It's probably fair to say that
auto accidents kill more per year in the U.S. than HIV.
> HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has a long incubating time in the body,
> it is quite easy to pass it on to others before it kills the host. This
> is what makes AIDS such a threat. By the time the body has
> a chance to act on it, others have got it. This is why people die.
And yet, HIV doesn't seem so easy to pass around. It doesn't survive very
long outside a living host. It breaks down quite easily in cold or dry
environments, not to mention under common detergents. It has not been
reliably shown to be airborne or passed in most body fluids. I would readily
enter the home of an AIDS victim (assuming I'm not carrying anything
contagous!); I have siginifantly more trepedation towards entering the home
of, say, a tuberculosis victim.
AIDS is perhaps (or perhaps not) unique in that education and prevention is by
far the best way to handle it. Compared to Chris' example of cancer, AIDS is
incredibly easy to dodge. Conversely, anti-AIDS medications are proving just
as difficult and expensive to create as anti-cancer drugs, and with about the
same guarantee for success.
So instead of funding AIDS research, let's divert that money towards AIDS
education. Which should leave tons of cash left over for better things.
Cheers,
- jsproat
--
Jeremy H. Sproat <jsproat@io.com> ~~~ http://www.io.com/~jsproat/
I think the mistake a lot of us make
is thinking the state-appointed shrink is our friend.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Why is AIDS such a big deal?
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| (...) What are these threats? (...) Who is Reason? (...) It is a threat, maybe not to national security, but a threat nevertheless. HIV/AIDS could cause the deaths of millions of people in a short time, it already has, it will in the future. HIV, (...) (25 years ago, 1-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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