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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Tue, 9 May 2000 14:53:35 GMT
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Viewed:
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462 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Jeremy H. Sproat writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> > The ones who listen to the education and change their habits will live and
> > those who don't won't.
>
> Unless, of course, widespread plague causes civilization to break down. Then,
> the ones who listen to the education *and* successfully dodge the bullets will
> survive.
Hypothetically speaking, of course. And hypothetically, I agree.
In the specific case, I disagree. the virus is too hard to transmit for it to
become a plague. I wouldn't even call it an epidemic, much less a pandemic.
Now, if the virus mutates (and this DOES happen, sometimes, and we must watch
out for that happening) to where it has a new, much more reliable vector open
to it, such as dust particles as carrier and respiratory tract as entry point,
I would agree, it could well lead to a civilization breakdown.
At that point it would be justifiable to move the virus up to the top of the
"list of diseases and illnesses that need research dollars" so that it was
swatted down quickly. But today, with finite resources, there are more
important things to spend money on. That's not an argument for zero funding,
it's good to have some level of funding percolating, but it is an argument
against making AIDS the number one priority of all biological research that
some seem to think it deserves to be.
++Lar
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Why is AIDS such a big deal?
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| (...) Ok, the virus does mutate. the mutation rate for the genes that code for the protein coat is about 15%/8 years. Compare this to the divergence rate in almost any gene between a person and a chimpanzee which is about 2%/several million years. (...) (24 years ago, 9-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Why is AIDS such a big deal?
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| (...) Unless, of course, widespread plague causes civilization to break down. Then, the ones who listen to the education *and* successfully dodge the bullets will survive. Witness what happened to the Jews during the Black Plague. Cheers, - jsproat (24 years ago, 9-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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