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Subject: 
Re: Why is AIDS such a big deal?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Wed, 10 May 2000 15:44:39 GMT
Viewed: 
578 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher Tracey writes:

We have had over fifty years of cancer research and the overall rate has not
decreased.   After a few years of intense research against the polio virus,
it's rate of infection was almost down to nothing...  Seems like the logical
choice to me is to fight a battle that we may have the ability of winning in
the short term.

This is a good point that hasn't been discussed much here.  The likelihood of
progress should go into the cost-benefit analysis.  OTOH, if the techniques
developped for Polio worked for HIV, it'd be under control by now, right?
Since that's not the case, I have to assume that the analogy isn't perfect.

How can we predict the success of research endevours?

Chris



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Why is AIDS such a big deal?
 
(...) 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. (...) (25 years ago, 9-May-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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