Gates AIDS-Prevention Trial in Africa Failure Stirs Questions

Among computer types Gates is treated as the anti-christ, however, it foundation is actually spending money to better peoples lives Unlinke so many others who simply seem interested in wealth preservation. However, this trial failed to lower the risk of infection. The diaphragm was designed for women who could not get men to wear condoms. Other avenues will be looked at.

A $37-million clinical trial funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Africa showed that using diaphragms as a barrier to HIV failed to prevent infection, in the latest in a growing list of disappointments in efforts to prevent AIDS.

The Gates Foundation has long given priority to funding efforts aimed at preventing the disease's spread, rather than putting money into drug treatments for those already afflicted. Despite criticism from some in the field that money would be better spent on drugs, the foundation argues that unless the disease's spread is slowed, the tide of five million new infections a year will swamp the world's treatment capacity.
online.wsj.com...

That money would be better spent on trying to find a cure.

Originally posted by Golack
That money would be better spent on trying to find a cure.

No I disagree. There is plenty of money being directed at a cure which seems elusive at best. Prevention programs are much cheaper to run that is a simple fact. You need to reduce the transmission rates to buy time to find that elusive cure.

The same could be said for cancer eh?

Originally posted by Golack
That money would be better spent on trying to find a cure.

Yeah if the spread is so fast, then the cure will do nothing much.

Just like flu, if you can prevent the spread then not many people needs cure.

Chicken or eggs first?

Why don't we try both ways? Cure and prevention.
And bear in mind, CURE means killing! It is killing the HIV virus, and killing is no good. Only Americans believe killing is good.

Let's do every each ways, and Bill Gates has done his part on spread prevention, what have you done? Did you find the cure? Will you be able to find it say in 50 years? Or do you donate some millions for the cure research?


[edit on 14-7-2007 by lanciau]

Forgive me but the HIV virus along with any other virus does not come into the category of living organsims as they are incapable of self replication.
The only way that viruses can multiply is by hijacking the cellular processes of host cells to make more virus instead of what they should be doing.
I also do not believe this thread is a suitable place for anti American Rhetoric.

To not do everything and anything we can do to prevent the spread of HIV infection (please do not make the assumption that HIV infection is the same as AIDS this is simply not the case) is ethically and morally unnacceptable for a modern society

Aquired Immune Defficiency (AIDS) is the disease resulting from infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). AIDS sufferers eventually succum to a diverse range of immunity related deseases. Carposy's sarcoma, pneumocystis carrinii, plain old fashioned influenza.

To prevent any infection in the first place is logically the best way to prevent spread of disease, this is of course the way isolation works.

Prevention and research into an eventual vacination (again a preventive measure) was how we defeated smallpox. To cure HIV we have to defeat a virus inside an infected individual, this is much harder than vaccination or prevention. The HIV virus mutates within an indiviual whilst replicating within that individual, this is incredibly hard to deal with.

Picking a non mutating marker on the base virus is much easier and this may eventually lead to a vaccine for HIV. A cure, no , a preventive measure maybe, our only hope, probably.

Hope that helps..

vaccination is by far the best solution.

Deharg, excellent post!

What people often do not realize is that a "cure" is a long time away, and prevention is currently the single most viable way to see any reduction in the spread of HIV infection globally. Currently, there are vaccinations for certain forms of viral infections such as HPV, Influenza, Smallpox, Polio, etc. However, contrary to popular belief there are really no "cures" to viral infection in the human body. Vaccines are nothing more than organically deadened or synthetically grown viral strains that are injected so the body is able to recognize the virus and fight it off once it enters your body. Essentially vaccines are nothing more than a "booster" if you will, that allows your body to provide extra defense in case of a viral attack. Being that HIV is in a seperate class of viruses known as retroviruses, which primarily attack specific immune system cells known as CD4+ Lymphocytes, it becomes extremely difficult to develop an effective vaccine due to the nature of these particular cells and the current mutation rate at which HIV replicates.

Point in case, most current vaccines consist of one particular strain of each virus. Meaning that ONE vaccine can help you fight off ONE strain of a particular virus, and this is why people have to have several vaccination shots for viruses such as Influenza throughout their lives. HIV behaves in a completely different manner than most viruses and by the time it has neared the finish line, a person will have close to or more than 900 Billion strains of HIV in the human body. This mutation rate is astounding, and an effective vaccine would have to account for all these strains. Not only that, but because HIV uses its mRNA to recombinate with cellular DNA, the virus actually uses parts of your cells during the replication process...meaning that part of your genetic makeup is contained in each seperate virus. The development of an effective vaccine would not only have to account for all 900 +/- Billion strains per person, but also cover the entire genetic makeup of the human global population...yet another feat that is next to impossible.

Yes, research into an effective vaccine is where current medical research should be headed and is in fact headed that way. However, prevention against the spread of HIV is the best method currently avaliable and only through education (and correct education at that) can we all work to stop the spread of HIV. If anyone is concerned enough about this issue I would suggest discussing it with anyone you can, wherever you can, and by whatever means you can. Getting rid of the stigma that surrounds this disease is the first step in the long struggle to reduce the amount of infections.

Thanks Jazzerman

Just boils me to see a thread on such an important topic used for rubbish statements all to do with war poltics and nothing to do with AIDS / HIV.

I also have to confess to an advantage, as I have been a professional practicing microbiologist for the past 23 years. Still practicing and one day I hope to get it right. Work for the big pharma conspiracy now.. Which you already guessed right ?? Medium sized pharma actually ...LOL

Love your posts keep it up! I can add little to your excellent posts.

Incidentally, when I was still at college, HIV was called either HTLV3 or LAV1 .. remember those days...CJD was still a syndrome and prions were just being elucidated...Ahhh takes me back
...

enjoy....