Aggressive new strain of HIV in Cuba

www.upi.com...

.A new HIV strain in some patients in Cuba appears to be much more aggressive and can develop into AIDS within three years of infection. Researchers said the progression happens so fast that treatment with antiretroviral drugs may come too late.

The AIDS conspiracy theories are old and deep holes that you're welcome to dig through. I don't subscribe to any of them that I've seen personally.

However!

I'm interested to see this pop up just as we are improving relations with Cuba and opening our borders. It's an incredibly timely release of information and I do not see it in the MSM.

Considering that many Caribbean countries are used for sex tourism, I assume Cuba will see more than its fair share of gay and straight prostitution and just straight up gettin' busy. I'm guessing that we will see a large spike in AIDs and HIV cases in about 3 years.

To play devil's advocate with myself...

If HIV was released as a biological weapon against Gay and African American populations as some speculated, the timeline would segue nicely from the missile crisis/Bay of Pigs etc (1961/62). HIV will usually become AIDS within 10 years, and we had our epidemic start in '81. The island would have made a good "controlled" environment to see how the disease would manifest over a long period.

Perhaps it has simply been marinating in Cuba unchecked, or maybe it had an extra 20 years to evolve.

In any case, this desperately deserves more media attention... at least as a reminder to US citizens that safe sex is a good idea...


Original source:
rt.com...

For a long time Castro had a zero tollerance policy against homosexuals, he even said later in his life his treatment of LBGT people was the worst thing he ever did during his presidency...

...and now they have a new strain of HIV.

hmmmmmmmmm

originally posted by: RifRAAF
For a long time Castro had a zero tollerance policy against homosexuals, he even said later in his life his treatment of LBGT people was the worst thing he ever did during his presidency...

...and now they have a new strain of HIV.

hmmmmmmmmm

Poor choice of words my friend.

AIDS is actually more predominant in HETEROSEXUALS due to the fact it is most widespread in Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa has been devastated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. While only 10% of the world's population lives in sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 70% of all HIV infected adults and children are found there (Table 1). Heterosexual sexual transmission is predominant and sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where more women than men are infected

bmb.oxfordjournals.org...

The news about a new strain is of concern to anyone who practises unsafe casual sex.

originally posted by: FireflyStars

Considering that many Caribbean countries are used for sex tourism, I assume Cuba will see more than its fair share of gay and straight prostitution and just straight up gettin' busy. I'm guessing that we will see a large spike in AIDs and HIV cases in about 3 years.

It's highly possible that Russia has played with the virus and found a mutation that is really nasty and planted it in Cuba as revenge on both the Cubans and as a sideswipe at the USA. One of the main reasons a cure for AIDS has not been found is because the virus mutates so quickly that by the time they find a way to combat it, it's already changed.

a reply to: markosity1973

The problem with the stats out of Africa is that they don't actually do very reliable testing in Africa. Sometimes, diagnosis is based solely on whether or not the patient reports two of three symptoms without any actual blood test.

So while there is no doubt there is a rampant problem in Africa, there is also no reliable way to test just exactly how widespread it is.

One of the problems this may cause is that there may be people on antivirals who don't need them and you could be creating a population saturated with drugs that the other people desperately need setting up a laboratory where we see if a virus can adapt like bacteria can. Scary thought.

There will have to be testing done to see what strain and ultimately it means that countries like the USA will have to be more friendly towards the country of Cuba. If this is a new strain, it would indeed represent a grave concern to all in the Americas.

However, there are a few questions that will have to be answered, the first being diet, and general health of the person before and after infection, drug use and sex partners. If the person is having alot of sex, and not taking care of themselves, or are coinfected at the same time that could be the one reason why such is now showing up.

The biggest AIDS conspiracy going about is that it came from Beastiality or infected Bushmeat.


Robert Gallo would have people believe otherwise...

Mad Professors + Laboratory + Unlimited Funding = Biological Warfare!

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

The big problem I have with the idea that HIV/AIDS is some kind of bio-engineered weapon is that it's got to be the most inefficient one out there.

It simply kills way too slowly and inefficiently. It was made long before it became a global scourge of any real magnitude. There are even doubts about just exactly how widespread it is in Africa because of the difficulties of real testing there.

I'd have to rate it as the worst bio-weapon ever if it's true.

a reply to: ketsuko

With a 15billion+ dollar industry it stands to reason that the slow kill is worth it.

www.economist.com...

originally posted by: CharlieSpeirs
a reply to: ketsuko

With a 15billion+ dollar industry it stands to reason that the slow kill is worth it.

www.economist.com...

Not really. Even with all the HIV out there. Most of those drugs are needed by people who can't pay for them. Do you think any of the companies are getting any kind of return on their investment out of ... say Africa? And in every country with a socialized system, the company is forced to sell at a loss to the government who then rations the drugs to its citizens who pay at a deep discount.

The US is really about the only country in the world who pays actual market price for the drugs and then most people have to rely on insurance assuming they have it.

This is why the cost of most medications is so skewed - The US subsidizes most of the rest of the world.

To sum up:

A: Not enough people have it.
B: The ones who do can't afford to pay for it.

AIDS/HIV is an excellent bioweapon, albeit a slow one.

It spreads like wildfire with virtually no risk to its handlers.
It can't be pointed back to anyone.
It mutates quickly.
It infects adults and children indiscriminately, but *adult men* are the most likely to be affected (this is important later in this post.).
14% of people are unaware they are infected.
1.2 million people over 18 in the US are currently infected, and the virus has only been active here for 25 years.
African American and Gay populations are most heavily affected (these were "undesireables" 25 years ago.)

If you want to get rid of a bunch of people on the down-low, this would be the way to go.

I could keep listing but I digress...

The gays and the blacks aren't exactly Russia's favorite people. It's feasible this was dumped on Cuba in retribution. The Ruskie's probably would have bragged about it by now, though.
It's feasible that it was dumped on the US population to quell ongoing civil rights movements.
It's also feasible that someone ate a monkey and got ape AIDS that mutated into human aids. Or y'know. Got busy with gorillas. Who knows? Weirder stuff happens daily.

Now the thing is, thanks to modern medicine we have prophylactics, protection, good medical care throughout the virus' lifespan, etc. 25 years ago AIDS was a terrifying plague on the level with Ebola. Look at another big-baddie of the STD world, Syphilis. Syphilis was RAMPANT from the 1940s and was devastating to our armed forces for a long time - look at the Vietnam War. It also goes through two stages, the second of which is deadly to 68% of those infected. Syphilis also infects mostly gay populations, and is still a big issue in Africa.

When POW are captured, under the Geneva Convention they are provided the basics for living, but are usually kept in a weakened state so as to be unable to re-join fighting forces. This may seem unrelated but I have that strategic brain and when I see a disease that has the potential to extremely weaken a significant portion of a country's population it raises my eyebrows. You don't have to KILL everyone, you just have to be stronger than they are.

However in this particular case I'm on the side of it being just a terrible disease that's been elusive to cure.

I'm tired so if parts of this seem disconnected I'm sure y'all can sew it back together for me by the time I wake up.