Klarinet Archive - Posting 000378.txt from 1999/01

From: "Mary Sotnik" <marys@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] HIV via saliva
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 15:21:55 -0500

>Yes, the virus has been found. The theory you saw is the pet child
>of one physician (whose name I have just pulled a blank on). He
>does not dispute the existence of the virus, but does not believe
>that the virus causes AIDS (he believes that HIV is another
>opportunistic infection, not the cause of the immunodeficiency).

> Most of his theory was hinged on the fact that there is often
>a very long period between infection and the development of what we
>call AIDS and that during this period little virus could be found in
>the body. In the past couple of years scientists have figured out
>why both things happen and can show how the virus plays into this
>(during the so-called latent period, the virus is active and killing
>the T4 cells. The symptoms of AIDS don't happen until the ability of
>the body to replace those T4 cells is impaired). The low levels of
>virus were because we weren't looking in the "right" places to find
>the virus.

Does the virus *always* kill the T4 cells? If so, could *other* viruses kill
the T4 cells if someone was ill enough? Could it be true to say that the T4
cells would not die if attacked by the virus (which might be an old
previously harmless one) in a *healthy* body? (Or could new viruses be
developing to outsmart anti-viral drugs (like bacteria do, or rather, not
like bacteria do)?

> I don't know how these discoveries have modified his
>theory. FWIW, reading his work did not compel me to change my
>mind about HIV/AIDS.

OK, I wouldn't advise anyone to go round injecting themselves with the HIV
virus to see what it did, but accumulated strains on the body (bad
nutrition, too much synthetic stuff of all kinds (including drugs with
helpful intentions), too much pollution, too much stress) would make *any*
virus more dangerous, I'd think, whether it caused AIDS or was
opportunistic. To some extent it doesn't matter what finishes a person off,
it matters what state their body's in at the time it's attacked, so it makes
sense to keep it in a good one as much as possible. (I didn't do that well
enough, & wish I had, though it really *wasn't* all my fault. Oh well,
perhaps the trouble is reversible if I start living backwards.)

Mary

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