Re: AIDS questions

From: Kamilla Ludwig (kamillal@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Fri Jan 07 2000 - 14:28:17 EST

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    Robert,

    So now I have one more question. What planet are these folks living on? I can
    understand disagreements over data interpretation, etc., but if what you all
    have told me is true, the AIDS skeptics are the same sorts of agenda-driven,
    science blind dogmatic folk they aim to criticise.

    That's what I get for reading too much of one side of the issue.

    Kamilla

    P.S. The only thing I know of Ebola I learned from the book, "The Hot Zone".
    Did anyone ever figure out where it comes from?

    Lanciotti, Robert S. wrote:

    > 1. Yes, the most notable are the human T cell leukemia viruses types 1&2
    > (causes T cell lymphoma).
    >
    > 2. HIV has been isolated an enormous number of times by an inestimable
    > number of individuals (We did it in our laboratory on a daily basis starting
    > with whole blood from AIDS patients).
    >
    > 3. This is a very complex issue. This question relates to the fact that
    > very low concentrations of circulating HIV are detectable in many AIDS
    > patients. This leads some to naively conclude that the virus therefore
    > could not be responsible for the disease. This is a false conclusion that
    > greatly oversimplifies what occurs during a viral infection. Viruses may
    > not directly kill human cells, yet their replication may still be able to
    > cause significant disease. The simplest way to envision what occurs in the
    > pathogenesis of many viral diseases is that the virus may not cause direct
    > damage to tissue, but rather may initiate a chain of events involving
    > numerous body systems (inflammatory cells etc.) that ultimately lead to
    > disease and even death. Bear in mind that we know that a very small amount
    > of Ebola virus can kill, yet we have very little hard data demonstrating
    > that the virus can destroy any human tissue.
    >
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Kamilla Ludwig [mailto:kamillal@worldnet.att.net]
    > Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2000 12:34 PM
    > To: asa@calvin.edu
    > Subject: AIDS questions
    >
    > I've been looking and reading the past few days and there are still some
    > questions by the AIDS/HIV skeptics that I haven't been able to find
    > answers to:
    >
    > 1) Are there any other known retroviral diseases in humans?
    >
    > 2) Is it true that HIV itself has never been isolated, only secondary
    > markers? (I believe the case is similar with Hepatitis C)
    >
    > 3) Is it true, as they contend, that the amount of virus apparently
    > present is insufficient to cause disease?
    >
    > I appreciate anywhere you can direct me to get answers to these further
    > questions.
    >
    > Kamilla



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