h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I recently became interested in the debate which has been going on, but sadly not widely reported by mainstream media regarding the origin, transmission and status of persons testing positive for HIV virus.
After reading in detail how the idea that a virus was responsible for the deaths of both gay men in the US of A, and poor Africans on the African continent I became more and more convinced that we have been conned, duped, lied to, for years now, regarding the truth around HIV.

Let me set the ground.
I am not homophobic, or racist, not an evangelical Christian believing in divine wrath. I'm just a regular guy with a middle of the road job getting by in the world.
But i defy any one to look into this, listen to the sensible calm and collected arguments which explain why HIV is most likely a virus which as been around as long as man and is constant in its % presence
in the general population. And that Aids in white westerners is probably caused (95% at any rate) by the use of intravenous drug use.

I believe this so strongly that if I ever prove positive for HIV which I may well do, there are no signs of HIV infection and on average the rate of infection is around of 10% of the population.
I will not take any of the DNA disrupting drugs that are offered to me. More than this, if any of my children ever prove to be HIV positive I would also argue tooth and nail for them not to take any prescribed medicine.

If you new how much I loved my children you would get an understanding of how strongly I belive this.

Please read as much as you can, I am not even going to post the obvious links as you will find them yourself as I did and make up your own mind.

Kind regards to all.

Careful Chrono,

You are mixing things up quite a bit.

1) While it is not clear exactly where HIV came from, it is pretty much pinpointable to some region near Victoria Lake in Africa. Read the section that I wrote in A818002. HIV most probably has been around for a while, maybe centuries, but only with the combination of modern medicine, the possibility to travel around quickly and modern life styles, it became possible for the virus to spread at the rate it is spreading right now.

2) Because the people who write the news have no idea of statistics, they often portray the subject with a wrong spin (see * below). The problem with your argument, chrono, is, that you conclude from there, that there is a "kind of a conspiracy" around HIV/AIDS - which is also wrong.

3) About infection mechanisms and your position to refuse treatment. It is known in good detail how HIV infects the human organism, and with what efficiency. What this all boils down to, is that the whole thing is pretty much like playing Russian-roulette. In the same vein, you have to acknowledge that treatment has evolved so that HIV/AIDS can be kept at bay for a long time. Also a lot of the treatment is not aimed at HIV by itself but to reduce the effects of so-called opportunistic infections. Of course this can be expensive, and not accessible to the majority of infected people. But I am not discussing the economics of the whole thing (which is a sad chapter, I agree).

What I am trying to say is: Be aware. Get MORE information. Insist that people talk to you in a way that you understand it. And please re-think your position.

Dr. Hell


(* While it is a statistical fact that the majority of affected people are black, gay and drug users, that does NOT LEAD to the conclusion that these people are physiologically more prone to get infected. The probability is the same for everyone.)