AIDS vs. HIV

[TexasTriathlete]

Okay, so HIV causes AIDS. But is HIV the only thing that causes AIDS? I know someone wrote an article on this, and probably got a bunch of grant money for it. He said that HIV is not the cause of AIDS, or something like that, despite a 100% correlation between a certain HIV titer and AIDS.

Wikipedia, and pretty much every other "mainstream" source I can find says that AIDS is a specific set of symptoms caused by HIV.

But is this really the case? If so, how did that paper get published? And no, I do not have a link. I think our virology prof talked about it or something, and I took that class 2 years ago.

But anyway... I do not have HIV. However, I did a half-ironman last weekend, and the result was a significantly depressed immune system. I got a really bad cold, and I'm still not totally over it yet. So did the half-ironman give me temporary AIDS?

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[scpod]

...I got a really bad cold, and I'm still not totally over it yet. So did the half-ironman give me temporary AIDS?

Dx of AIDS is pretty much a CD4+ T-cell count of below 200. I doubt you have that.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

Ah

 

[scpod]

Maybe that requires a little extra explanation...typically 2 to 4 weeks after 1st infection there is a flu-like period for about 2 weeks while the virus replicates like crazy, then a "dormant", typically asymptomatic, period of years usually. Most people (in Florida at least) are diagnosed these days with full blown AIDS because they don't come in for a check up until their T-cell count is really low and they begin getting opportunistic infections. It's not the person you are sleeping or shooting up with now that gave it to you, it's the one from 10 years ago. Most people ust never think to get tested until the virus (HIV) is well underway.

As for that paper, crap gets published evry day

 

[TexasTriathlete]

My prof called it "crap" too.

So I'm interviewing at your school next week. How do you feel about prosection vs. dissection for anatomy lab? Your school prosects, right?

I think there was a thread on this somewhere, but I don't remember which board.

 

[scpod]

My prof called it "crap" too.

So I'm interviewing at your school next week. How do you feel about prosection vs. dissection for anatomy lab? Your school prosects, right?

I think there was a thread on this somewhere, but I don't remember which board.

I loved it because we were finished in 10 weeks! Our first years are having their anatomy final today and the semester is half over. Really, the idea of wading through fat and fascia for hours on end (while I could be studying for something else) was just not appealing to me. It made my lab time a lot more productive. Besides, if you really want to cut you can do it as a 2nd year student-- they do the actual dissection on some of the bodies and the profs do some of it. You can tell which ones the profs did pretty easily, though

This is one of the prosection threads:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=5561965

 

[cyclohexanol]

He said that HIV is not the cause of AIDS, or something like that, despite a 100% correlation between a certain HIV titer and AIDS.

You probably want to look up Peter Duesberg, and Kary Mullis (his theories on stuff other than PCR). Just goes to show you can still have a really good idea that you thought of while driving at night on LSD and won you a nobel prize, but you can still be a total crackhead.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

I think Mullis makes mad bank now by going to universities and giving talks about the end of the world.

 

[cyclohexanol]

I think Mullis makes mad bank now by going to universities and giving talks about the end of the world.

Wouldn't surprise me at all.

 

[DiverDoc]

Essentially isnt AIDS the same as Severe Combine Immunodefiency Syndrome, which can be caused by numerous things.

 

[scpod]

Essentially isnt AIDS the same as Severe Combine Immunodefiency Syndrome, which can be caused by numerous things.

SCID has all kinds of causes, usually genetic abnormailities that occur early in life and very often x-linked. Plus, it affects more than just CD4 T-cells.

AIDS is the diagnoses that occurs when an HIV infected person has a CD4 T-cell count below 200. The HIV virus replicates, then hides in the helper T-cells. Remember that helper T-cells are needed in both cell-mediated and humoral immunity. Your own CD8 T-cells then begin to kill the helper T-cells because they know a virus is in there and the want it gone. So...your body kills it's own CD4 T-cells. When they ge too low, opportunistic infections come in and ravage your body. Your immune system is shot.

 

[group_theory]

As this has nothing to do with osteopathic medicine, will move to Topics In Healthcare (will leave redirect link)

 

[DredPiratRobrts]

Okay, so HIV causes AIDS. But is HIV the only thing that causes AIDS? I know someone wrote an article on this, and probably got a bunch of grant money for it. He said that HIV is not the cause of AIDS, or something like that, despite a 100% correlation between a certain HIV titer and AIDS.

Wikipedia, and pretty much every other "mainstream" source I can find says that AIDS is a specific set of symptoms caused by HIV.

But is this really the case? If so, how did that paper get published? And no, I do not have a link. I think our virology prof talked about it or something, and I took that class 2 years ago.

But anyway... I do not have HIV. However, I did a half-ironman last weekend, and the result was a significantly depressed immune system. I got a really bad cold, and I'm still not totally over it yet. So did the half-ironman give me temporary AIDS?

Long distance triathlete here as well...

Nothing more than a typical suppression of your immune system after a race. Happens all the time, but strikes some people harder than others. Only happened to me once after Timberman 1/2 Ironman 2005. It was cold and rainy...miserable. Got an upper respiratory bug and took a while to kick it (I never get sick).

It can be expected after a long race, same thing happens after long crazy training blocks...don't worry about AIDS unless you're having risky sex or shooting drugs.

 

[whuppit]

But anyway... I do not have HIV. However, I did a half-ironman last weekend, and the result was a significantly depressed immune system. I got a really bad cold, and I'm still not totally over it yet. So did the half-ironman give me temporary AIDS?

I think it would be more correct to say that you had temporary immunosuppression after the race, not temporary AIDS. A less effective immune system does not mean the same thing as AIDS, which has been defined above.

It's conceivable that in the future if we find some infection other than HIV that causes immunosuppression via destruction of CD4 cells we might modify the definition.