New Drug For Aids

[WaiWai]

Please post the statistics here, dee123.

[Galong]

The drugs currently offered in Thailand, such as Efanirenz, Lamivudine and Viread (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) to name a few, are capable of dramatically increasing a person's CD4 count AND more importantly, in drastically decreasing the viral load. This 'cocktail' costs about 8,000 baht per month. This is for the REAL thing, not the generic versions. I don't know exactly how they are able to offer these drugs this cheaply as they would certainly be more expensive in, say, the US. But, these are up-to-date drugs that are used in the 1st World to treat HIV patients.

Drinking alcohol renders these drugs almost useless. And, not changing one's lifestyle can also greatly hender the efficiency of these drugs as well as any other drugs. In other words, risky behavior is still potentially very, very harmful.

I'd like to see how this newer drug differs in its approach to the disease. I'll read more and see what I can decifer.

[Heng]

answer the question or are you embarrsed that you might be proved wrong.......put me in my place and answer the question......I'm waiting Heng!

Because the answer is not what you want to know. You want to know if you're HIV positive after multiple and perhaps continuing unsafe sex encounters in Thailand. And IMO there aren't any clear stats for continued unsafe sex encounters in the LOS.

Good luck though. But beware that "cold" that won't go away.

[jts-khorat]

ok serious now ....I just want to know how many white hetrosexual males in u.k. have died from receiving the aids virus from male- female sex......I do not want to appear flipant but could anyone out their give me the exact numbers?..........and PLEASE PLEASE no more other statistics until this one is supplied.

As others have noted here before, dee123, you seem to be an incredible stupid and ignorant person; this is a Thailand forum, so white heterosexuals with social contacts exclusively in the UK seem to be not really that relevant. So much for being flippant then.

[LaoPo]

AIDS virus is a "double hit" to the brain: study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The AIDS virus damages the brain in two ways, by not only killing brain cells but by preventing the birth of new cells, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

The study, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, helps shed light on a condition known as HIV-associated dementia, which can cause confusion, sleep disturbances and memory loss in people infected with the virus.

It is less common in people taking drug cocktails to suppress the virus, and why HIV damages brain function is not clearly understood.

The virus kills brain cells but it also appears to stop progenitor cells, known as stem cells, from dividing, the team at Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the University of California at San Diego found.

"It's a double hit to the brain," researcher Marcus Kaul said in a statement. "The HIV protein both causes brain injury and prevents its repair."

The cocktail of drugs known as highly active antiretroviral therapy or HAART that treats HIV does not infiltrate the brain well, allowing for a "secret reservoir" of virus, said Stuart Lipton, who worked on the study.

HIV-associated dementia is becoming more common, as patients survive into their older years.

Working in mice, the researchers found that the virus directly interferes with the birth of new brain cells from stem cells.

The breakthrough here is that the AIDS virus prevents stem cells in the brain from dividing; it hangs them up," Lipton said. "It's the first time that the virus has ever been shown to affect stem cells."

The culprit is gp120 -- a protein found on the outside of the AIDS virus, the researchers found.

"Knowing the mechanism, we can start to approach this therapeutically," Lipton said.

"This indicates that we might eventually treat this form of dementia by either ramping up brain repair or protecting the repair mechanism," Kaul added.

Source: Reuters/Wed Aug 15, 2007

LaoPo

[GuestHouse]

OP, just go get a test and stop trying to convince yourself (and us) that you have nothing to worry about.

[Pepe']

If this drug can in fact work it will be a blessing.

Anything that can reduce the progression of this disease will be a blessing...

[Carmine6]

ok serious now ....I just want to know how many white hetrosexual males in u.k. have died from receiving the aids virus from male- female sex......I do not want to appear flipant but could anyone out their give me the exact numbers?..........and PLEASE PLEASE no more other statistics until this one is supplied.

I know this thread is already a bit old, but I think you're confusing a couple things.

Odds of a male heterosexual being infected with HIV through heterosexual sex.

Odds of a white heterosexual male dying from getting HIV in the UK.

Odds of eventually dying from an HIV infection.

Odds of dying from Aids.

Whether Aids is deadly.

Since the odds on the first 4 are not high, you've come to the conclusion that Aids is not really deadly. Once an HIV infection turns into Aids, there's no doubt it is deadly. Which is why treatment is all about delaying the onset, including the drug the article mentioned.

Looking back 10 or 20 years at what the media or experts were saying and comparing to what actually happened does not mean that Aids is not as deadly as it was then. Because a lot of money has been poured into treatment and prevention and you can't ignore what was done since then. If nothing had been done and things had worked out as they have, you'd be right that it's not as deadly as first predicted. But things have been done.

There are lots of diseases that are deadly if untreated, but that can easily treated today. Doesn't mean they're not deadly even though deaths are not as common as they used to be.

If a medical professional told you "some years ago" that "if you haven't been a drug user or practise in gay sex it is a very unlikely that you could contract this virus", he/she was right. Because those were the populations where it was concentrated for a long time and resulted from some of the riskiest activities. Hardly any of the population had it so based on numbers alone you were unlikely to be with someone who had it. Much different incidence rate today.

And you can't take general odds and apply it to specific situations. I'm very unlikely to be robbed where I live, but I can change that to likely by driving 10 miles from here and walking around the streets for a few hours with gold necklaces dangling from my neck and $20 dollar bills sticking from my pockets.

The stat you should be looking for is the odds of heterosexual males contracting HIV through unprotected heterosexual sex with an infected woman. Probably not so high per encounter, but we know you can fix that with volume.

[Prakanong]

"The drugs currently offered in Thailand, such as Efanirenz, Lamivudine and Viread (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) to name a few, are capable of dramatically increasing a person's CD4 count AND more importantly, in drastically decreasing the viral load. This 'cocktail' costs about 8,000 baht per month. This is for the REAL thing, not the generic versions. I don't know exactly how they are able to offer these drugs this cheaply as they would certainly be more expensive in, say, the US. But, these are up-to-date drugs that are used in the 1st World to treat HIV patients. "

This is probably due to differential pricing of drugs by the drugs company's depending upon which market they are in - a pretty common practice not but not so common a few years back and hence the fuss and dash to make/buy generics by the likes of Brasil and S Africa

[Galong]

The stat you should be looking for is the odds of heterosexual males contracting HIV through unprotected heterosexual sex with an infected woman. Probably not so high per encounter, but we know you can fix that with volume.

That's the point. There IS a chance of contracting this potentially deadly disease no matter how low that chance could be. It is NOT out of the questions that you could contract HIV from unprotected hetero sex. Anyone who doesn't believe this is playing Russian Roulette (spelling?) Worth risking?

Hey LaoPo, thanks for the story "AIDS virus is a "double hit" to the brain: study" very interesting.

[dee123]

How many women still have sex with their husband without wearing a condom?..........your thoughts please.

[Heng]

Very few. That's likely one of the common sense vectors into and out of the paid sex industry for HIV here.

1) Sex workers aren't having safe sex with their husbands or boyfriends.

2) Husbands and boyfriends are often not having safe sex with other sex workers.

3) Single folks, telephone operators, plumbers, stock brokers, factory owners, factory workers, most of the police force and army, etc. are sometimes/off/on about safe sex with sex workers.

So even though some bars or massage parlours conduct regular HIV screening, you'll still likely have sex workers working through their infected windows before seroconversion and blood screening (while still being infectious), so idiot punters who aren't having safe sex are indeed playing Russian roulette (given, with better odds than a pistol... but how safe is playing through thousands of rounds of Russian roulette even if the odds are thousands to 1?).

Edited August 20, 2007 by Heng

[dee123]

I just wonder how people like Tony Blair and Rod Stewart partners manage to fit in the time for their check-ups?,......russian-roulette those crazy fools eh heng,.....

[dee123]

OP, just go get a test and stop trying to convince yourself (and us) that you have nothing to worry about.

[/quo

oh!.....I see ,...... you think ,.......!!! .....ha ha ha (gone past the stage to care!)

Edited August 20, 2007 by dee123

[dee123]

COCONUTS!........COCONUTSSS......

[dee123]

Please post the statistics here, dee123.

o.k......finally,......we have found the statistics,.......hot off the press,.....and,.......the results show,....(silent hush),....... ,.......COCONUTS!!,...

[dee123]

......HURRAH FOR DEE123 HE'S OUR HERO!!!!

[dee123]

answer the question or are you embarrsed that you might be proved wrong.......put me in my place and answer the question......I'm waiting Heng!

Because the answer is not what you want to know. You want to know if you're HIV positive after multiple and perhaps continuing unsafe sex encounters in Thailand. And IMO there aren't any clear stats for continued unsafe sex encounters in the LOS.

Good luck though. But beware that "cold" that won't go away.

no no Heng you don't put a condom on your head!

[dee123]

If this drug can in fact work it will be a blessing.

Anything that can reduce the progression of this disease will be a blessing...

quite agree.

[dee123]

ok serious now ....I just want to know how many white hetrosexual males in u.k. have died from receiving the aids virus from male- female sex......I do not want to appear flipant but could anyone out their give me the exact numbers?..........and PLEASE PLEASE no more other statistics until this one is supplied.

As others have noted here before, dee123, you seem to be an incredible stupid and ignorant person; this is a Thailand forum, so white heterosexuals with social contacts exclusively in the UK seem to be not really that relevant. So much for being flippant then.

Is it only me who notices that the people posting their answers against me add untruths e.g......(with social contacts exclusivelyin the U.K.)????????....WHAT!,....DID I SAY THAT!!!.....anyway as jts-khorat cannot get her head around,......I will explain again ,......COCONUTS!

[dee123]

ok serious now ....I just want to know how many white hetrosexual males in u.k. have died from receiving the aids virus from male- female sex......I do not want to appear flipant but could anyone out their give me the exact numbers?..........and PLEASE PLEASE no more other statistics until this one is supplied.

As others have noted here before, dee123, you seem to be an incredible stupid and ignorant person; this is a Thailand forum, so white heterosexuals with social contacts exclusively in the UK seem to be not really that relevant. So much for being flippant then.

Yep,...I think thats called creative referencing!

[dee123]

Oh,... by the way ,....have a look at the stats for canadian women too!

Edited August 20, 2007 by dee123

[Heng]

^ Perhaps a good example of neurosyphilis (just one of the thousands of things you can get when your immune system is compromised), with the symptoms being: dementia, mood swings, personality changes, and minor or major memory loss. Note that neurosyphilis is also quite common in those infected with HIV.

[dee123]

Thats right Heng change the subject

[Heng]

How'd the test go Dee?

[dee123]

Fine and u

[Dupont]

ok serious now ....I just want to know how many white hetrosexual males in u.k. have died from receiving the aids virus from male- female sex......I do not want to appear flipant but could anyone out their give me the exact numbers?..........and PLEASE PLEASE no more other statistics until this one is supplied.

As others have noted here before, dee123, you seem to be an incredible stupid and ignorant person; this is a Thailand forum, so white heterosexuals with social contacts exclusively in the UK seem to be not really that relevant. So much for being flippant then.

Is it only me who notices that the people posting their answers against me add untruths e.g......(with social contacts exclusivelyin the U.K.)????????....WHAT!,....DID I SAY THAT!!!.....anyway as jts-khorat cannot get her head around,......I will explain again ,......COCONUTS!

Be careful with what you say about truth.

You are one step away from saying that heterosexual men are less at risk if they don't engage in dangerous activities like shoving needles in their arms and sticking sausage shaped appendages into orifices designed for refuse disposal! Many in Africa use this "refuse disposal shute" as a form of birth control which also keeps the heterosexual male infection rate up.

On a more serious note though, the early debates were firstly along the lines of "gay plague, "deserving victims" etc. this was obviously damaging and I didn't agree with it. However, so many resources were directed at people with low risk of the disease through political correctness just to avoid upsetting the gay lobby and men with beards. IMHO only.

I am aware that I could be at risk and I think precautions should always be taken. But I do know what you are getting at. Theres a lobby on here that avoid awkward questions and fact like the plague and resort to insults at the first sign of loosing a debate. I innocently mentioned white and man in the same sentance last week and I was accused of being a member of the KKK, a reactionary racist/sexist bully. Look out below! This in response to us being labled, fat, bald aging sexpats, by people that don't even live here!! Seems if you use the right ones, insulting sterotypes are ok.

Severe flaming seems to be alive and well on here. Would be interesting to see how many you have collected, then cut and paste em and apply them to other people and hear em squeal.

Best leave it at coconuts I think.

Edited September 3, 2007 by Dupont

[dee123]

.......erm am I releived, at last ........someone who talks true and straight,,,,,thanks Dupont!!! ......for a while I thought it was only me who had this feeling posters like Heng and co were arguing on morality rather than facts......phew!!

[Rionoir]

LoL Dee you sound like some of my Thai friends... who joke that ignorance is the best HIV/AIDS treatment out there... "If I don't get tested, then I don't have it"

Sorry to break it to you, but ignorance and not getting tested doesn't make it go away... the sooner you find out you have it the sooner you can get on this miracle treatment and pray it works. Good luck.

[Heng]

Fine and u

All clear. Went ahead and had the Samitivej Sukhumvit lab run tests for hep C, checking on my heb B immunity levels, anti-HIV-1 and 2, along with my cholesterol levels (right on the border at 199). All for less than 3,000 Baht.

Where'd you get your test?