Super aids hits New York

Just read from a news service, troubling stuff!!

Vicious new AIDS strain

World's first case of drug-resistant strain found here

BY FRANK LOMBARDI
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU


City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden uses charts yesterday to explain devastating impact of newly discovered HIV superstrain that can evolve into full-blown AIDS in only two months.

What you need to know
A previously unknown superstrain of the virus that causes AIDS has been diagnosed in the city, sparking fears among health officials and the gay community.

So far only one case has been found in the world - a New York man in his mid-40s who had unprotected sex with multiple men in October.

City and federal experts believe it's the first time this mutated strain of HIV has been reported anywhere.

It is virtually drug-resistant and progresses in a matter of months from HIV infection to full-blown AIDS, a process that normally takes 10 or more years. In this man's case it took only two months.

"I've been living with HIV since 1981, and I was dreading this day, because I knew this day would come when multidrug-resistant strains of the virus would begin to enter into the community," said Dennis de Leon, president of the Latino Commission on AIDS.

The virus is known technically as a strain of three-class antiretroviral-resistant HIV, or 3-DCR HIV. Simply put, that means it's resistant to three of the four classes of drugs used to treat HIV.

Usually a cocktail of drugs from the four classes is needed to keep the virus in check.

Those most vulnerable to the virus would be gays and intravenous drug users who share needles. But it could easily spread to the heterosexual community.

"Potentially, no one is immune," city Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said.

The new superstrain virus can turn into AIDS in two to 20 months, Frieden said.

The man diagnosed with the virus, who is not being identified by officials, has AIDS and his prognosis is bleak.

An intense investigation is underway to located his sex partners to track the source of the virus and stem its possible spread.

The infected man had repeatedly tested negative for HIV over the past decade, including as late as May 2003.

Last October he was involved in "multiple episodes with multiple partners" of unprotected sex while binging on crystal methamphetamine, a popular party drug known as the poor man's coc aine, Frieden said.

In December the man developed flulike symptoms and his doctor diagnosed HIV. Further tests by the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in Manhattan turned up the superstrain virus.

Jay Dobkin, medical director of the AIDS Center at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, said:

"Many of us here remember the dark days before there was any effective treatment for HIV, and I think ... [this] should at least be a reminder that those days could come back."

Frieden and a battery of local HIV/AIDS experts said the best way for people to combat the new strain is to practice safe sex and be tested regularly for HIV. Anti-retroviral medications have helped to sharply reduce the number of deaths in the city related to HIV. At the peak of the AIDS epidemic there were 7,102 deaths in the city in 1994, compared with 1,656 in 2003.

Advocates for the gay community said this is a wakeup call about the complacency created by breakthrough treatments.

"It debunks that sense of false comfort we were resting on," said Ana Oliveira, executive director of Gay Men's Health Crisis.

There are more than 88,000 New Yorkers who know they have HIV, the city Health Department says, and it's estimated another 20,000 have it and don't know it because they haven't been tested.



What you need to know


How is this new strain different from previously known strains of HIV?

The time between infection and developing full-blown AIDS appears to be two to three months, as opposed to years. The new strain is also resistant to three of the four types of drugs currently used to treat HIV/AIDS.

Can it be treated?

No. Because this strain is multi-drug resistant, the relatively effective "cocktail" treatment of drugs cannot be used.

How many people have been diagnosed with the new strain?

So far, only one - a gay man in his mid-40s.

Who is at risk?

Anyone who has unprotected sex, especially unprotected anal sex, which increases the odds of transmitting all types of sexually transmitted diseases.

Could this be the start of a new epidemic?

Yes. But it also could be an isolated incident.

Originally published on February 11, 2005

This sounds like it has reared its head before I think. In 1994 in Agusta County in Va. there were two cases that appeared to be closely related to this new strain. One of my brothers was gay and we know how he got it. The second case was my baby brother who was positive but not gay. The symptoms came over them very, very fast. In less than 6 months, they both were gone. This form their doctors said they have not seen. My baby bro. Richard was the worst of the two. If you can imagine a scraped knee and how it forms a scab to help in the healing procss. Well, his whole body over 90% was coverd with a hugh series of scabs that were interconnected. You could tap on it and it had a hollow sound to it. Also the worst part was he showed me that what were once his testicles had fused together and were the size of a Pony leauge football. The day he passed, the Med. Examinaer said in all of the yrs. he has been on the job, this was the first time he had ever seen anything like this. They died within 6 months of each other and it was just a terrible sight. I in my wildest dreams I had never seen anything like this before. They were so deformed by the appearence of their skin that the funeral home insisted on creramation vs. an open casket. They both had lost any simbalance of human qualities and if you were to have seen them at that time, you would have swore that they were mummified and this was before they passed. This stuff is scary as hell and if there were ever a wake-up call for people not to engage in risky behavior, this would be it. It upset me so much I don't know what upset me the most:Their deaths or the condition and appearence of their bodies. This old story the NIH keeps pumping out to the general public to be protected when having sex is something that people really need to do. I also believe that you can get it from kissing. I read an article a yr. or so back that stated you would have to swallow the average of 5 gal. of of another persons mouth fluid or spit as it's called. This is somenthing that people should pay close attention to. Think about it, spit is a body fluid. It is also important to mention that you cannot catch it from holding hands, the toilet seat, or eating from the same plate. If those out there who are in a high risk group, they need to abstain from sex altogether. I forgot to mention that my baby bro. Richard caught it from a blood transfusion even with all of the proper safegaurds in place. My reccomendation is if someone knows he or she is going in for an operation, they should donate their own blood before any operation or procudure they may have. I would in no way trust any other source of blood. I guess you would up the creek if it was on an emergency basis. Do not trust any source of blood other than your own.

yeah that virus was on the front page of the paper (new york resident). so far it has been contained in the homosexual community which is good. Hope it doesnt spread to heteros even worse might go airborne in a few years...

You better worry cause it will spread. Some bi-sexual male will introduce to the hetero population or donate blood cause it's his right not to be discriminated against when donating blood. yuk, sickening. time to thin the herd!

you shouldnt worry about it, you (99.999% of the time) cant catch aids if you follow the rules.

DAMN, this is INSANELY scary for me!

It appears to me that the new wave of superbugs has arrived. I think they tweaked HIV because it wasn't killing people fast enough. I hate to break this to you, people, but our govt made HIV. This super strain is VERY scary, though.

Get ready to hear about more and more new superbugs in the future. They're working on population control, and boy, do they have some nasty stuff out there. The new bird flu is just one example.

Look, I don't expect anyone to believe me. But, I'm sure you know that it's routine for scientists to combine viruses and produce new, recombinant super bugs. They admit this. They're working on a new strain of mousepox now, and from what I know, they can already infect any other mammal with this virus. BTW, mousepox is over 98% lethal in mice...

This is a heads-up, yall. Protect yourselves and be careful out there.

Originally posted by truthseeka
It appears to me that the new wave of superbugs has arrived. I think they tweaked HIV because it wasn't killing people fast enough. I hate to break this to you, people, but our govt made HIV. This super strain is VERY scary, though.

Could it be possible that it was tweaked so it could be eliminated? AIDS will never go away as long as we have drugs and therapy that only prolongs the life of it's carrier. This may not sound 'humane' to many of us, but a superbug may be the way to beat this AIDS epidemic 'once and for all'.

[edit on 15-2-2005 by SourGrapes]

It would be nice if there were more facts about this superbug but Im sure the human race will be able to combat these superbugs.

Im pretty optimistic that there can be a better way!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

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