posted on Aug, 8 2005 @ 07:03 AM
Originally posted by michaelanteski
I don't know how you could prove that in intermediate benign form of HIV existed which transformed to the deadly AIDS strain after Americans from San
Francisco & NY frequented Haiti as vacationers in the late 70s.
Fair enough. There isn't any proof - though we would generally be able to gauge the differences between a more benign virus and one which is
markedly more deadly, as we can with influenza. Note too that Europeans and Asians also visited Haiti in the late 70s, and (particularly in the
case of Europe) didn't see such a rapid increase in HIV cases as a result, which would be expected.
My theory is that major epidemics - black death, syphilis, 1918 swine flu, as well as HIV, all resulted from humans eating animals harboring a benign
form of the disease organism, and/or animals eating human tissue. I submit that black death probably resulted from medieval city dwellers eating rats
and/or rats eating human corpses.
But....we
know how bubonic plague was spread....and it had nothing to do with eating infected animals.
Bubonic plague was transmitted by the the bite of an infected flea.. The bacteria (
Yersinia pestis) multiplied inside the flea...the flea then
bit the human host, passing on the bacteria.
Even allowing for current debates relating to exactly which bacteria caused the problem (some accuse
b. anthracis of being responsible), the
mode of transmission is certain - it's not from eating infected flesh. We also
know how syphilis is transmitted; there are still horribly
frequent epidemics, and again, they have nothing to do with eating infected flesh.
HIV on the other hand, is not transmitted by fleas; and the hypothesis of eating infected tissue makes more sense than it would with the plague
scenario. Also, your hypothesis wouldn't account for populations where the alleged non-human carrier is either not present, or if it's present,
common enough to become food for humans.
And with regards to immunity - yup! People have varying degrees of immunity to certain things; the simplest example is influenza. Pesky little
virus that mutates on a practically yearly basis, with the associated immunity issues.
To be fair, we still don't really know why one person is more susceptible to a particular virus than another (immunocompromised people
notwithstanding); again supporting the theory that the virus is extremely capable of mutating into a more deadly form.