I came across this while doing HIV-related research this weekend.
Yeah, I know -- fucking DULL weekend, but I do have a good reason for my recent HIV research, which I'll discuss later (no, it has nothing to do with me personally, I am HIV neg).
Anyway, the catch phrase in the above story is "well-documented."
I would certainly be the first to agree that the guy was never infected to begin with. Yet for SOME REASON those researching his case seem to believe that he WAS, despite the fact that the most logical first assumption would be an erroneous initial test result.
What pisses me off is that they do not say exactly WHY they feel so confident about this one case.
Either "they" are NOT confident and this IS, in fact, a simple mistake OR there is more to this story that is not being released. WHY information would be withheld is beyond me, unless it's a matter of news getting out once again before all the facts are in. This is not uncommon.
I do not know of any cases in Africa of individuals recovering from an HIV infection.
I DO, however, know for CERTAIN that it is EXTREMELY likely that certain prostitutes in Nairobi are more than likely IMMUNE to infection.
Perhaps this is the info out of Africa that is being confused with individuals who are alleged "cured" of the virus (unless the Africa story is one I have not yet heard documented).
The Nairobi prostitutes are 90% HIV poz. Of the remaining 10%, a small portion of women seem to NOT catch the virus despite the fact that the statistical odds for getting it are highly in their favor and correspond perfectly to the amount of sexual relations had by all the rest of the prostitutes.
Furthermore, it was shown that the FAMILIES of these women had a very, very low incidence of HIV infection, which suggests that possibly there is a genetic component here which provides a natural immunity to the virus.
THIS is good news indeed -- a vaccine COULD be formulated if the genetics could be isolated.
The bad news is that this is far more easier said than done, of course.
The Nairobi study is also about one or two years old, I believe. I have not heard any updates.
Science Channel did a half-hour on this, actually -- was on TV this weekend and I'm sure it will run again very soon.
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