Talk:AIDS

This one needs lots of work...I'm glad someone got it started. I will put down some ideas here for people to chew on. Especially relevant is the section on prevention, given all the recent new studies regarding condoms, cirucumcision (controversy), and lack of effectiveness in abstinence-only programs.--Peter A. Lipson 10:32, 3 May 2007 (CDT)

AIDS/HIV

Is there a particular reason this information should not be joined to form a single AIDS/HIV article? I know they are not exactly the same, but they are so fundamentally linked I see no reason to keep them separate. In particular, any talk of a cure, prevention, or treatments must focus strongly on HIV. I foresee there being large amounts of work duplication on these two pages. James A. Flippin 17:31, 10 June 2007 (CDT)

I have to disagree and say that the two articles should be on separate pages. I see Flippin's point that this article appears to be a combination of both HIV and AIDS, yet given the amount of information available on both that will inevitably be added to the pages, two pages will be necessary. All of the transmission and prevention material should be on the HIV page, since HIV is what is getting transmitted. I think each page should have a small section on the other with "Main Article" links since they are so connected. Thoughts? Christopher M. Worsham 09:14, 26 June 2007 (CDT)

I agree with Chris, but I think there might be a disambiguation page that could be setup that links to both HIV and AIDS, to establish that encyclopedic connection between the two. Alternatively, the notice to see HIV could be placed at the header of the article. In some way, we should definately designate that the two are correlated; but I'm not sure they should be in the same since you could technically classify them as two fundamentally difficult problems--HIV is for those not previously infected, and AIDS is the onset of HIV infection, just as the way you can develop opportunistic infections from AIDS but they also exist independantly in the wild.--Robert W King 09:53, 26 June 2007 (CDT)

I see your points and perhaps just a header link to HIV is all that is needed. In any event, the two articles should be developed in tandem and the reader directed to both articles as necessary. James A. Flippin 10:31, 26 June 2007 (CDT)

Article

I know enough science to know that http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080715165520.htm is incredibly interesting. Some synopsis:

A group of Univ of Texas-Houston researchers believe they've found "the Achilles heel" of the HIV virus, a tiny stretch of amino acids numbered 421-433 on gp120 that remain constant across mutations of the virus so it may attach to cells. The group has engineered abzymes - antibodies with enzymatic activity - derived from HIV negative people with the autoimmune disease lupus and a small number of HIV positive people who do not require treatment and do not get AIDS.

The abzymes attack the Achilles heel of the virus in a precise way and "recognize essentially all of the diverse HIV forms found across the world. This solves the problem of HIV changeability. The next step is to confirm our theory in human clinical trials," one of the researchers said.

Stephen Ewen 09:08, 16 July 2008 (CDT)