HIV is unrelated to AIDS -- LiveWire Teen Forums

Quote: from guitarist451 at 5:11 pm on April 5, 2008

They say that HIV attacks and kills the T-cells but it cannot kill nearly enough T-cells to do harm and the cells regenerate at an extremely faster rate than they are killed off.

Evidence? Source?

This is a common misconception that you've fallen for; hook, line and sinker.

Techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have enabled scientists to demonstrate that a much larger proportion of CD4+ T cells are infected than previously realized, particularly in lymphoid tissues. Robert Gallo, a preeminent HIV virologist, suggests that as many as 3% of CD4+ T cells show signs of HIV invasion. Macrophages and other cell types are also infected with HIV and serve as reservoirs for the virus.
Although the fraction of CD4+ T cells that is infected with HIV at any given time is never high (only a small subset of activated cells serve as ideal targets of infection), several groups have shown that rapid cycles of death of infected cells and infection of new target cells occur throughout the course of disease.
Furthermore, like other viruses, HIV is able to suppress the immune system by secreting proteins that interfere with it. For example, HIV's coat protein, gp120, sheds from viral particles and binds to the CD4 receptors of otherwise healthy T cells; this interferes with the normal function of these signalling receptors. Another HIV protein, Tat, has been demonstrated to suppress T cell activity. This behavior is not significantly different in quality from, say, the influenza viruses, which are well-known to secrete immunosuppressive proteins which can slow down the antiviral immune response.
Infected lymphocytes express the Fas ligand, a cell-surface protein that triggers the death of neighboring uninfected T cells expressing the Fas receptor. This "bystander killing" effect shows that great harm can be caused to the immune system even with a limited number of infected cells.

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I don't even need to argue I'm not 100% on this but I have seen nothing that really sways my stance on it so unless you present me with something I'm gonna believe what I believe.

So you believe this theory with no evidence to support it. Great. What an honourable cause, putting lives in danger to suit yourself.

If I test HIV positive I'm not going to worry about it.

In that case there is a very high chance that you will die of AIDS.

Post edited at 9:23 am on April 5, 2008 by The Samsoniteman

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