Arthur, One of the features of the HIV virus is that it has a very high rate of mutation. (If it's not hit with a veritable cocktail of drugs, it simply adapts to a single drug very easily by mutation. However, although the cocktail slows down the growth of HIV it can't wipe it out because sufficient of the virus has already injected itself into some of the host's own DNA [safely wrapped behind the cell nucleus and thus impermeable to diagnostic tests] and can remain totally hidden for years.)
Can it mutate into a flying form? Most unlikely I'd have thought. (Though, like anthrax, I suppose it would be possible to manufacture it into a fine powder form awhich could float in the air.) We need a molecular biologist on our list for this! Keith At 10:29 13/01/03 -0500, you wrote: >The question I had was: Can the virus mutate? So that it can be transmitted >by air much as the flu virus. > >This would dramatically change things, of course. > >May be a low, very low probablility event but with a very high impact and >thus worth considering. > >arthur > >-----Original Message----- >From: Keith Hudson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 5:56 AM >To: Harry Pollard >Cc: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: RE: [Futurework] The epidemic of Aids > > >Harry, > >Aids can only spread by direct entry into the blood stream -- hence via >injuries or through severely abraded skin. A nurse would normally have no >risk of becoming a victim but if, say, you were a bricklayer then you'd be >very unwise to look after an Aids sufferer unless you wore surgical gloves >while at home. > >Aids is not very catchable. It needs a considerable local concentration of >sufferers before it gets a start. But given this *and* a great frequency of >practices that causes skin abrasion then it can then spread -- after it did >after Haight-Ashbury -- and keep on spreading because its symptoms are not >obvious for years in some cases. > >Keith > >At 23:11 12/01/03 -0800, you wrote: >>Arthur, >> >>AIDS is not contagious, and doesn't appear to be infectious. Shown by the >>apparent absence of harm to any of the care-givers of the hundreds of >>thousands of aids victims. >> >>Now, ain't that a funny virus? Think of a flu virus and compare. >> >>There was a period I remember when someone started a rumor that you can get > >>AIDS from mosquitos. >> >>Harry >> >> >>****************************** >>Harry Pollard >>Henry George School of LA >>Box 655 >>Tujunga CA 91042 >>[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>Tel: (818) 352-4141 >>Fax: (818) 353-2242 >>******************************* >> >> >>--- >>Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. >>Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). >>Version: 6.0.434 / Virus Database: 243 - Release Date: 12/25/2002 >> >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- >------------ > >Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com >6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England >Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >________________________________________________________________________ > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
