[AKA_Monet]

The strains are slightly mutated... But no more virulent than before...

It's the people practicing unprotected sex with multiple partners in addition to drug addiction that causes a severely depressed immune system...

So, folks, if you already starting off with a bad immune system and prone to getting insanity, then getting this "mutant HIV" strain is gonna make matters worse...

Also there are folks who are rapid responders to HIV infection... Such as 3-4 months coming down with full blown AIDS symptoms compared to those folks that are slow responders--like 6 months to beyond a year...

Dr. Gallo and others in the field think that it is the way the immune system responds to cause inflammation (natural immunity) rather than the standard antibody response with a cytotoxic T cell response (acquired immunity--i.e. T-cells and B-cells)...

An inflammatory response (i.e. swelling) is activated by many illicit drugs... Especially Crystal Meth... So, add HIV up into the mix... And you've got a case for disaster...

The doctors also think that dudes could have been infected by 2 different strains of the virus that attack at two different functions on the CD4+ T cells... One kills the T cell receptor response, the other kills the signal transduction response... Which means the the CD4+ T cells cannot tell the other acquired immune cells what to do... But for some reason, antigens from the alpha-MHC receptors II on macrophages and B-cells still get presented to the CD4+ T cells... Go figure...

Here is evolution for you... And it won't be televised...