New HIV strain discovered in woman from Cameroon

[FHwku]

the new strain can be treated with the same money that cures the old strain.

or the blood of Earvin Johnson...

it's magic.

[VandalSquirrel]

So let's assume that it came from an ape (chimpanzee or gorilla) and was transmitted to a human, but this woman is not necessarily patient zero. Someone who was maybe poaching apes or just in their territory could be bitten, became infected, and there we have a new infection. Or some crazy person who deals in exotic animals got bitten. We're primates, apes are primates; and if diseases pass from non primates it is not far fetched that it can pass among an order such as primate with the similarities among apes and humans.

[dreamseeker]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

So let's assume that it came from an ape (chimpanzee or gorilla) and was transmitted to a human, but this woman is not necessarily patient zero. Someone who was maybe poaching apes or just in their territory could be bitten, became infected, and there we have a new infection. Or some crazy person who deals in exotic animals got bitten. We're primates, apes are primates; and if diseases pass from non primates it is not far fetched that it can pass among an order such as primate with the similarities among apes and humans.

thats how i tried to think of it too, cuz any other implication is really not a good look.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by dreamseeker

thats how i tried to think of it too, cuz any other implication is really not a good look.

Furthermore she was diagnosed in 2004, but it may be forever unknown when she became infected. If she is living in France she may be a refugee who came through Cameroon, and have been infected through sexual assault or a blood transfusion somewhere else in Africa. Mutations also occur, so there's also that angle. Sure if you're fleeing a horrible situation and you're starving you may eat another primate to stay alive, though there are some taboos about eating monkeys and apes as skinned they do look like people and they are fewer in number than other animals, as well as harder to catch without guns. The transmission from eating meat is plausible, but there are so many other ways as well.

It really gets to me that in 2009 people are still so uneducated about HIV/AIDS both in domestic and foreign affairs.