Comments about ‘HIV study asks BYU biologist to help’

that was not emphasised in the article but the information was still there. They were able to pick out people likely to get HIV due to their lifestyle.

Living on the Continent of Africa? Is that a lifestyle choice? You are partially correct, you just need to open your eyes a bit wider.

When someone gets HIV because they had a blood transfusion, or married to someone who didn't know they were carrying the disease, or assaulted in Africa, it's not the victims lifestyle in question.

If one of my children suffered from hemophilia I would be very concerned about the child's future.

If this disease ever makes the jump to other transmission vectors, like H1N1 did, we will all be at risk. The time for piety is over as we watch millions, worldwide, dying from this disease.

a VACCINE?!? Are they CRAZY? With vaccines you get a very small number of people who actually get a mild version of the disease - a statistically small number, yes, but a few nonetheless. With something like the flu it makes sense to take that chance - even with polio and smallpox, where no one was immune and it was taking its poll on the ENTIRE population, that chance is worth it. But with HIV, a disease that you have for the rest of your life once you get it? People can avoid HIV just fine, there's already a sure-fire way to do that! Just don't shoot up with drugs and keep you sex partners as close to one faithful partner as possible!!!

Yes, the AF stands for Africa. The vast majority of people infected each year are from the AF continent. So commenter #2 is correct. AIDS is not a lifestyle disease, but a devastating disease that kills Moms, Dads and children alike. I have a wonderful woman that works at my house that has AIDS thru no fault of her own. The young man who works as my gardener and introduces himself as my first-born son was orphaned by AIDs after his mother was raped by a genocidier and ultimately died as a result. AIDs is not a lifestyle. It kills, it never sleeps, it is voracious and indiscriminate. It hurts all who come in contact with it. No it is not a lifestyle disease. It is a killer.

It was reported yesterday that 50% of new HIV infections in Utah are among those under the age of 25. It was also reported that the infection rate is increasing the most among minorities in Utah.

It's clear that HIV crosses all levels of society - regardless of race, gender or socio-economic status.

You forgot to include "don't get raped" and "don't work in the medical profession or anywhere else where you may come into contact with other's bodily fluids."

It is so sad that people don't realize how lifestyle makes such a difference. Then Africa where so much misinformation or no information was there to learn. Also those poor people attacked and then getting the disease that way. I feel so sorry for these people. Thank you for sharing that ER. The posts have been respectful here.

"With vaccines you get a very small number of people who actually get a mild version of the disease - a statistically small number, yes, but a few nonetheless. "


That is only true for vaccines that use the entire virus. If a vaccine only uses a protein or two as an antigen and not a complete virus how are you going to catch it? But I think the disease is so feared you've raised an important in that most people are going to be scared to death of a vaccine.

But, nobody said you had to vaccinate an entire population. But some people--medical personnel, people married to HIV+ spouses, hemophiliacs (all blood is now tested, but they might still want peace of mind) anyone traveling to somewhere in Africa where most everyone is HIV+, those people might appreciate having an option of getting a vaccine. Since only a certain section of the US population is statistically likely to get the disease-drug users etc-focusing on giving them a vaccine would dramatically reduce occurrence of the disease.