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Is the end of AIDS in sight?

economist.com

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Re: Is the end of AIDS in sight?

#31

Post by TZubiri »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #19

As a gay man well into middle age, whenever I get somewhat depressed about the state of human affairs, I think about the incredible improvements in AIDS treatment and prevention and I feel a little better. It's hard for people who didn't live through it to really understand what a terrifying time the 80s and 90s were. First off, the general message of sexual education was pretty much "If you have sex, it's probably g…

Aids is definitely the strongest sexually transmitted virus out there. But don't you think that there will always be sexually transmitted diseases associated with promiscuity? Not to say that aids is only transmitted through promiscuity, but superspreading is highly relevant.

It is my understanding that gay people have more sex partners than than straight people, so it's likely that these diseases will disproportionately affect gay men.

I think that limiting amount of partners is a vital part to combating sexually transmitted diseases, and that some people will have sex until they encounter the physical limitation of STDs. Not sure "sex-positive" messaging is quite helpful in this sense.

Re: Is the end of AIDS in sight?

#32

Post by TZubiri »

at_a_remove wrote: post #25
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #19

As a gay man well into middle age, whenever I get somewhat depressed about the state of human affairs, I think about the incredible improvements in AIDS treatment and prevention and I feel a little better. It's hard for people who didn't live through it to really understand what a terrifying time the 80s and 90s were. First off, the general message of sexual education was pretty much "If you have sex, it's probably g…

I often mention the whole Gen X trauma thing. Part of it is literally seeing the ladder being pulled up just as we reached for it. Not just for jobs or college tuition, but also sexually -- the previous generation had a pretty good time and the worst that was on offer was herpes. Puberty starts rumbling around and we're wondering what the future looks like and suddenly "GRID." And we were flailing around, is it viral…

herpes is the worst thing? What about chlamydia, gonorrhea?

Re: Is the end of AIDS in sight?

#33

Post by abeppu »

bugglebeetle wrote: post #14

As an older millennial, it’s interesting to me observe the difference with which HIV/AIDS and COVID has been treated. While untreated HIV infection is more lethal than COVID, COVID has killed more people in the past 4 years than HIV/AIDS did in the past 40+. My childhood was filled with warnings and media depicting the tragedy of HIV/AIDS, the surrounding bigotry, and the history of this pandemic still has some cache…

> My childhood was filled with warnings and media depicting the tragedy of HIV/AIDS, the surrounding bigotry, and the history of this pandemic still has some cache

... but for years, the HIV/AIDS crisis _was_ ignored, or even laughed at by critical people in government. When you say your childhood was filled with warnings about the tragedy of HIV/AIDS, I think you must be talking about the early 90s, a decade after the crisis got started? I think the fairer comparison will be to however we talk about COVID in the 2030s.

https://www.history.com/news/aids-epidemic-ronald-reagan

Re: Is the end of AIDS in sight?

#35

Post by at_a_remove »

TZubiri wrote: post #32
at_a_remove wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I often mention the whole Gen X trauma thing. Part of it is literally seeing the ladder being pulled up just as we reached for it. Not just for jobs or college tuition, but also sexually -- the previous generation had a pretty good time and the worst that was on offer was herpes. Puberty starts rumbling around and we're wondering what the future looks like and suddenly "GRID." And we were flailing around, is it viral…

herpes is the worst thing? What about chlamydia, gonorrhea?

Herpes is permanent. While there are some stubborn antibiotic-resistant versions of the other two, they weren't that bad back then. So, yes, herpes is the worst thing.

Re: Is the end of AIDS in sight?

#36

Post by cortesoft »

TZubiri wrote: post #32
at_a_remove wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I often mention the whole Gen X trauma thing. Part of it is literally seeing the ladder being pulled up just as we reached for it. Not just for jobs or college tuition, but also sexually -- the previous generation had a pretty good time and the worst that was on offer was herpes. Puberty starts rumbling around and we're wondering what the future looks like and suddenly "GRID." And we were flailing around, is it viral…

herpes is the worst thing? What about chlamydia, gonorrhea?

Those are both treatable and not permanent.

Re: Is the end of AIDS in sight?

#37

Post by civilitty »

TZubiri wrote: post #31
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #19

As a gay man well into middle age, whenever I get somewhat depressed about the state of human affairs, I think about the incredible improvements in AIDS treatment and prevention and I feel a little better. It's hard for people who didn't live through it to really understand what a terrifying time the 80s and 90s were. First off, the general message of sexual education was pretty much "If you have sex, it's probably g…

Aids is definitely the strongest sexually transmitted virus out there. But don't you think that there will always be sexually transmitted diseases associated with promiscuity? Not to say that aids is only transmitted through promiscuity, but superspreading is highly relevant. It is my understanding that gay people have more sex partners than than straight people, so it's likely that these diseases will disproportiona…

It's not the 90s anymore. In the developed world HIV primarily and disproportionately effects IV drug users, not gay men.

In the developing world, it has nothing to do with promiscuity but lack of education and access to preventative measures like condoms and PrEP.

Re: Is the end of AIDS in sight?

#38

Post by EatingWithForks »

TZubiri wrote: post #31
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #19

As a gay man well into middle age, whenever I get somewhat depressed about the state of human affairs, I think about the incredible improvements in AIDS treatment and prevention and I feel a little better. It's hard for people who didn't live through it to really understand what a terrifying time the 80s and 90s were. First off, the general message of sexual education was pretty much "If you have sex, it's probably g…

Aids is definitely the strongest sexually transmitted virus out there. But don't you think that there will always be sexually transmitted diseases associated with promiscuity? Not to say that aids is only transmitted through promiscuity, but superspreading is highly relevant. It is my understanding that gay people have more sex partners than than straight people, so it's likely that these diseases will disproportiona…

The difference with AIDS is that AIDS at the time condemned you to a slow, horrible, visible decline, in which your death was celebrated via a radio talk show host that at the time had an entire regular segment to name and mock the people who died.

Like, this doesn't apply to people who get cervical cancer from HPV or other similarly tragic outcomes of acquiring an STD. The cruelty on the scale is way above anything.

Re: Is the end of AIDS in sight?

#40

Post by bdcravens »

I have a friend who does work (mostly manual labor, handyman stuff, etc) for me in our house. In his early 60s, strong as an ox, and he's been HIV-positive since the 80s. That deserves an asterisk, as his levels are below detectability (and I believe transmissibility), and have been for a long time.
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