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Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

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Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#21
post #3

I didn't understand the AIDS epidemic until I listened to a podcast [1] where they interviewed a gay survivor. I can't imagine my friends dying off one by one around me from an unknown specter. The government pretending you didn't exist and ignoring you because it was a "gay problem". Society demonizing you. He said that even after it was understood that AIDS was not transmissible by touch, morgues would refuse to ac…

The Regan administration had two options. The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. (what these activists wanted) The second option was to reduce the occurrence of those behaviors, namely intravenous recreational drug use, and unprotected sex with large numbers of sexual partners, which is particularly widespread among homosexual males. The…

>The second option was to reduce the occurrence of those behaviors, namely intravenous recreational drug use

The Reagan administration banned needle exchanges:

https://www.csis.org/blogs/smart-global-health/history-ban-f...

>, and unprotected sex with large numbers of sexual partners, which is particularly widespread among homosexual males.

The continuing pathologization of homosexuals reduced their access to medical services, which prevented them from being educated about responsible sexual behavior. See e.g.:

https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.82.9....

Overall the Reagan administration's response cannot be called prophylactic.

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#22
post #3

I didn't understand the AIDS epidemic until I listened to a podcast [1] where they interviewed a gay survivor. I can't imagine my friends dying off one by one around me from an unknown specter. The government pretending you didn't exist and ignoring you because it was a "gay problem". Society demonizing you. He said that even after it was understood that AIDS was not transmissible by touch, morgues would refuse to ac…

The white house lawn comment sounds powerful. But I don't see any evidence it actually happened. Right?

Look up The Ashes Action organized by ActUP

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#23
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did not see the problem as a black and white problem with two active solutions. They took a third option: they did nothing until public opinion had shifted and Rock Hudson, Reagan's personal friend, died of the disease. They. did. nothing.

It was worse than that. They laughed and made jokes while they did nothing [1]. [1] https://www.vox.com/2015/12/1/9828348/ronald-reagan-hiv-aids

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Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I followed the AIDS crisis in the newspaper from Day One, starting with one-inch long columns about "mysterious purple lesions called Kaposi's sarcoma" to shrines with hundreds of photos occupying whole sections. The similarity with corona in 2020 is that so little was known, but for years, not months. The difference was that AIDS was 100% fatal until drugs were developed, and AIDS killed a generation of young adults…

>There's a Canadian film on Youtube that covers this. Yeah it was a major scandal here in Canada. The Red Cross lost the right to handle blood a new organization called Canadian Blood Services was created. Many people with hemophilia died but I think people at the tail end of it were around when the new drug cocktails slowed the disease. As a teen in the 80s AIDS was pretty scary even for a straight kid with no girlf…

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Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Regan administration had two options. The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. (what these activists wanted) The second option was to reduce the occurrence of those behaviors, namely intravenous recreational drug use, and unprotected sex with large numbers of sexual partners, which is particularly widespread among homosexual males. The…

> The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. And yet here we are, with governments spending billions of dollars to find a cure when we can stop the spread of COVID-19 by reducing certain behaviors. The difference in government response to the (ongoing, btw) AIDS crisis and COVID-19 has a hell of a lot to do with the fact that COVID-19 is not…

Understood. But Covid is of course a different disease, and different in many ways. No consent is required to obtain it from another person. No time spent in private naked. Just be near someone in line at the bus stop and a sneeze. So there's that.

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Regan administration had two options. The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. (what these activists wanted) The second option was to reduce the occurrence of those behaviors, namely intravenous recreational drug use, and unprotected sex with large numbers of sexual partners, which is particularly widespread among homosexual males. The…

The bathouse behaviour is still present. I went to a korean spa in nyc with my kids and ran into a group of young men having an orgy in one of the spas which is not private. I was so embarassed, didnt know what to say to my kids, they saw a live scene. We never talked about it. So, some of that stuborness in behaviour is something rampant in the gay community. They have for example, drug fueled parties and have conti…

I wish I had the option to downvote, because thinly veiled homophobia is really a disgusting thing to see on a supposedly enlightened site.

As if straight people don’t sleep around and have drug-fueled sex parties. And my god, swingers were and are a thing - as if gay men have a monopoly on getting laid.

The behavior is not rampant in the gay community; “they” do not have drug-fueled sex parties and fuck for days; they do not promote hyper sexuality at the expense of their health and “they” most certainly did not “just get their freedom”. If you think LGBT rights are all fought and won in the US, then you haven’t looked much into anti-discrimination laws.

You are not tolerant; and I take issue with you claiming to be tolerant. This is thinly veiled, disgusting homophobia, straight out of the moral majority’s playbook (seriously, it’s straight outta the 70s).

There is no rational conversation to be had here because what you said is wrong and disgusting and I hate seeing it on this site.

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#27

"When AIDS was funny" https://youtu.be/yAzDn7tE1lU It shows the challenges of the press to have serious conversations about the disease with the Reagan administration.

Anally-Inflicted Death Sentence!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jvVsf789y8

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Regan administration had two options. The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. (what these activists wanted) The second option was to reduce the occurrence of those behaviors, namely intravenous recreational drug use, and unprotected sex with large numbers of sexual partners, which is particularly widespread among homosexual males. The…

> The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. And yet here we are, with governments spending billions of dollars to find a cure when we can stop the spread of COVID-19 by reducing certain behaviors. The difference in government response to the (ongoing, btw) AIDS crisis and COVID-19 has a hell of a lot to do with the fact that COVID-19 is not…

Transmission rates vary widely by sex act. 2/3 of transmissions in the US are between homosexual men. It's not homophobia to observe that some populations are at more risk from HIV.

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#29

"When AIDS was funny" https://youtu.be/yAzDn7tE1lU It shows the challenges of the press to have serious conversations about the disease with the Reagan administration.

Is it that much different than how everyone jokes about HSV1 today? It is still a (ridiculous and stupid) running punchline on SNL. Obviously it is a far less dire virus (as far as we know, today) but, we as a species (generally) compared to our individual potential, are absolute idiots and almost always take the easy intellectual route (humor and bullshit) when faced with uncommon information.

The video really seems like par for the course and not surprising in the slightest...

Re: Oldest 'nearly complete' HIV genome found in forgotten tissue sample from 1966

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Regan administration had two options. The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. (what these activists wanted) The second option was to reduce the occurrence of those behaviors, namely intravenous recreational drug use, and unprotected sex with large numbers of sexual partners, which is particularly widespread among homosexual males. The…

> The first was to spend billions of dollars hoping to find a cure while certain behaviors continued to spread the virus. And yet here we are, with governments spending billions of dollars to find a cure when we can stop the spread of COVID-19 by reducing certain behaviors. The difference in government response to the (ongoing, btw) AIDS crisis and COVID-19 has a hell of a lot to do with the fact that COVID-19 is not…

A small number of people can spread a disease far and wide, thereby greatly affecting people who themselves do not take so many unnecessary risks. Choosing to reduce your number of sexual partners is a form of social distancing, and like the lockdown protestors today, the AIDS protestors of the 1980's were upset by the need to social distance, although the gay jokes probably contributed.
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