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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / AIDS / January 2007TB and HIV
http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/FF99AC48-540B-4180-AEA2-A0C4AC13EEBB.asp Strains of TB are similar in HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals Michael Carter, Wednesday, January 17, 2007 Strains of tuberculosis (TB) in HIV-positive patients are no more virulent than those in HIV-negative individuals and are gentically similar, according to a study published in the January 11th edition of AIDS. It has been speculated that the immune suppression caused by HIV would allow HIV-positive individuals to become infected with unusual strains of TB, but investigators in Burkina Faso found that this was not the case and are calling for further research into this question. The incidence of tuberculosis has been increasing in Africa since 1990, and in 2003 it was estimated that there were two million new infections with the disease and 600,000 tuberculosis deaths. In South Africa, 30 - 40% of all HIV-related deaths are thought to be caused by tuberculosis. Investigators have hypothesised that immune dysfunction caused by HIV would lead to infection with peculiar genotypes of tuberculosis. To test this hypothesis, doctors in Burkina Faso conducted a cross-sectional study involving 120 patients with tuberculosis, 43 of whom had HIV. The study was conducted in 2003. For each patient, the strain of tuberculosis was genotyped using two methods: interspersed repetitive unit-variable-number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR; 12 loci), and spoligotyping. They found that tuberculosis genotypes did not differ significantly between HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients. It has been speculated that HIV/AIDS patients constitute a specific niche for tuberculosis, in which less virulent strains could multiply without selection pressure provided by a competent immune system. The present results do not agree with these hypotheses, write the investigators. A number of possible reasons are offered by the investigators for the lack of genetic difference in tuberculosis strains between HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients. In particular, they suggest that the HIV patients could have had enough immune function intact to effectively select infecting tuberculosis strains. An alternative explanation offered by the investigators is that the HIV-positive patients were experiencing an activation of tuberculosis acquired before their infection with HIV when they were still immune competent. They conclude, studies such as this should be replicated or extended before one can conclude that HIV-1-infected patients should be considered as a niche for tuberculosis strains with particular virulence or viral characteristics. Reference Godreuil S et al. Genetic diversity and population structure of mycobacterium tuberculosis in HIV-1-infected compared with uninfected individuals in Burkina Faso. AIDS 21: 248 - 250, 2007. GMCarter wrote (quoting article).. > Investigators have hypothesised that immune dysfunction caused by HIV > would lead to infection with “peculiar” genotypes of tuberculosis. To [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > present results do not agree with these hypotheses”, write the > investigators. But this particular study could be biased out of concerns for political correctness. For the longest time TB has been a quarantinable disease, with authorities permitted to physically detain the person until his TB has been cured. But when HIV came along it was decided that under no circumstances would anyone with HIV be quarantined, no matter how many others they already infected or planned to deliberately infect in the future. The problem arises because HIV makes you more susceptible to all other diseases, including TB. Quarantining you for TB means quarantining an HIV patient, and since that isn't permitted, the global effort to eradicate TB has waned in recent years. A heretical sect of scientists had suggested that perhaps TB among HIV patients should be a more serious concern, because the suppressed immune system might allow normally less-virulent TB mutations to proliferate and exchange their various recombinations with each other and even other bacteria and viruses, until some sort of metamutation arises that makes TB especially virulent and lethal and perhaps even an entirely new species of bacteria that responds to no known treatments. Such a scenario would lead to calls to quarantine AIDS patients, on the grounds that their fashionable disease still poses a threat to the general population because their bodies act as some sort of portable biolocial warfare laboratory that invents new plagues and unleases them on humanity. This is an extremely politically incorrect idea, and this study was conducted to discredit the heretical propaganda being spread by counterrevolutionary agitprops and re-educate the public that TB is just as fashionable and as politically correct as HIV, and that it should enjoy the same civil rights as HIV. "brainfart" <fart@brain.org> wrote in message > Such a scenario would lead to calls to quarantine AIDS patients, on the > grounds that their fashionable disease still poses a threat to the > general population because their bodies act as some sort of portable > biolocial warfare laboratory that invents new plagues and unleases them > on humanity. More than 25 years after the first report of a handful of cases of a nameless deadly disease among faggots in Los Angeles, there are more than 1 million persons living with HIV in the United States; about one-fourth of those with HIV have not yet been diagnosed and are unaware of their infection. The "new" syndrome identified over 25 years ago has become one of the deadliest epidemics in human history, killing more than 25 million people around the world, including more than 500,000 Americans. In the last decade, major advances in prevention and treatment for HIV/AIDS have prolonged and improved the lives of many, but despite this, the epidemic is far from over. The simple fact is this: to defeat HIV and AIDS, we need to reduce the number of faggots who become infected. snip >But this particular study could be biased out of concerns for political >correctness. For the longest time TB has been a quarantinable disease, It still is: quarantine can still be invoked where deemed necessary. It just hasn't been perceived as being a necessary or useful intervention for managing the disease for a very long time. So once again, you spout your bullshit in a state of abject ignorance. Typical of right wing cowardly homophobic bigots!! See, just as a quick example, http://academic.udayton.edu/health/syllabi/Bioterrorism/6Quarantine/PHLaw03.htm George M. Carter GMCarter wrote... > snip > >>But this particular study could be biased out of concerns for political >>correctness. For the longest time TB has been a quarantinable disease, > > It still is: quarantine can still be invoked where deemed necessary... Such as when a TB patient poses a threat to an HIV patient. But I'm not sure what happens in the scenario of a TB/HIV patient infecting an HIV patient with TB. Which patient's civil rights take precedence? "brainfart" <fart@brain.org> wrote in message > GMCarter wrote... > > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > sure what happens in the scenario of a TB/HIV patient infecting an HIV > patient with TB. Which patient's civil rights take precedence? From the url: The court readily disposed of the Constitutional claims on the grounds that legislative power to enact "reasonable and proper restraints" for the public good "is no longer open to question". It noted that the Fourteenth Amendment did not extend the Bill of Rights to the States. The statute provided that anyone charged with a prostitution offense should be held if they were found to be infected with a venereal disease. The court found that the law was adequately supported by another statute which provided for the quarantine of any persons infected with venereal disease, incarcerated or not. |
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