Over the years we've been lectured that casual contact or close proximity
to AIDS patients is harmless, because despite the trillions of dollars
they demand be dumped on preventing this disease, it seems it is nearly
"impossible" to transmit.

But one thing that is not impossible to transmit is tuberculosis, and
now there is a new superstrain that is resistant to existing drugs and
is turning up in AIDS patients.  While still confined to Africa, the
strain threatens to spread to the rest of the world just like AIDS did.

One would think that they would be concerned about this because a drug-
resistant strain could cause a new worldwide epidemic of a disease that
had almost been eradicated in the 20th century.  But the only reason
they are concerned at all is because the superstrain (XTB or something)
is killing lots of AIDS patients.  Research may be conducted into
whether this XTB strain is as infectious among normal people, but at
the moment their priority is to save the world's valuable AIDS patients.

The AIDS patients already cost a million U.S. dollars a year each to
keep alive.  An effective treatment for XTB might add several hundred
thousand dollars to that price tag.  Even Africans are not so stupid
that they can't do simple math and come to the conclusion that maybe
it is not worth fighting XTB.