Caught Red-Handed

This is pretty cool.

For the first time, researchers filmed the transfer of HIV from infected to uninfected T cells through structures called virological synapses. The study, conducted by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York, NY, and the Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, could lead to new methods to block the transmission of HIV. The study published in the March 27 edition of Science.

Looking For An Answer

Anyone who has lived as long as I have, especially in Washington, D.C., will know a few people who are HIV Positive. (If you don't, you haven't asked the right questions. And I hope you were safe.) There would be a decent probability that you could have gotten involved, per chance fallen in love, with someone who is HIV Positive.

This got me thinking.

I went online and I did some searching. It doesn't take long ... actually one search on "DC HIV POZ Group" to find a group of Positive people who can come together, talk about their struggles, and just generally enjoy the company of others who know what they are going through. But after a couple of hours of searching, I couldn't find one single group ... not one in the city with the highest HIV rate in the country ... for people who love people who are HIV Positive.

This confounds me.

Yes, I understand how difficult it is for people to realize that they are HIV Positive. I know the things that go through their minds. I know the pain, the anger, the despair, that they go through. I know this because I've had the consolatory discussion with more than my fair share of people I love.

But what about me and people like me, people who love those who are HIV Positive yet don't know how to act around them?

(Don't read too deeply into my last sentence. I'm speaking for the voiceless.)

It honestly does amaze me that, in the HIV Capital of our country, there is not one single support group for those who love or fall in love with someone who is HIV Positive.

Am I the only one who thinks this is ... wrong?

Latest AIDS News

File this latest news from Switzerland under WTF?!:

The Swiss National AIDS Commission said patients who meet strict conditions, including successful antiretroviral treatment to suppress the virus and who do not have any other sexually transmitted diseases, do not pose a danger to others.

Charlie Gilks, director of AIDS treatment and prevention at the World Health Organization, thinks this might be a tad bit irresponsible:

He said WHO was concerned that the Swiss proposal could be misinterpreted to imply that everybody who is on treatment can have unprotected sex.

"It may be fine for Switzerland, it may be fine for a few other countries who have similar small numbers of patients who are very carefully followed up," said Gilks. "But from our point of view globally, we are not going to be changing our recommendations."

But I tend to agree with the following:

"Not only is (the Swiss proposal) dangerous, it's misleading and it is not considering the implications of the biological facts involved with HIV transmission," said Jay Levy, director of the Laboratory for Tumor and AIDS Virus Research at the University of California in San Francisco.

In other words, don't be a dumbass! Either practice abstinence or, if you are going to have sex, use a condom each time every time.

A Post on HIV

As I was reading through The Washington Blade online, I ran across a post by Andrew Sullivan. I have to admit that my face started to get a little heated. But I didn't want to get pissed off without more information. So I followed his other links to get the whole picture. Let me give you the links you need to read, in order.

Read this first, then this one second, and finally this one last. I'll wait for you to come back.

Okay. Done? Good. Welcome back. Now ...

... while I understand the point that Andrew would like to have made (that testing HIV+ is no longer the immediate death sentence it once was), I agree with Gabriel 1000% in that Andrew is simply irresponsible in the exact words he used. Let me tell you why. Before 1996, I knew one ... count that - ONE ... person with HIV. He died of AIDS complications at too young an age. Since then, I have had three people I care deeply about tell me that they tested positive and I have learned of two acquaintances who also have HIV.

One before 1996.

Five after 1996.

Mr. Sullivan, this is NOT progress. This is NOT something to celebrate.