MaxKaladin said:
I hadn't heard anything about this. I thought everyone was vulnerable.
Anyway, I wonder what the implications of this are. Does this lead to a vaccine to prevent people from getting AIDS in the first place? Can it be used to cure someone already infected? I'm afraid I'm a bit ignorant about the exact mechanics of the disease.
I don't think it's an immunity, just that certain populations are statistically slightly less likely to contract the disease, probably due to some quirk of genetics. I'd say it's not likely to be publicized since they don't want people endangering their lives from overconfidence, on the statistical chance they have a slightly improved resistance.
I know it has been well established that there are a handful of people documented with an outright, apparently genetic immunity to the disease. I recall it first being isolated with an American housewife. Her husband was gay and caught the disease while being unfaithful to her. He eventually gets full blown AIDS, but in the years in between they have repeated unprotected contact. She panics, and is tested negative. After hundreds of contacts, no infection. Once researchers were looking, a handful of other cases were found where people who had been exposed countless times had been completely negative, leading to the conclusion that there is some mutation of the immune system in rare cases that leads to an immunity, and like with any disease, in a large enough population you get survivors or subjects with an immunity.
What this medication does, is it blocks the CCR5 receptor, which normally is how the HIV virus enters the individual cells of the body. Thus, the virus cannot enter the cells and reproduce, and the immune system can flush the virus from the body as a foriegn entity, since the immune system is not yet compromised. Apparently in the short term the drug has virtually no side effects, but since that receptor is used by the body in the normal operation of the immune system, if it is blocked too long, the immune system begins to fail.
Thus, it's not a one-dose-and-you're-immune deal like a vaccine, and since it can only temporarily stop the virus from multiplying in the body it's not very useful for people who are infected and they have a very high count of the virus in the body, it appears best as a countermeasure to contact with the virus to be used as soon after initial exposure as possible. Still, it is quite a breakthrough and the fact it has even made it through the first phase of human testing is quite a big step.
