Congress just gave away another $48 Billion to fight AIDS

[joefire_2008]

When that happens to me, then I'll understand why I have to pay for it and I'll be internally motivated to pay for it. That said, I would not expect my neighbor (who is not impacted) to be as motivated.

I'm not super rich and am taxed at 54%. I have constraints. My 'tunnel vision' is due to my constraints. I need to care about the things that matter the most to be and have an immediate impact on me. I don't perceive AIDS (at this point) as having an impact on me. Is it short sighted? Maybe, but I only have a limited budget that I am working with.

If I was super rich, then I would concern myself with the things that would benefit mankind as a whole. Given that I don't, I concern myself with the things that concern me (ie March of Dimes, MS research, etc).

I wish I was making enough money for us all, but I'm not.

That's fine I understand the money aspect of where you're coming from, however, you're not in the US... This is an American funded thing, let us spend our money on it... then Canada can benefit. If you lived here making whatever money you are making... If you make less than $23K a year, depending on the state you live in you're not really getting taxed... you end up with a return at the end of the year.

That's why I made the point of you being in Canada so fore front in my statements.

 

[walliwalibus]

Met a Canadian the other day, at a hospital here in my city, in the midwest USA.

 

[joefire_2008]

I would argue that it is a choice. Some are caused by some external factors and some are not. At the microscoping level, I don't believe that they're all exactly the same and have variations.

In the same fashion that vitamins don't impact us all the same in exactly the same way.

All that said, I'll be honest and haven't done the indepth research to prove the hypothesis. I've only consulted a few biology majors and pre-meds students that I used to know from back them when I was trying to understand how disease mutates through different genetic types of people.

I'm in military medicine... Field guy mainly... But, I will tell you it doesn't work that way... You have to approach the disease as a whole. Then chase the different strains. I appreciate your honesty on your understanding of the disease itself.

I'll also tell you that some research will end up finding cures or treatments to other diseases and disfunctions, sometimes by accident.

The new HPV vaccine developed to immunize against the 4 virail strains that cause cevlic cancer in women. That research took years, it was funded under cancer research, this will save the lives of many women. Some diseases are harder to work against like HIV/AIDS, and pose a greater threat to the population as a whole.

It's on a rise in the low income areas, and with blacks in America. It's hard enough to be a child, even worse to be a poor child (believe me I grew up poor, Brooklyn NY), and it really sucks to be a poor child with a disease. Now you have the 'nothing to live for mentallity', and you don't give a crap about who else you get sick, or you don't even know you're infected even worse yet.

I make donations to various groups, yes, even a dollar helps. I pay it foward.
I've been dirt poor, pretty well off, and I've been just ok. I do my thing at my own level, there have been times where I couldn't do a thing. That's just the way life is but, you need to look at the big picture. We only get one time around on this ride of life... If anything the way I look at it is have compassion for people who are worse off than you. And take care of your family.

 

[joefire_2008]

Met a Canadian the other day, at a hospital here in my city, in the midwest USA.

I had a girl friend who was from Canada...
She was a little vixen, and she rocked my world!!!
I loved her with all my heart, but we parted ways. She is a good person... we just didn't work enough for us to get married. I really miss her... I had to break it off.

She was able to give me insight into Canada, I also lived in Scotland so I am familiar with socialized medicine,etc...

 

[walliwalibus]

Magic is a survivor, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[ceo]

I live in America and I think this is bullshit.

Here's another American's opinion:
Research Priorities Askew - Health - redOrbit

Nearly 73,000 Americans died of Alzheimer's Disease in 2006, the most recent year for which numbers are available. By comparison, about 14,000 died of AIDS. And yet the amount of money spent on Alzheimer's research by the federal government is a fraction of the $2.9 billion it spends on HIV/AIDS research.

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 56,300 Americans were newly infected with HIV in 2006, while there were more than 411,000 new cases of Alzheimer's. And yet, federal funding for Alzheimer's research has been stuck at about $650 million a year for the past five years, compared to the $2.9 billion for HIV/AIDS.

Alzheimer's and other dementias account for about a third of the $450 billion now spent on Medicare beneficiaries. In just 25 years, one expert told Congress, Alzheimer's costs will approach the entire amount now spent on Medicare. In other words, Alzheimer's-related costs will overrun the Medicare system, and Medicaid as well.

 

[Dial_tone]

Wow -- those charts are damning. Especially this one:

That chart looks the way it does because the number of deaths due to AIDS has dramatically decreased due to research. Just last year I biked almost 500 miles to raise money for AIDS related charities and a lot of it came from EF people.

 

[75th]

I live in America and I think this is bullshit.

Here's another American's opinion:
Research Priorities Askew - Health - redOrbit

Nearly 73,000 Americans died of Alzheimer's Disease in 2006, the most recent year for which numbers are available. By comparison, about 14,000 died of AIDS. And yet the amount of money spent on Alzheimer's research by the federal government is a fraction of the $2.9 billion it spends on HIV/AIDS research.

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 56,300 Americans were newly infected with HIV in 2006, while there were more than 411,000 new cases of Alzheimer's. And yet, federal funding for Alzheimer's research has been stuck at about $650 million a year for the past five years, compared to the $2.9 billion for HIV/AIDS.

Alzheimer's and other dementias account for about a third of the $450 billion now spent on Medicare beneficiaries. In just 25 years, one expert told Congress, Alzheimer's costs will approach the entire amount now spent on Medicare. In other words, Alzheimer's-related costs will overrun the Medicare system, and Medicaid as well.

Ceo you fucking racist shitbag. Why should we spend more money researching a disease that occurs naturally and isnt caught (most of the time) due to someones own personal retarded decisions?

 

[javaguru]

and what % of those infected got it from a transfusion?

i think unprotected anal sex is far more dangerous than being a hemophiliac.

It wasn't uncommon in 1982 but the blood supply is tested. I need to google blood supply HIV infections.

Aidsmap | Donated blood sample involved in HIV transmission, even though donation tested for HIV RNA
"A case of HIV transmission in the US involving a blood donation that had been screened for HIV RNA is reported in the March edition of Vox Sanguinis.

The case involved an individual who had been very recently infected with HIV, but had not yet serocoverted and had a very low viral load. It is the first reported instance of HIV being transmitted by donated blood that had been screened using minipool nucleic acid amplification testing (MR-NAT), which was introduced into the US in 1999 (minipooling involves the pooling of sera from 16-24 blood donors in order to speed up the process of HV RNA testing while holding down the cost of screening; other countries may use larger pools).

However, investigators are stressing that efforts to protect the blood supply from donations infected with HIV and other infectious diseases such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) are very effective, and are likely to become even more so when the enhanced individualised donation NAT (ID-NAT) assays become more widely used, even though this is likely to have considerable cost implications."

 

[ceo]

Ceo you fucking racist shitbag. Why should we spend more money researching a disease that occurs naturally and isnt caught (most of the time) due to someones own personal retarded decisions?

CAll me callous, but I am looking at it from a dollars and cents standpoint. I don't see AIDS related costs overrunning the Medicare/Medicaid systems in the next 25 years.

As for the number of people dying from AIDS...14,000 in 2006, 16,000 in 1998, 10,000 in 1999. I don't see that as dramatically decreasing. Looks to me like the "number of deaths due to AIDS has..." NOT"...dramatically decreased due to research" it's pretty much remained constant, DESPITE all the money we've spent on research!