How Long Will it Take for HIV to Become Airborne?

[Drifter]

I wouldn't worry too much about HIV going airborn. I'm scared something like Ebola will become airborn in which case things will get really messy. Depending on the strain the death rate ranges from about %60 to %95 percent give or take.

 

[plornive]

Even if it was airborne, would there be enough of a viral load to cause infection?

 

[Imnotdutch]

Just a few points.......virus's cannot die. They are not living in the first place. The stability of virus's is however an issue. It would not take much to increase the stability of a virus.

No virus is too small to become airborne........air currents can carry much larger items than virus's.......such as dust particles.

Not all virus's contain RNA.......some have DNA.

*** raised an interesting point. What he described is effectively Natural Selection. Selection can also be applied to virus's.......for example selecting for strains that have particular hosts or those that are more stable than others (less stable virus's might not fin a host beforefalling apart whilst more stabe virus's have an increased possibility of finding a host to allow propagation).

Just my 2c.

 

[***]

I wouldn't worry too much about HIV going airborn. I'm scared something like Ebola will become airborn in which case things will get really messy. Depending on the strain the death rate ranges from about %60 to %95 percent give or take.

airborne HIV would be MUCH more devastating than airborne ebola. ebola is very gruesome and kills extremely fast, but that's the good thing about it. with a semi-effective quarantine most people will die before they can come in contact with anyone else to spread it. HIV on the other hand has such a long incubation period (years) that 1 person can literally infect thousands of people before s/he realizes s/he is even infected, making a quarantine of HIV infected people impossible.

Just a few points.......virus's cannot die. They are not living in the first place.

that's up to debate. they don't meet all the original definition of a living organism because they don't have a membrane, but this criteria is thought to be outdated by some people. my opinion doesn't mean shit, but i personally think they should be classified as living because they have DNA or RNA and have the ability to replicate (with the help of other organisms).



it wouldn't surprise me if of HIV have already become airborne, but since infection of a person would cause more than 1 active virus, a single mutated airborne virus would eventually just get destroyed by the human's immune system. but if it were possible for that lone mutant to survive in a human and propagate then we're in huge trouble.

 

[Imnotdutch]

that's up to debate. they don't meet all the original definition of a living organism because they don't have a membrane, but this criteria is thought to be outdated by some people. my opinion doesn't mean shit, but i personally think they should be classified as living because they have DNA or RNA and have the ability to replicate (with the help of other organisms).

I knew somebody would pick up on this I agree that it is kinda debatable as to what makes something living. However, he criteria usually used to decide if something is living are:

(i) Does it move? (some virus's inject genetic material into hosts so this could count).
(ii) Does it respire? (nope...).
(iii) Does it sense and respond to the environment? (they do not sense the environmentand respond unless you count the virus falling apart under harsh conditions).
(iv) Does it grow? (virus's do not grow).
(v) Does it reproduce? (debatable......see below).
(vi) Does it excrete waste products? (virus's do not make waste products......this is related to the lack of respiration photosynthesis etc).
(vii) Does it require nutrition? (no........although a host requires food in order to propagate the virus).

(Admittedly some of these criteria are debatable).

Virus's fulfil few of these criteria. Notably it does not have the abiity to replicate......it uses the molecular machinery of the host. The only thing it supplies is a piece of DNA / RNA.......if that makes it alive then the lab I used to work in had a couple of thousand eppendorf tubes (plastic containers) that were alive because they had DNA within them.

Just my 2c so excuse me ifI am being incredibly naive.

 

[***]

but your eppendorf tubes don't have the ability to reproduce on their own or with the help of a host organism.

 

[DUSTY]

doomsday scenario #1: it's a matter of time before HIV mutates into an airborne virus. a small percentage of the population has a natural immunity towards it, but most of us are gonna be fucked.

aids will never be air-borne my friend. if anything the government will release a super germ.

 

[ariolanine]

airborne HIV would be MUCH more devastating than airborne ebola. ebola is very gruesome and kills extremely fast, but that's the good thing about it. with a semi-effective quarantine most people will die before they can come in contact with anyone else to spread it. HIV on the other hand has such a long incubation period (years) that 1 person can literally infect thousands of people before s/he realizes s/he is even infected, making a quarantine of HIV infected people impossible.

Holy fuck that's a scary point you just made.