6 ms·

If only we had a Project Warpspeed for AIDS.

by newbamboo 5y ago

Scoundreller 5y ago
Most in congress didn’t think they would be impacted by AIDS.
- jdavis703 5y ago
  And until Congress changed parties in 2021, most didn’t think they’d be impacted by COVID.
  - Scoundreller 5y ago
    That’s what they said, but I want to know their vaccination records.
- bluGill 5y ago
  Most won't be. HIV spreads by things that most in congress are unlikely to take part in. (sharing needles). While there are a lot of sex scandals in congress, the form of those activities is mostly low risk (low odds that the partner has HIV, and sex in a form that makes spread unlikely). Of course the above is about odds. Individual exceptions do not prove me wrong. That doesn't mean HIV isn't horrible. It also doesn't mean congress is right for the right reasons.
  - Scoundreller 5y ago
    Congress depends on the blood supply more than average, but the risk to the blood supply was largely ignored because AIDS was supposed to be a homosexual/drug user disease in their minds.
    - nieve 5y ago
      I was shocked to learn that Isaac Asimov died from complications of AIDS acquired via transfusion, but his doctors insisted on keeping it a secret from the public.
      - bluGill 5y ago
        For the most part our blood supply has good protection for blood born illness (between rules that prevent the high risk from donating and testing). That wasn't always the case. It is best to keep the mistakes of the past un talked about so that we don't spread fear of the blood supply which would kill far more people.
epistasis 5y ago
The history of HIV research has had a lot of valiant work. We have had several vaccine attempts in the past, that have all been unsuccessful. And despite President-level dismissal of HIV/AIDS at the time, significant resources were devoted to it in the 80s, such that even though we didn't make huge progress against HIV at the time, the research on HIV progressed the rest of the field. And a lot of our anti-viral drugs have come out of HIV research as well. A modern Project Warpspeed probably wouldn't be quite as successful as a Covid19 Warpspeed, because a lot of the first ideas have already been attempted. But with the new sorts of designs that mRNA vaccines allow, there's a lot more that's possible now.
est31 5y ago
Caused by the initial shock of AIDS, and ongoing activism, there has been consistent funding from federal and various private sources in development. Thanks to these efforts, antiretrovirals are widely available, making AIDS a "solved" problem in the sense that you can prevent AIDS onset indefinitely with the right medication. Right now, the problem is more about actually accessing the people who might have HIV, getting them to test themselves regularly, and then giving them access to HIV medication if they are positive. Often these people are on the fringes of society. A vaccine would be an ideal tool to reach these people than asking them to get tested regularly. HIV is a way harder virus to develop a vaccine for than SARS-CoV-2. For starters, once you have it, HIV is way more dangerous. Most people with covid don't need medical attention at all, they can deal with it themselves. Meanwhile, someone infected with HIV is basically sentenced to death in a couple of years if they aren't medicated (>90% mortality rate). The current covid pandemic is so severe because covid spreads so much better than HIV does. Our immune system can't really deal with HIV in a way that we survive the encounter. With SARS-CoV-2 you only need to slightly nudge the immune system into the right direction. That's a way easier task. HIV also has an immensely large mutation rate. The genetic diversity in a single individual is larger than the genetic diversity of one entire yearly influenza outbreak. So you need to come up with defenses that help against a gigantic set of HIV viruses. We still need to vaccinate people yearly with an influenza shot, because we can't create universal influenza vaccines yet. It's an open problem similar to how a HIV vaccine is an open problem. TLDR: There is already something like warp speed for HIV, but we were mostly lucky that it was so easy to come up with a covid vaccine.
- sterlind 5y ago
  apparently HAART sort of ages people's organs, according to patients' testimonials. that's better than dying of AIDS but still not ideal. also, doesn't your immune system lose like 30% of its T-cells after you seroconvert, but prior to developing AIDS? iirc that's why HIV+ people are considered immunocompromised regardless of viral load.
  - est31 5y ago
    Yeah, HAART is not side effect free, but one has come a long way from the initial retrovirals which had way more severe side effects. As for the CD4+ T cells, you are right that their numbers decrease before it's called AIDS. In some individuals the counts can successfully recover to "normal" levels. According to studies, it depends on how early you start treatment. https://www.aidsmap.com/news/dec-2018/cd4-count-recovery-french-study-reaffirms-why-it-important-test-and-treat-hiv-early https://www.aidsmap.com/news/dec-2018/cd4-count-recovery-fre... https://www.nature.com/articles/mi201558 https://www.nature.com/articles/mi201558

If only we had a Project Warpspeed for AIDS.

Scoundreller 5y ago

Most in congress didn’t think they would be impacted by AIDS.

jdavis703 5y ago
And until Congress changed parties in 2021, most didn’t think they’d be impacted by COVID.
- Scoundreller 5y ago
  That’s what they said, but I want to know their vaccination records.
bluGill 5y ago
Most won't be. HIV spreads by things that most in congress are unlikely to take part in. (sharing needles). While there are a lot of sex scandals in congress, the form of those activities is mostly low risk (low odds that the partner has HIV, and sex in a form that makes spread unlikely). Of course the above is about odds. Individual exceptions do not prove me wrong. That doesn't mean HIV isn't horrible. It also doesn't mean congress is right for the right reasons.
- Scoundreller 5y ago
  Congress depends on the blood supply more than average, but the risk to the blood supply was largely ignored because AIDS was supposed to be a homosexual/drug user disease in their minds.
  - nieve 5y ago
    I was shocked to learn that Isaac Asimov died from complications of AIDS acquired via transfusion, but his doctors insisted on keeping it a secret from the public.
    - bluGill 5y ago
      For the most part our blood supply has good protection for blood born illness (between rules that prevent the high risk from donating and testing). That wasn't always the case. It is best to keep the mistakes of the past un talked about so that we don't spread fear of the blood supply which would kill far more people.

epistasis 5y ago

The history of HIV research has had a lot of valiant work. We have had several vaccine attempts in the past, that have all been unsuccessful. And despite President-level dismissal of HIV/AIDS at the time, significant resources were devoted to it in the 80s, such that even though we didn't make huge progress against HIV at the time, the research on HIV progressed the rest of the field. And a lot of our anti-viral drugs have come out of HIV research as well. A modern Project Warpspeed probably wouldn't be quite as successful as a Covid19 Warpspeed, because a lot of the first ideas have already been attempted. But with the new sorts of designs that mRNA vaccines allow, there's a lot more that's possible now.

est31 5y ago

Caused by the initial shock of AIDS, and ongoing activism, there has been consistent funding from federal and various private sources in development. Thanks to these efforts, antiretrovirals are widely available, making AIDS a "solved" problem in the sense that you can prevent AIDS onset indefinitely with the right medication. Right now, the problem is more about actually accessing the people who might have HIV, getting them to test themselves regularly, and then giving them access to HIV medication if they are positive. Often these people are on the fringes of society. A vaccine would be an ideal tool to reach these people than asking them to get tested regularly. HIV is a way harder virus to develop a vaccine for than SARS-CoV-2. For starters, once you have it, HIV is way more dangerous. Most people with covid don't need medical attention at all, they can deal with it themselves. Meanwhile, someone infected with HIV is basically sentenced to death in a couple of years if they aren't medicated (>90% mortality rate). The current covid pandemic is so severe because covid spreads so much better than HIV does. Our immune system can't really deal with HIV in a way that we survive the encounter. With SARS-CoV-2 you only need to slightly nudge the immune system into the right direction. That's a way easier task. HIV also has an immensely large mutation rate. The genetic diversity in a single individual is larger than the genetic diversity of one entire yearly influenza outbreak. So you need to come up with defenses that help against a gigantic set of HIV viruses. We still need to vaccinate people yearly with an influenza shot, because we can't create universal influenza vaccines yet. It's an open problem similar to how a HIV vaccine is an open problem. TLDR: There is already something like warp speed for HIV, but we were mostly lucky that it was so easy to come up with a covid vaccine.

sterlind 5y ago
apparently HAART sort of ages people's organs, according to patients' testimonials. that's better than dying of AIDS but still not ideal. also, doesn't your immune system lose like 30% of its T-cells after you seroconvert, but prior to developing AIDS? iirc that's why HIV+ people are considered immunocompromised regardless of viral load.
- est31 5y ago
  Yeah, HAART is not side effect free, but one has come a long way from the initial retrovirals which had way more severe side effects. As for the CD4+ T cells, you are right that their numbers decrease before it's called AIDS. In some individuals the counts can successfully recover to "normal" levels. According to studies, it depends on how early you start treatment. https://www.aidsmap.com/news/dec-2018/cd4-count-recovery-french-study-reaffirms-why-it-important-test-and-treat-hiv-early https://www.aidsmap.com/news/dec-2018/cd4-count-recovery-fre... https://www.nature.com/articles/mi201558 https://www.nature.com/articles/mi201558