Another gift from Africa

valor · #1 (**permalink**) 10-29-2007, 10:56 PM

They found that HIV was brought to Haiti by an infected person from central Africa in about 1966

Just think of all the wonderful gifts that the great country of Africa has bestowed upon the United States of America.

Quote:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The AIDS virus invaded the United States in about 1969 from Haiti, carried most likely by a single infected immigrant who set the stage for it to sweep the world in a tragic epidemic, scientists said on Monday.

Michael Worobey, a University of Arizona evolutionary biologist, said the 1969 U.S. entry date is earlier than some experts had believed.

The timeline laid out in the study led by Worobey indicates that HIV infections were occurring in the United States for roughly 12 years before AIDS was first recognized by scientists as a disease in 1981. Many people had died by that point.

"It is somehow chilling to know it was probably circulating for so long under our noses," Worobey said in a telephone interview.

The researchers conducted a genetic analysis of stored blood samples from early AIDS patients to determine when the human immunodeficiency virus first entered the United States.

They found that HIV was brought to Haiti by an infected person from central Africa in about 1966, which matches earlier estimates, and then came to the United States in about 1969.

The researchers think an unknown single infected Haitian immigrant arrived in a large city like Miami or New York, and the virus circulated for years -- first in the U.S. population and then to other nations.

It can take several years after infection for a person to develop AIDS, a disease that ravages the immune system.

DISEASE MULTIPLIES

"That one infection would have become two, and then it doubles again and the two becomes four," Worobey said. "So you have a period -- probably a fair number of years -- where you're dealing with probably fewer than a hundred people who are infected.

"And then, as with epidemic expansion, at some point the hundred becomes 200, you start getting into thousands, tens of thousands. And then quite rapidly you can be up into the hundreds of thousands of infections that were probably already there before AIDS was recognized in the early 1980s."

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The path the virus traveled as it jumped from nation to nation has long been debated by scientists.

The University of Miami's Dr. Arthur Pitchenik, a co-author of the study, had seen Haitian immigrants in Miami as early as 1979 with a mystery illness that turned out to be AIDS. He knew the government long had stored some of their blood samples.

The researchers analyzed samples from five of these Haitian immigrants dating from 1982 and 1983. They also looked at genetic data from 117 more early AIDS patients from around the world.

This genetic analysis allowed the scientists to calibrate the molecular clock of the strain of HIV that has spread most widely, and calculated when it arrived first in Haiti from Africa and then in the United States.

The researchers virtually ruled out the possibility that HIV had come directly to the United States from Africa, setting a 99.8 percent probability that Haiti was the steppingstone.

"I think that it gives us more clear insight into the history of it (the AIDS epidemic) and what path the virus took -- and hard objective evidence, not just armchair thinking," Pitchenik said in a telephone interview.

Studies suggest the virus first entered the human population in about 1930 in central Africa, probably when people slaughtered infected chimpanzees for meat. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people and about 40 million others are infected with HIV.

A military genius could not have done any more damage than the African culture, the effect on the U.S. has been both parasitic and viral. They have been able to do to the U.S. what no other military power on earth could. America will meet it's demise as did many of the great societies of the past, from within.

Tedminator · #2 (**permalink**) 10-29-2007, 11:05 PM

and soooo.. what do you propose to do about it?

valor · #3 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tedminator";p=&quot

and soooo.. what do you propose to do about it?

Learn from our mistakes and prevent political correctness gurus from rewriting history, then isolate everything African from the rest of the world.
It is my opinion that all other cultures have the potential to be civilized.
The black culture is the tool of the devil, we should have never opened that can of worms, just let the (vodou) serpent alone.

Tedminator · #4 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 12:40 AM

ehhh

..thats it?? You've been warning us of a "both parasitic and viral" threat, a "tool of the devil" that will cause the "demise" of the USA from "within" ..And your plan to counter this threat is "prevent political correctness" ?

Come now, you can do better than that. Don't dance around it with pc terms like "isolate everything African". Give us your no-holds-barred unvarnished final solution.

For instance; what do you propose to do with the people of african descent in the USA? What about the influence afro-americans have already had on american culture?

jhffmn · #5 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 04:41 AM

This is just silly.

AIDs came from chimps, are you going to go to the zoo and yell at them?

rwking · #6 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 05:23 AM

Hey valor,

Not sure if you remember, but when your fellow Anglicans came over from Europe to colonize a land that was already populated, they brought over chicken pox, measles, and small pox, all of which had a devastating effect on the Native American population. So, you can't use the HIV virus to defend your stance on Africans. When people migrate, they take diseases with them. It's a fact of life, and HIV is certainly not the first virus to spread to America by immigration. So, you can get off that high horse, partner, because white settlers wiped out entire populations of Native Americans long before HIV was even thought of.

While precise figures are difficult to arrive at, some historians estimate that up to 80% of some Native populations died due to European diseases.

In 1617-1619 smallpox wiped out 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Indians.

It reached Lake Ontario in 1636, and the lands of the Iroquois by 1679, killing millions.

During the 1770's, smallpox killed at least 30% of the West Coast Native Americans.

Reference: Wikipedia: Native Americans in the United States

Edit: Added reference.

TarBaby · #7 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by valor";p=&quot

It is my opinion that all other cultures have the potential to be civilized.

It is my opinion that you are hopelessly bigoted and ignorant. It seems you are the one that needs to work on being civilized.

Again, nice point, rw. Colonists and homesteaders did a far better job wiping out native culture than Africans ever did to us.

rwking · #8 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 09:27 AM

[quote="TarBaby";p="407785"]

Quote:

Originally Posted by valor";p=&quot

Again, nice point, rw. Colonists and homesteaders did a far better job wiping out native culture than Africans ever did to us.

Thanks!

You know, the research we have to do to disprove the lame claims that these fools make gets exhausting. Don't you agree?

TarBaby · #9 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rwking";p=&quot

Thanks!

You know, the research we have to do to disprove the lame claims that these fools make gets exhausting. Don't you agree?

Oh, for sure. But I like to think of it as a work out for my brain, and for honing debate skills. Just like you should practice harder than you play, it unlikely I'll come across people so ignorant in real life as I can find on the internet. After trying to stay civil and convincing with these bigots, handling people I meet day to day is a cinch. The one thing that gets old though is how easily points I make can be skipped over and discarded. Its frustrating to know that even when I nail a poster on here with just the right way of looking at a problem, or catch their faulty logic or hate speech, they're still not going to admit it.

rwking · #10 (**permalink**) 10-30-2007, 11:16 AM

Yeah, I have noticed that as well. People are so stubborn with their ignorance. Perhaps that's why prejudice never seems to diminish. No matter how hard you try some people will never get it... like valor, for example.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode