Virus hunter Nathan Wolfe is outwitting the next pandemic by staying two steps ahead: discovering new, deadly viruses where they first emerge -- passing from animals to humans among poor subsistence hunters in Africa -- before they claim millions of lives.
Armed with blood samples, high-tech tools and a small army of fieldworkers, Nathan Wolfe hopes to re-invent pandemic control -- and reveal hidden secrets of the planet's dominant lifeform: the virus.
Using genetic sequencing, needle-haystack research, and dogged persistence (crucial to getting spoilage-susceptible samples through the jungle and to the lab), Nathan Wolfe has proven what was science-fiction conjecture only a few decades ago -- not only do viruses jump from animals to humans, but they do so all the time. Along the way Wolfe has discovered several new viruses, and is poised to discover many more.
Wolfe's research has turned the field of epidemiology on its head, and attracted interest from philanthropists at Google.org and the Skoll foundation. Better still, the research opens the door to preventing epidemics before they happen, sidelining them via early-warning systems and alleviating the poverty from which easy transmission emerges.
ummmmm, and why are you arguing this point? The logical conclusion would be that you have an axe to grind. The fact is 1) if you are arguing that it wasn't the green monkey then I find it strange that you go on to say it is speculation, which means it could be the case, which means (wait for it)
you have an axe to grind... or 2) you are arguing against this approach, well, we can still hang people upsidedown and put leaches on their foreheads or we could try some 'innovation' - no promises, but isn't that what it's all about?
http://travelvaccineforum.wordpress.com/
What do you know about Swine Flu?
It is important to note that the presence of HIV is not the same as AIDS. And even if it were true that the HIV existed in Africa before the AIDS epidemic in the US there were no known cases of AIDS in Africa before 1982 and no cases of heterosexual AIDS until the mid-80's. A heterosexual AIDS epidemic did not exist in Africa until the early 90's.
Around 1984, scientists discovered the HIV virus is mutagenic - that is, it is capable of altering its own DNA structure to acclimate to its host (the person in whom it resides.) Consequently, different strains of HIV virus are associated with different social populations making it difficult to find a cure.
Discovery of the AIDS virus was attributed to Dr. Robert Gallo at the National Cancer Institute in April 1984. However, Shortly thereafter Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute in Paris claimed that he (and not Gallo) had first discovered the AIDS virus. A bitter lawsuit followed, which was finally settled privately in 1987 through the intervention of the French Premier and President Ronald Reagan. To this day, the two ‘co-discoverers' of HIV continue to disagree about the origin of HIV and the birthplace of AIDS.
The theory that HIV was transmitted by the green monkey to humans was first introduced by Dr. Gallo who reported that he was told by Ann Giudici Fettner, a free-lance journalist who had lived in Africa. that the disease started in Africa where it was first transmitted to humans.
At the onset of the U.S. based, HIV epidemic the then unknown virus and its resultant disease was identified by the acronym; GRID for Gay Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Beause of my role in the medical profressions at the outset of the AIDS epidemic and the fact that two of my siblings succumbed to the disease, I am both intimately and keenly aware of its history, of the the fear and uncertainty surrounding its onset and the herculian efforts of thousands of medical researchers, nurses and physicians who continue to work towards a discovery for its cure and effective care for those who are afflicted.
I am also aware of the many theories surrounding the origin and evolution of the disease including the unproven speculation asserted by Nathan Wolfe and others, that the HIV virus originated in Africa. Mr. Wolfe's assertion of the African origin of the HIV virus is the latest in a series of viral conspiracy theories espoused by some epidemiologists and other scientists hoping to "re-invent pandemic control -- and reveal hidden secrets of the planet's dominant lifeform: the virus."
The origin of the HIV virus has been disputed since 1979 when the AIDS epidemic first presented in America. Most theories of origination including its association with the (lentiviruses) found in sheep and goats, particularly the visna virus in sheep, which causes pneumonia, neurologic changes, and wasting have been successfully debunked.