A few years ago a large group of doctors had a meeting about aids. One of the concerns was that the AIDS virus could “piggyback” the Hepatitus Virus. Meaning that you could catch AIDS when exposed to the Hepatitus virus. The doctor speaking at the podium said that he had investigated the claim and found it to be highly unlikely. But then, other doctors in the audience started standing up and saying, “I have 5 cases here!”, “We have been looking at 20!”, etc.
Have you heard that this has been resolved or not?
Troy
HIV is a bloodborne pathogen that doesn’t “piggyback” on other pathogens, but having certain diseases (like syphilis) can make it easier to acquire HIV for a couple of reasons. There’s a lot more to it than that, of course, but I’m movin this over to General Questions, since it doesn’t appear to be a comment about a Straight Dope column.
Jill