So, Andrew Stimpson may have beaten the HIV virus, and so studies of his immune system may lead to a cure, or at least some kind of understanding, of the virus. Two things to debate here, I think:
Do you think this is going to be an important event, i.e., do you think this will lead to an actual, final cure?
And secondly, it says in the story that he’s so far refused tests. Should he be forced to submit to them, on the grounds that it might save many lives?
He’s probably holding out for a big pay day or maybe he’s just scared that he still hads it and that there’s been a mix up-personally if I was his girlfriend I would still insist we use protection during sex–him being shady makes me skeptical
On one hand:
A statement from the trust said: "This is a rare and complex case. When we became aware of Mr Stimpson’s HIV negative test results we offered him further tests to help us investigate and find an explanation for the different results.
“So far Mr Stimpson has declined this offer.”
On the other:
“He has told the papers he would do anything he could to help find a cure.”
What could honestly be this guy’s hold up? If having this disease made him suicidal and depressed, why would he refuse to aid (bad pun, sorry) in research to perhaps eradicate it? I can’t see a viable reason.
To answer the question: No, they can’t force him. I know some people who’d like to slap him. With a brick.
That would be a reasonable expectation in the long run. In fact, wasn’t there a report a few months back that claimed such had already been observed in the west?
Hi, my name is kevbo, and I watch too much PBS. [unison] Hi Kevbo![/unison]
There is a good chance that this case is not breakthrough material.
Apparently there is a genetic immunity to HIV. The same gene also provides immunity to Black Death.
People with two copies of the gene don’t get plague at all. People with one copy get the plague and if the start in reasonably good health, are able to shake it.
Since it is the same gene, and offers protection by the same mechanism, it is not too far a stretch to think that if someone has only one copy they might contract and then shake off HIV.
People of British/European decent have a much better chance of having this gene, as they are quite likely to be decendants of plague survivors. In the case of one english town where plague struck twice, a fair number of people have the HIV immunity.
I also saw the PBS show that kevbo is referring to called Secrets of the Dead, and it was really very interesting. You can find more information on the PBS website. It explained how HIV replicates in the same way as the black plague, by attaching itself to your white blood cells and changing your genetic makeup. Certain people have white blood cells that have receptors that are shaped in such a way that the virus isn’t able to attach itself so it can’t infect it’s host. They also make reference to this kind of thing in the PBS series Evolution!, which was a fantastic six-part series that I would recommend to everyone. Yay for PBS!
As far as I can see, the two matters are linked. I can’t conceive of how anyone could refuse tests if they believed that they had, in fact, genuinely beaten HIV and that the tests could lead to a cure. Stimpson seems, finally, to have said that he will undergo tests, but not in the NHS. I absolutely don’t think he should be either bribed or forced into tests, the former because I have a slight suspicion that it’s all a con, and the latter because I intensely dislike that sort of coercion. The longer he refuses tests, the less likely I think it is that the story is genuine, and the less I think anyone should offer him a bribe.
AVERT, a UK AIDS charity, have a decent summary page up on the continuing story, and as one source rightly points out at the end of that page, this is a truly extraordinary claim, demanding extraordinary proof. The fact that Stimpson appears initially unwilling to provide it doesn’t augur well, although his stated reason (mistrust of the NHS) is perhaps understandable given the circumstances. I guess it’s a case of wait and see.
Possible scam in progress.
5 to 1 he comes out with a “Cure Yourself Of HIV In 3 Easy Steps” book within a year.
I detect the odor of the family Muridae.
:dubious:
I’m very sceptical about this one. Refusing to come forward for confirmation testing is telling, and since this has never been accurately documented before it will require rigorous analysis to be believed. Also, without knowing how he was tested when he initially showed up positive, it’s hard to say whether this is news at all. False positives can occur on a test, which is why confirmatory tests are always conducted after getting an initial positive. Further, his blood sample could have been mixed up (assuming it was a blood sample, it could have been saliva, for example) with someone else’s for the positive test, or for the later negative one. He needs to be tested multiple times to confirm this, as it could be such a low viral load that the test comes back negative but the virus is still in his system, or that he never had it in the first place (that’s my guess).
Generally, CCR5 mutants or others, like the aforementioned black death thingy are long-term nonresponders or long-term nonseroconverters. The first class get the virus but never get AIDS. The second class never test positive. Neither would explain positive -> negative. I can think of a few situations – infection by a mutated HIV subtype that fails to establish itself in macrophages; testing during an acute retroviral syndrome that fails to materialize with a long-term infections; false positive or false negative tests.
HIV is enormously complex and we keep learning more and more about it every year. Nobody is claiming we know everything about this virus and even if we did know everything about it, it mutates so quickly that it is not unexpected to see bizarre things like this. The only way we would know anything about anything with this guy is with a lot more study, and he doesn’t seem conducive to it, so too bad…
