When in Doubt, Blame the Romans

Here all this time we were told Ronald Reagan was to blame for the spread of AIDS.

What, as the old Monty Python question goes, have the Romans ever done for us?

Well, apart from the usual answers of roads, sanitation and a fondness for wine, it appears they have also made us more vulnerable to HIV.

According to genetic research published on Wednesday, when Julius Caesar made his first exploratory visit to our shores in 55BC he triggered a chain of events which may have lowered our resistance to the virus which leads to Aids.

The theory is that as the Roman Empire spread so did an unknown illness that killed those carrying a gene that would one day give their descendants resistance to the virus.

As a result, today's inhabitants of nations once conquered by the Romans tend to lack the gene and so are more susceptible to HIV.

For instance, only 4 per cent of Greeks carry the gene, compared with more than 15 per cent of people in parts of northern Europe untouched by the Romans.

In England and Wales, which were occupied by the Romans for 400 years, up to 11 per cent have the gene which is called CCR5-Delta32 and stops HIV worming its way into the body's cells.

Leading AIDS Expert Says UN Overhyped Risks

Of course most impartial observers could have told you this 20 years ago, but at least it's refreshing to see an expert in the field admit the truth.

Of course he'll probably be demonized and ostracized, but he'll at least have a clean conscience.

We'll bide our time, but it won't be long until the global warming alarmists start admitting they've been pulling a scam themselves.

The United Nations has systematically exaggerated the scale of the Aids epidemic and the risk of the HIV virus affecting heterosexuals, claims a leading expert on the disease.

The numbers of people worldwide with HIV have been inflated and the UN Aids agency has wasted billions of pounds on education aimed at people who are unlikely to become infected, says Professor James Chin, a former senior Aids official with the World Health Organisation. He also accused UNAids of misleading and scaring the public by promoting 'myths' about the disease, such as that poorer people are most at risk, and of being guided in its approach by 'political correctness' rather than hard evidence.

Chin will detail his claims this week in London in a meeting hosted by the International Policy Network, a free-market think tank, where he will launch a new report, called 'The Myth of a General Aids Pandemic'. Despite his controversial reputation, Chin, a professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley, will also explain his concerns when he meets Department for International Development officials who specialise in HIV and Aids.

'UNAids has systematically exaggerated the size and trend of the pandemic, as well as hyping the potential for HIV epidemics in general populations,' said Chin. 'UNAids's perpetuation of the myth that everyone is at risk of Aids has led to billions wasted on prevention programmes directed at general populations and youth who, outside of sub-Saharan Africa, are at minimal risk of exposure to HIV.'

SHocking that the UN would waste billions of dollars, huh?

Latest Grim News: Global Warming Will Increase AIDS Cases

At least they're being creative. I have to admit I hadn't heard this one yet.

CLIMATE change is the latest threat to the world's growing HIV epidemic, say Australian experts who warn of the "grim" outlook in the fight against the infectious disease.

A leading professor of health and human rights, Daniel Tarantola, has cautioned that global warming will indirectly make citizens of developing countries even more vulnerable to death and severe ill health from HIV/AIDS.

"It was clear soon after the emergence of the HIV epidemic that discrimination, gender inequality and lack of access to essential services have made some populations more vulnerable than others,'' said Prof Tarantola, of the University of NSW.

Of course we've poured untold billions into fighting AIDS and HIV. But of course, it's never enough. Now they're working in some food shortage hysteria.

They're playing on our fears!

Those problems had not gone away, he said, and today extra threats were lurking on the horizon "as the global economic situation deteriorates, food scarcity worsens and climate change begins to affect those who were already dependent on survival economies''.

"Climate change will trigger a chain of events which is likely to increase the stress on society and result in higher vulnerability to diseases including HIV,'' said Prof Tarantola, due to address an HIV forum in Sydney tonight.

Prominent HIV scientist Professor David Cooper, director of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, agreed environmental change would have a negative impact on HIV sufferers.

"Climate change will lead to food scarcity and poorer nutrition, putting people with perilous immune systems at more risk of dying of HIV, as well as contracting and transmitting new and unusual infections,'' Prof Cooper said.

"And this would effect Australia too, because these infections could potentially spread. Just look at the horror that SARS and avian flu have caused.''

The specialist said the HIV landscape was grim, with 16,000 new infections worldwide each day and the failure of research to produce a much-needed cure or vaccine.

He echoed the deep pessimism of 35 top British and US scientists who predicted this week that a vaccine would be at least 10 years and maybe even 20 years away.

"It's a pretty grim situation,'' Prof Cooper said.

Thanks to Ace for the link.

Reader CoquimboJoe passed along this link of things allegedly caused by global warming. Well, we have a new addition.

Arafat Doctor: Yes, He Had AIDS, But He Was Poisoned

Trying to keep up appearances, I guess. They figure his image as big, bad terror honcho might take a hit if it's known he had AIDS.

The question remains, however: Who gave it to him and how many others did he infect?

Arafat's doctor: There was HIV in his blood, but poison killed him

Late Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat's blood contained the deadly HIV virus, Arafat's personal physician told Jordanian media over the weekend. Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi stressed, however, that Arafat did not die of AIDS - which is caused by the virus.

Jordanian news site Amman quoted al-Kurdi - a former Jordanian health ministry official - as saying that the virus had been injected into Arafat's bloodstream close to his death, and that the real cause of the chairman's death was poison.

Hours earlier, al-Kurdi was interviewed on television news station Al-Jazeera. However, the network cut short the live interview with al-Kurdi as soon as he mentioned that the former chairman had contracted HIV.

To Amman, al-Kurdi said that Arafat's death was suspicious in several other respects. "I would usually be summoned to attend to Arafat immediately, even when all he had was a simple cold," said al-Kurdi, who served as Arafat's personal physician for 18 years. "But when his medical situation was really deteriorating, they chose not to call me at all."

According to al-Kurdi, Arafat's wife, Suha, refused to allow the doctor to visit Arafat in the private Paris hospital where he was being treated. Al-Kurdi added that he was denied access to Arafat's body after his death. In the Amman interview, he demanded the French government set up a commission of inquiry.

Read the rest.

NY Times Harps on Bush AIDS Efforts

No amount of good the man does will ever be enough for some people. Let's overlook the fact the George W. Bush has devoted more money than any other President in the effort to fight AIDS. No, that's just not good enough. It's how the money is distributed that bothers the elitists at the New York Times.

President Bush’s $15 billion plan to fight AIDS globally is seriously hampered by restrictions imposed by Congress and the administration, a panel of medical experts said yesterday.

The country’s most prestigious medical advisory panel, the Institute of Medicine, was asked by Congress to assess the five-year plan at midway. The 13 members of the panel praised the efforts, saying the plan had “demonstrated what many doubted could be done.” But it needs to move from an emergency response to a long-term battle plan, the panel said, and its members listed these three restrictions that they felt were the most hindering:

¶The requirement that 33 percent of all money for prevention be spent teaching chastity and fidelity, even in countries where most cases are spread by drug injection.

¶The need for separate Food and Drug Administration approval of AIDS drugs that the World Health Organization has already approved.

¶Laws forbidding the use of taxpayer money to give clean needles to drug addicts.

Read the rest. They get around to casting aspersions upon the dreaded "conservative Christian" bogeymen later on, needless to say. What annoys me is the "restrictions" cited above are quite logical in the fight to stop the spread of the disease. But because a panel of "experts" and the New York Times reporter have an agenda, all the noble efforts and vast amounts of money devoted to the program are dismissed.

The President could throw a trillion dollars with no restrictions at the cause and they would still hate him.

Maybe we need to start funding the fight against BDS.