Activist group claims to send AIDS-tainted razors to animal researcher

[Bateluer]

Yeah, but what happens when they start mailing bombs instead of ineptly tainted razor blades?

That's why vigilante justice is retarded. Investigate, arrest, try, punish. Just like any other criminal.

Who says they always mail things? There's been many cases where researchers are accosted by these terrorists. Obviously, carrying a .357 isn't going to protect you from a letter bomb, but it will make a handful of nuts attacking you in the parking lot think twice.

 

[Ninjahedge]

BJ - nopt in the sense I was thinking. I was thinking more like the Bubonic Plague, not a relatively small portion of the unlucky pupulation......


I wonder if these guys put the razors in apples before mailing it to him.

Now THAT would have been scary!!!!!! :wark:

 

[alrocky]

Saw that on the TV news. What caught my eye was his eyebrows.

 

[ElFenix]

I think the phrasing you're looking for is 'it gets a more stable envelope structure.' Even this is extremely unlikely, but maybe possible.

However, even if it does become more stable, it's probably a Catch-22 situation. Basically the more stable HIV won't be HIV any more.

i would like to know more about the bolded

 

[theflyingpig]

I would be fun eviscerating members of animal activist groups. I'd be giggling like a school girl while listening to their pleas for mercy turn to screams of agony. hehehehehe.

 

[Brainonska511]

i would like to know more about the bolded

Part of what makes HIV such a great virus is that it does such a crappy job duplicating itself. I assume that a more environmentally stable virus would need to have a better replication system to protect the important parts of the structure that are vital for survival outside a host, but that would also lead to fewer mutations and make it easier to develop drugs that last a long time against it, and I guess that is what would make it less like HIV (since changes would be occuring at a much slower rate)

----
As to the article, the nutcases that send this stuff are domestic terrorists. It shouldn't be tolerated.

 

[Gibsons]

i would like to know more about the bolded

General idea, some of the things that make it so dangerous are also what make it fragile.

One of the things about HIV is its initial entry into a host. In most cases, it seems to be dependent on interactions with dendritic cells or DCs (Technically iDCs. IV drug abusers probably allow the virus to skip this step). There's a specific receptor on DCs that mediates this action. Change the outer surface of HIV significantly, and you probably eliminate this interaction, and thus maybe a lot of infections.

Furthermore, the main target on HIV for the immune system is a molecule called GP120 (a simplification but true at least for antibodies). It's a very special glycoprotein in many ways. There's a lot to it, but two things in particular. First, it's why CD4 T cells are the main target of the virus. Second, it seems to have a very unusual property in that it can be 'attacked' (I hate that word, but I'll use it here) by antibodies and still continue to function more or less normally. That's extremely unusual, maybe unique.

If GP120 and the general envelope structure change too much (i.e. towards a more stable phenotype) you're much more likely than not to change these properties. It wouldn't target T cells (or any cells?) so efficiently and it would be much more susceptible to an immune response.

bad analogy: if we removed the wheels from a car, it would no longer get flat tires. But it's not really much use as a car anymore.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

At my school nonetheless..

 

[schneiderguy]

Is concealed carry legal in CA?

California is a "may issue" state, which means the Sheriff of your county gets to decide whether you deserve to have a CCW permit or not. In practice, it basically means that you don't get one unless you're rich and famous or know the Sheriff.

 

[Nebor]

Yeah, but what happens when they start mailing bombs instead of ineptly tainted razor blades?

Shoot all your packages before opening them. Duh.

 

[Born2bwire]

Train the monkeys to open all your packages for you. Duh.

FTFY.

 

[JTalbain]

went to UCLA... a couple of years ago these animal protestors admitted to lighting a van on fire. IIRC, the van had nothing to do with the animal research; it was a van-pool van owned by the transportation department.

take-home lesson: this group doesn't really act logically, and they're not too bright.