South Ground Zero for HIV/AIDS

[Anthony]

Black folks have been migrating back down south for over two decades now. Many black folks started to migrate back down south after the ATL freaknik became a famous event in the early 90's. Black folks saw the south as a great financial move, securing careers that paid very well. The weather was great & southerners was known for their hospitality. Most black folks have family from down so the move wasn't something many were worried about. In fact, many folks moved with confidence that they will land a great job or start a businesses for themselves. No one ever predicted the South would emerged as ground zero in the HIV/AIDS crises. No one ever predicted that the South would be a hot bed for the bisexual & gay community. Many young & old folks looking for a new start, salvation & to party run down south. The married, the single, the educated, the entrepreneur, the career driven, the hard worker, the street hustler & the thugs all run down south & any of them could live an alternative lifestyle.  

How many of those folks get tested? Definitely not the hustler or thug.

HIV treatment & specialist in the South are playing catch up with the rest of the world.

What can be done to help?
Doctors believe an HIV-positive man who underwent a stem cell transplant has been cured as a result of the procedure. Timothy Ray Brown, also known as the "Berlin Patient," received the transplant in 2007 as part of a lengthy treatment course for leukemia. His doctors recently published a report in the journal Blood affirming that the results of extensive testing "strongly suggest that cure of HIV infection has been achieved."

The Berlin Patient has set the precedent: If you eradicate virus from the patient, you cure the patient. So they are developing “smart bombs” that help kill HIV. They may use T cells that have been gene-modified for this purpose. They may even be able to put protective genes into a patient’s own cells. 

That's where the South & everybody else should start, immediately!!!

I spoke about AIDS before on BGF.
Is prevention & treatment a cure?
Is turning HIV infection into a chronic disease a cure?
Are the drugs available to everyone?

Some researchers are convinced that vaccine experiments served as the vehicle through which HIV was "introduced" into the gay population in America. AIDS is a heterosexual disease in Africa, but started exclusively as a gay disease in the United States. We all know the first cases of HIV & AIDS was found in gay white men. How does a disease found in gay white men reach the masses in the black community & Africa? 
 
A Team of researchers, headed by Beatric Hahn performed viral studies on three chimps in the African wild & studied the frozen remains of a chimp discovered by accident in a freezer at the ARMY BIOWARFARE CENTER at Fort Detrick. The chimp tested positive for HIV in 1985.
On basis of this research, Hahn declared that a common subspecies of chimp {Pan troglodytes troglodytes} was the source of the virus "most closely" related to HIV.

Precise answers to how AIDS originated depends on the "expert" because Gallo first called his AIDS virus the "human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus" he believed it was closely related to newly discovered cancer-causing retroviruses than it was renamed human T-cell lymphototropic virus-3{HTLV-3} perhaps to obscure the connection of the AIDS virus to laboratory cancer virus. Allen Chase claims that during the years 1966-1977, the WHO utilized "200,000 people in forty countries-most of them non-doctors trained by seven hundred doctors and health professionals from over seventy participating countries-spent $300 million, and used 40 million bifurcated VACCINATING NEEDLES to administer 24,000 million {2.4 billion} dodes of SMALLPOX vaccine" THIS IS ALSO PROOF OF EXTENSIVE NEEDLE RE-USE. There is no proof that a large number of Africans were "incubating" HIV, or any other primate/simian virus before the outbreak. There have been embarrassing contamination problems with primate viruses which have plagued Gallo's lab in 1975. AIDS became official in the U.S. in June 1981, at that time AIDS was unknown in AFRICA. That explain why there were no large breakout of African slaves dying while performing free slave labor. Think about how AIDS attack the cells & than think about what kind of treatment would a slave owner give slave? None. AIDS didn't originate in Africa, but what does that mean now when it's the leading killer in Africa & among black folks in America? Think cure!

And The Band Played On (1993)

Overlying that dismal reality is another: There's a severe shortage of HIV specialists in the South, which exacerbates access to treatment for people living with the disease in the region, according to one of the nation's leading AIDS advocacy organizations. AIDS United, a Washington-based group that provides grants to community organizations, is starting a push to control AIDS in the South. The group seeks to spread awareness of the problem and highlight ways of providing access to care in a congressional roundtable Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

"This disease is no longer a metropolitan problem," says Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a host of the roundtable. "In fact, infection rates in the rural South are among the fastest-growing in the country."

There are much higher concentrations of HIV specialists in traditional "epicenters" of the HIV epidemic — 411 in California; 275 in New York state — compared with 243 in the nine Southeast states, says Bruce Packett, deputy executive director of the American Academy of HIV Medicine. This concentration of expert care "just isn't rationally representative of HIV incidences by state," he says.  Sessions and Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., are co-hosting the Senate session. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., are the House sponsors. "Make no mistake — HIV/AIDS is devastating communities of color, women and young gay and bisexual men in the U.S., especially in the South," Johnson says. Roundtable participants will hear from activists, patients and care providers, who will share information on programs that are overcoming hurdles to access. One such effort: People in poor or rural communities with limited HIV specialists can meet with a doctor through a health program electronically with a video hook-up. Montgomery AIDS Outreach, a group that has about 1,200 active medical patients in 26 counties of south-central Alabama, recently launched such a program, medical director Laurie Dill says. A doctor at the Montgomery hub consults via video with a patient and nurse at the satellite site in Selma, about 50 miles away."You're having a real-time, face-to-face conversation, except that it's electronic," Dill says. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.2 million people live with HIV in the USA; one in five are unaware that they have it. There are about 50,000 new infections a year.

Ronald Johnson, an AIDS United vice president, points to several reasons for higher incidence rates in the South, including "higher rates of poverty, racism that helps drive and fuel the problem, cultural conservatism that serves as a barrier, stigma around HIV, stigma toward … drug users and sexism."

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx

http://magicjohnson.com/

 

[Anthony]

I think all black organizations down south should promote testing even if they don't expect any members to have AIDS or HIV, it sets an example. Black Greeks & Sororities, Prince Hall Freemasons, International Freemasons, the Order of The Eastern Star & black Churches. Also, I think inmates in the County, State & Federal prisons should be tested for AIDS/HIV.

And The Band Played On was a groundbreaking book by Randy Shifts & also a great movie with an all star cast. I would love to redo the movie my way. I found the book by Randy Shifts by accident & the movie I noticed because of the book. I'm not gay or bisexual & I never have been gay or bisexual, this day & age u have to be clear because u have those people who are gay or bisexual one today & tomorrow they live a heterosexual lifestyle. Even though I don't have HIV or AIDS I thought the book & later the movie would make me uncomfortable because HIV/AIDS & the gay community is a very touchy subject that make people uncomfortable, but it really was an informative & great book. NOT WHAT U THINK, GIVE THE MOVIE TIME! WATCH IT!!!  Don't forget to support the foundations & charities that only show results like Kevin Frost, chief executive of the Foundation for Aids Research.

The south is very wealthy I think the south should work on building top research labs & employee the top scientist.

The International AIDS Society (IAS) is the world's leading independent association of HIV professionals, with over 16,000 members from more than 196 countries working at all levels of the global response to AIDS. Our members include researchers from all disciplines, clinicians, public health and community practitioners on the frontlines of the epidemic, as well as policy and program planners.

The International scientific working group are co-chaired by Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, International AIDS Society (IAS) President-elect and 2008 Nobel Laureate for Medicine, and Professor Steve Deeks, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Positive Health Program (AIDS Program) at San Francisco General Hospital. The working group  works closely with an advisory board composed of leading advocates and major research stakeholders in HIV cure, including representatives of people living with HIV, funders and clinicians from high prevalence settings. The advisory group is co-chaired by Pr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Dr. Jack Whitescarver, Director of the Office of AIDS Research at the National Institutes of Health.

http://www.iasociety.org/

[Anthony]

There will never be a guard like Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. in the history of the NBA or in life.
 We all know Magic Johnson history, Magic is a NCAA Champion & NBA legend. A 5 time NBA champion, 3 time NBA Finals MVP.  Magic played in 9 NBA finals,  3 time NBA MVP'S, 12 time NBA All-Star & 2 time NBA All-Star MVP'S.   Magic is also one of the 50 Greatest in NBA History, an Olympic Gold Medal Winner with the Dream Team. Magic is a brilliant entrepreneur, great philanthropist, motivational speaker, a great broadcaster. Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a NBA Hall of Fame Player.

The beginning:

Magic Time!

What many people thought was the END of Greatness!

The rebirth                              Basketball legend Magic Johnson led a group that won an auction for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. Magic also runs Magic Johnson Enterprises, which include Magic Johnson Productions, a promotional company & Magic Johnson Theaters, Magic Johnson Entertainment, a movie studio. Magic company has a net worth of $700 million or more. In 1994, Johnson became a minority owner of the Lakers, having reportedly paid more than $10 million for part ownership. He also held the title of team vice president.

After announcing his infection in November 1991, Johnson created the Magic Johnson Foundation to help find a cure for HIV/ AIDS,  he later diversified the foundation to include other charitable goals. Magic Johnson is also the main speaker for the United Nations World AIDS Day Conference.

The legendary Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. Magic Johnson has never been gay or a bisexual & he lives a healthy clean lifestyle & has been living with HIV for over 20 years & the virus is virtually undetectable in his bloodstream. Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is happily married to Cookie Johnson & have a beautiful family & none of them have the virus.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. Has won against the best players to ever play the game of basketball, he's been through WARS on the court with his legendary Lakers team. Magic has battled the media, none believers from all walks of life, corporate America, Banks, the best attorneys & the deadliest VIRUS KNOWN TO MANKIND & WOMANKIND & Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. HAS BEAT THEM ALL!!!!     

[Anthony]

If u travel from Africa to America today
u would need vaccination shots, right?
Of course there were no travel clinics back
in the 16th, 17th or 18th centuries, right?
When Africans sold African slaves to the Portugal & Europeans the African slaves were never given any vaccinations, before or after they got off the boat, correct?" So slaves were exposed to all kinds of health problems, but still there is no history of a large outbreak of an unknown illness that killed a large number of slaves.

I was looking into some home remedies used by African slaves. Most of the slaves distrusted white doctors and rightfully so because slaves were often experimented on. Dr Marion Sims considered the daddy of gynecological surgery perfected the method for gynecological surgery on the slaves. He turned the women into drug addicts so he that he could immobilize and sedate them post operatively.

Hundreds of slaves in 1800 including 200 of Thomas Jefferson's slaves were given smallpox in order to test how safe the new vaccine was.

A large number of slaves & black folks were often experimented on & a small number of the experiments were often recorded in history. All this & a lot more is recorded in history & there is still nothing about a large outbreak of an unknown virus or plague that killed a bunch of slaves & Africans? I Still strongly believe poor black folks or black inmates are still being experimented on physically & mentally.