There is AIDS but is there HIV? - (Dec/03/2008 )
Good evening everyone!
I am a bit puzzled here and trying to find some answers on this issue. I have visited other forums but there is silence there.. I hope someone can answer at this bioforum!
Here we go:
I read an article that was brought to me by my cousin. It was stated there that HIV is the virus that is calculated by its behavior but has never been photographed nor physically spotted in any other way.
Here is a brief summary of that article transladed by me from Russian. (sorry for my mistakes if there are any)
"Immunodeficiency virus has never been found. Given that no one denies that AIDS has been known for more than 40 years, it causes the most serious diseases: from pneumonia to tuberculosis, etc.) However, the hypothesis that the disease is responsible for the spread of HIV is not scientifically confirmed.
This implies another interesting consequence. As you know, in order to make a diagnostic test for a virus you need a protein extracted from a particular virus. But if there is no virus, there is no protein and its derivatives. All existing tests for HIV are not performed in this manner, they do not diagnose the virus itself, but merely trying to guess the existence of immunodeficiency itself but that is not the same thing. Accordingly, the test gives a positive result in all cases with a sharp decline in immunity."
I would be greatful for your replies 
There will probably be more response to this topic with some experts on HIV replying to U. Before that you should once look at this site. There are pictures of the virus also in the page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_denialism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_denialism
Thank you for the link it is quite similar to what i read in the Russian article. I would still love to hear what the experts might say. I personally think that many people get the wrong positive diagnosis only on the basis of lowered immunity and it ruins their lives especially here in Russia as these people become avoided by everyone
!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_denialism
Thank you for the link it is quite similar to what i read in the Russian article. I would still love to hear what the experts might say. I personally think that many people get the wrong positive diagnosis only on the basis of lowered immunity and it ruins their lives especially here in Russia as these people become avoided by everyone
!!U should not worry about that because HIV and AIDS are not diagnosed based only on lowered immunity. There are established immunological methods for diagnosis. Only late in the natural course of disease does a person become immunocompromised.
In fact, I am lazy to search, but there was one thread on this topic long time back. Let me search that.
Here I found it but nothing that will satisfy U, I guess. Still, worth a look.
Ok thanks again i will read that now, looks interesting!
Bungalow Boy is right. Or at least that's how it is in the US. I'm not sure what the tests are in Russia.
Usually they check for antibodies. Produced by the body specifically against HIV.
Also they use PCR methods to detect the virus itself. With all the controls in both these tests and the fact that they never only test the sample 1 time you can be pretty sure that the results are correct.
But again, I don't know how it works in Russia. Making a diagnosis based only on the demise of somebody's immune response is not the right way of diagnosing HIV.
Hope it helped!