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Scientific American: Male Semen Makes HIV More Potent
NickoftheNort... Posts: 827
Jan 07, 2008 12:10 PM GMT
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I found this article via Blikk, Norway's major LGBTQ magazine:

Male Semen Makes HIV More Potent
By Nikhil Swaminathan
More than 80 percent of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections are transmitted via sexual intercourse. And researchers may have discovered at least one reason why. According to a new study published in Cell, a component of human semen may facilitate the spread of the virus by targeting immune system cells, in some cases making the pathogen up to 100,000 times more virulent.
Read more at Scientific American
SurrealLife Posts: 4372
Jan 07, 2008 4:34 PM GMT
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That is an interesting possibility, and one that would answer a lot of questions. For example, why is pre-cum just as dangerous as cum?
jasonmericson Posts: 47
Jan 09, 2008 11:30 PM GMT
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NickoftheNorth saidI found this article via Blikk, Norway's major LGBTQ magazine:

Male Semen Makes HIV More Potent
By Nikhil Swaminathan
More than 80 percent of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections are transmitted via sexual intercourse. And researchers may have discovered at least one reason why. According to a new study published in Cell, a component of human semen may facilitate the spread of the virus by targeting immune system cells, in some cases making the pathogen up to 100,000 times more virulent.
Read more at Scientific American


It's weird that 80 percent of HIV is transmitted through sexual intercourse when, according to the same article, it takes 200-2000 sexual acts to transmit the virus. You would think more would come from mother to child via perinatal transmission during pregnancy since tranmission rates are 1 in 2 (50% according to studies by Blattner in 1988,1991, and the Institute of Medicine in 1988, and the European Collaborative Study in 1991).
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