[ discusion of alternate cause of AIDS deleted ]
I believe that the mechanism that you describe has been suggested as the
mechanism by which HIV (specificly) does its dammage. However (as far as
I know) no other retrovirus has been implicated in this pathway. The
connection between the presence of HIV and AIDS is extremely strong but
there have been a (very) few cases of AIDS-like disease which might have
been caused by another retrovirus in the manner that you described
(pure speculation on my part). The increasing latency period of those
tested out to be HIV+ is probably due to 2 unrelated factors. 1) HIV
tests are now more common and thus the presence of virus is often detected
earlier which makes for a longer appartant latency period and 2) Improved
"management" of the patients condition (due to increasing experience on
the part of both medical professionals and the patients themselves) may
increasingly delay the onset of full blown AIDS.
--
| \ o IO | "If we do not find | Erik Wilson |
|-----| o GANYMEDE |anything pleasant, at | University of Illinois |
| O | o EUROPA |least we will find | (217) 359-7547 |
|----/ o CALLISTO |something new" -Voltaire| erikred at uiuc.edu |
