Man cured of HIV

it's too bad he won't allow a retest to eliminate a false negative.

That would be nice, I say with a tad of concern, first for lab procedure on either test, then for no followup. But if true and even useful for others, if only eventually, then really good news.

I heard there were no false reading on any of the tests.

Lets hope its true, be nice for something good to happen.

I've heard of this happening in two individuals that went through Native American Healing Ceremonies, but they were in Central America, I believe. However, this was through the "moccasin telegraph", not verified to my knowledge.

Sam and I have an adopted son that has AIDS, He's now dealing with respiratory problems, so a funeral may be in the offing. If the negative results came up for our son, he'd double check it to be sure. The tests are pretty accurate, but there can be things that might skew the results, so retesting should be done. Nothing is foolproof.

I'd love for a vaccine to be found for HIV/AIDS. However, with the pharmacutical companies demanding profits, there is more money being made in treatment than in cures. Afterall, if they irradicate HIV and AIDS, what will take it's place as a moneymaker for them, bird flu? I guess I'm a bit skeptical of the whole Western Medicine thing and the motives of doctors and pharmicutical companies, but that could easily be another thread.

And it is possible that samples can be mislabelled as they are processed, though not often in reputable labs as they have secured procedures over time. But the origin office might screw up... Folks I knew in the med world tended to do followup confirmatory testing when results were surprises. Maybe things have changed.

Greetings to another turtle island inhabitant, and my best wishes for your adopted son. I'm not any more optimistic about an HIV vaccine than you are, but for different reasons. Viral illnesses, especially the ones that mutate like flu or HIV, are difficult to treat even without a conflict of interest over profit. Ironically, HIV may well have originated when a live virus Polio vaccine was developed in Africa using chimpanzee kidneys. The River by Edward Hooper is a well-known book on this subject.

ossobuco, it was my understanding that an initial positive test for HIV would have to be confirmed by another test before diagnosing anyone as HIV positive, but i don't know if negative tests need to be replicated.

Greetings Yitwail,

With several friends involved in the AIDS movements, both in the US and Canada, no one I know would just accept one test as final.Even when two people agree to become partners, they are tested togeether once and again the following month before having a fairly good idea that they are both negative. After those first two tests, it's recommended that they be tested annually.

Please understand that these are just guidelines and not everyone is willing to comply, for whatever reason. The medical doctors that I know insist on follow-up testing for every negative result. This allows for possible false negatives.

Makes sense to me to do a follow up. Why in the world would that man disallow one?

Good to see you Wiyaka. Sorry to hear about your son being so sick.

Littletek,

Good to be back. Our son is doing very well, physical problems aside. We talk almost everyday and give him the support he needs to keep going. We all know that he could go at any time, but it doesn't control his life. He's not a just a person that happens to have AIDS. He's a busker (street musican), a song writer and composer, a recording artist, a Traditional Sarcee, a public speaker that educates about HIV/AIDS and prevention that just happens to have AIDS. He's also a loving, caring son.

We're extremely proud of the work he's done to bring HIV/AIDS back into public attention. He took his wheelchair over 330 miles to do it for the Aboriginal (Native American, First Nations)Community in Canada. By doing the wheeling, he got attention from the press and was able to let people know about the growing problem. There is one new case of Aboriginal HIV being diagnosed EVERY hour and he is able to bring this back into the public's eye through SpiritWheel 2005.

Thanks for your kind words about the "Kid", please remember him in your prayers, along with everyone that has HIV/AIDS.

I read he had 3 tests, all negative.

Assuming the first test was confirmed positive there are a number of possible scenarios. He actually self-cleared virus (rare but theoretically possible), the first positive result was false positive, the second result was false negative. or there was a sample mix-up on one of the samples.

I've personally seen many confirmed false positive HIV cases within the blood donor industry. Healthy individuals who for whatever reason test positive for HIV antibody even through the confirmatory algorithm but do not have HIV and retest negative on a follow-up sample. Waiting 14 months to offer a retest is surprising, getting a negative result is not. The article does not mention if Mr Stimpson had any risk factors for HIV. The absence of risk factors would also lean toward a false positive result on the first sample.

The article is titled "Caution over CURE claims"; I agree.