WEBVTT - How HIV/AIDS Works, Part I 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:04.360 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know friend House Stuff Works 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.360 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:17.720 There's Charles W Chuck Bryant, and uh, this is stuff 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:23.000 you should know the podcast. That's right, treating sir. Two 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:28.440 part podcast. Yeah, today release day, not the day we're recording. 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.239 We're not that good. But today's December one, it is 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:35.920 World Aids Day. And we were going to record this 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:38.120 a while ago, and then I noticed it was World 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:40.600 Aids Day coming up. I was like, well, why don't 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:42.680 we wait and record it later and release it then? 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:46.920 And then there was so much stuff right that it 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:50.160 became clear it was a two parter. And I still 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:52.800 don't think we're gonna even well, we'll scratch the surface. 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:56.600 That's selling it short. But you can have an entire 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.840 podcast series about HIV and AIDS, for sure. There's so 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:04.200 much information there, really is. It's like daunting, it is, 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:10.119 but it's all luckily because it's such a huge, massive topic. Yeah, um, 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:13.440 an important topic. There's a lot of information out there, 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.640 so usually we do pretty well with those that'll be daunted, 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:18.680 is what I'm trying to say. Well, I'm just nervous, 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:20.560 you know, I don't want to mess this one up. 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.039 We will mess something up here there, I guarantee it. 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.800 But yeah, how about this, then we pledge. We often 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:31.080 read corrections, but we super pledge to correct anything on 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:33.680 this because we're bound to mess something up. It's just 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.280 a lot of a lot of stuff. You want to 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:39.680 start from the beginning. Dump be nervous. That's fine. Everybody 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.160 tell Chuck, it'll be fine. It'll be fine, Chuck. So 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.520 it's a collective sound of our audience, like high pitched 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:53.080 audience voice. Um so chuck. When you think of HIV 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:57.160 AIDS UM, you typically tend to like go back to 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.360 the late seventies early eighties when like the real panic 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:05.440 first started. UM. But it later research and that's about 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.480 the time it arrived in the United States. But later 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:13.520 research found that UM HIV, the first case of it 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.840 came in ninety nine actually, and that they think that um, 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.400 it goes back even earlier than that. But this is 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:24.280 the first documented case. They had blood work of this 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:29.920 guy who died mysteriously in conshasa and congo. Right, um 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.760 and uh, he had the first documented case of HIV. 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:39.240 That's right, HIV one. Uh. There are two hivs, HIV one, 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:42.320 and HIV two. The one that has been responsible for 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:47.080 the global pandemic is HIV one. And there's been a 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:49.640 lot of debate over the years about where it actually 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:54.040 came from. Uh. Most people agreed that it was primates 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:59.040 in Africa, right, that it started as s I V. Yes, Uh, simeon, 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.679 I mean no deficiency virus. HIV. We should say is 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:08.040 human immunodeficiency virus. Yes, and AIDS is acquired immune deficiency syndrome. 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.200 They're not separate things. It's actually been very much confused 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:15.720 in the media. We're gonna set the record straight. Yeah, 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.440 and uh at the end, boy, how about this for 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:20.840 a tease. At the end of the second episode, there's 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.600 a big musical number no three days from now. There 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:26.760 is an argument that we should not even call it 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:30.000 AIDS any longer. So how's that first set up? People 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:32.440 are gonna be waiting where they could just google it 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:36.320 fast forward. Well, but they can't fast forward in time, 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.640 my friend. No, but find the time these come out, 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.040 they'll have been done and they can fast forward. Yes, 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.640 that's true. So what scientists believe, this is the most 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:50.680 current agreed upon theory, is that a type of chimpanzee 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:54.720 and West Africa is the source of HIV one uh, 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.240 which was transmitted to humans. They don't know for sure 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.560 how because probably are probably be bushed me, undercooked, pushed 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:05.920 me exactly, you know, wanting to eat chimpanzee and there's blood, 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:08.400 and all of a sudden it spreads to humans, and 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:13.080 you tube, chimpanzees fight back, they do, That's what I've heard. Yeah. 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:15.840 But yeah, if you ingest blood that was infected with 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:20.560 s i V and then the SIV virus um evolved 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:25.000 into HIV and humans, that's the likeliest version of what 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:29.120 happened somewhere in West Africa, probably the thirties or forties. Yeah, 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:31.840 and they I saw one article that said that they 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:34.840 think that it could have originally started in primates even 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:38.279 in the nineteen twenties, which is just crazy to think about, 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.680 like the Roaring twenties, somewhere in the depths of Africa 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:45.760 s i V was brewing, you know, because it seems 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:49.440 like such a modern thing for sure. Uh. And then uh, 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:53.200 in the late seventies and early eighties is when um, 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.920 these normally healthy people in Los Angeles and New York 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:04.120 started getting sick. Didn't make any sense. Uh. They first 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:08.839 started using the term um AIDS right, and before that 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:11.960 they had a really clumsy name for it, um O 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:16.200 for HIV. Yeah. Are you ready? Yea, So just the 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:21.080 abbreviation is clumsy ht l V three slash l a V. 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:24.919 That's just the abbreviation. The full name of what was 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:29.480 originally the term for um was it is it aids 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:34.400 V for HIV human T cell lymphotropic virus type three 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:40.200 slash lymphidano pathy associated virus. Yeah. And I think they 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:44.000 all looked around the room whoever proposed that, and said, guys, 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.200 if we want to ever get this in the news, 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:50.479 let's just sweeten that and shorten it to HIV. You 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:52.840 the person who proposed it, you have to go buy 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:57.360 everyone quiz Nos for lunch. Uh. And actually we should say, 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:00.280 chuck that this this definitely just kind of we're giving 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:04.200 the farrest overview of this. But um there's a really 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.640 really interesting movie based on what I understand is an 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.680 equally interesting book called and the band played On. My 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.720 brother worked on that movie. That was a great, great movie. 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:15.840 I watched it again in the last few months and 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:18.120 it's just as good as ever. Yeah, that's where he 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:20.880 got to work with Ellen Aldnei, Tomlin and like some 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.880 real legends. So yeah, there's a lot of people in it. 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.120 Phil Collins does a great job. Yeah, he plays a 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.679 bath house owner who's reluctant to close down. Interesting. Um, 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.920 but it's it basically chronicles the early investigation into what 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:38.640 the heck was going on. What was suddenly killing gay 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.120 men in San Francisco and Los Angeles and New York. 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.560 And it seemed like it was just targeting gay men 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.240 so much so that early on, like the the non 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.159 clinical term for this was gay cancer is what people 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.080 called it. And all of a sudden, doctors were reporting 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:59.160 that otherwise healthy men were suddenly getting really really rare cancers, 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.000 rare types of ammonia, stuff that people who have like 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.760 zero immune systems die from. All of a sudden, they 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:09.080 were just turning up with this stuff, and um, it 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:13.320 was very curious and very scary, especially in the gay community. 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:18.080 And then um, it wasn't until what was eighty three 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.120 three where they identified the virus and there was a 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.400 there were competing teams, this French team who most likely 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:29.120 did discover the HIV virus on their own, and Alan Alda, 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:32.440 the American team who may or may not have ripped 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.400 off their findings and unfairly taken credit for it. But 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.680 and I've never seen that movie. Fascinating. It's fascinating, it's moving, 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.600 it's got it all. It's really good. It's good. It's 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:48.680 like um uh, epidemiological detective stories threaded throughout a lot 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:52.680 of cultural history. It's really really worth watching. Well in uh. 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:54.880 In episode two, we're also going to get to that 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.840 book in the so called patient zero um, which will 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:04.040 be coming up on Thursday. Another tease. Alright, so um, 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.760 and we should point out to the reason these men 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:09.720 were dying of cancers and pneumonia and things like that 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:11.880 is because and most people know this by now. A 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:14.520 lot of this we think is just common knowledge, but 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.960 you never know. You're you don't die of AIDS. You 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:23.800 die of complications from AIDS, infections, other sicknesses and diseases 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:28.840 because you can't mount any kind of immune response. Okay, 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:35.520 I think that was a good move. Yeah, well, smooth move, excellence. 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:38.839 You never know, Like some of this stuff, I'm like, dude, 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.960 really have to say this stuff, but you do well. 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:46.000 The weird thing is you do, especially in is compared 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:51.000 to say, like because Um, there's become this idea that 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.440 AIDS has been as being largely conquered, it doesn't have 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:56.640 to be worried about as much and not true. I 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.360 think the education on HIV and AIDS is not nearly 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.240 as widespread as it once was. Like when we were 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:06.280 like teenagers, you know, like everybody knew everything about AIDS 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:10.200 basically at least had a working knowledge of what AIDS was, 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.280 how you got it, how widespread it was. And UM, 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.160 it seems like today it's that that kind of public information. 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:19.160 Is it nearly is widespread? Yeah, I think that's one 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.360 of the issues now, is that, Um, a large segment 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:24.280 of the public is like, yeah, they have the AIDS cocktail. 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.000 Look at Magic Johnson. It's all great, sure, And um 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.160 it is great when we're gonna talk about why he's 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:33.240 still with us, but it's it's still a very big problem. Um. 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.199 Here's a here's a stat for you. Uh. And these 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.439 are the most recent stats I could find. Seventy eight 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:44.360 million HIV infected people worldwide to date, thirty nine million 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:49.040 people dead. Um. Compared to World War Two, which killed 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.719 forty million people. That helps put it into perspective a 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:55.320 little bit. Uh. And sub Saharan South Africa, which is 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.800 where AIDS is an HIV or most threatening. Um, this 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.960 is a scary status, dude. One and twenty people have 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:07.319 HIV what in sub Saharan South Africa and the account 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:12.199 for seventy of all cases worldwide of HIV man a lie, 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:14.920 I know. It's it's a very dire situation over there, 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:19.000 to say the least. Uh, Well, that's that's that's especially 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.040 chilling because if you look at the statistics in the 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:26.760 United States, like it's it's slowing and it's it's definitely 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:28.840 if you look at the statistics, it seems like it's 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:32.559 being figured out. Well, yeah, it depends on what demographic 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.240 though it's rising in some demos, right, Yeah, for sure. 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:38.079 If you take the United States as a whole, the 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:40.280 picture seems okay. But yeah, if you start to break 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:44.040 it down into specific subgroups, then some are definitely doing 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:48.360 better than others. As far as new infections, death from infections, 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:52.240 that kind of stuff come absolutely. Uh So, HIV is 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.240 a scary disease and it was super scary before we 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:59.960 knew much about it because, um, it's still technically incurable. 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.800 Although we're going to get to that. There are some 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:09.480 rare cases where it's what do they call it, functionally cured? Yes, Um, 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.520 it does seem like there's at least one person who 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:16.040 is widely considered to be fully cured, and he is 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:19.720 a proof of concept that you can cure AIDS, and 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.400 that's coming in part two. What are we going to 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:27.320 do in part one? We're just yeah, like we're just talking. Basically, 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:31.040 this is all one big setup for part two. Apparently, No, 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:36.120 it's not. So. One reason AIDS and so deadly is uh, 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.400 it's sort of a conundrum because AIDS you can't catch 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:42.120 it through the air. It's not airborne. You can't catch 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.160 it from a kitchen counter. You can only catch it 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:50.520 through very specific ways intimate contact, intimate context. You would think, hey, 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:55.000 it's not gonna be that widespread because intimate contact is 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:56.959 something you can avoid and so it should be a 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:00.600 pretty slow spreading disease, right, and not all intimate contact 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:04.320 includes like whips and chains and stuff like that. Intimate 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:10.400 contact is basically any situation where um, you know sure, Uh. 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:14.760 Intimate contact is basically any situation where blood is transferred 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:20.920 or semen is transferred. Um, So it doesn't necessarily just 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:24.640 mean intercourse of any sort. It can also mean sharing needles, 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:28.000 and it definitely does mean sharing needles too. That's a 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:33.959 very high risk UM subgroup for sure. But the reason, 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.520 and here's the key, that AIDS has spread an HIV 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:41.400 um so widely and quickly is because it can You 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:46.000 can have HIV for more than ten years without knowing it. 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:51.280 And if you are a promiscuous individual. I did a 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:55.160 little math. Let's say you have let's say you're considered 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.840 highly promiscuous. What what what do you rate that as 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:03.480 hundred partners a year, which apparently also so. I want 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:07.839 to say this to UM, but AIDS being associated with 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:13.400 gay people, gay man especially UM is it hit at 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:18.840 precisely the worst possible time in the history of homosexuality 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.719 in the world because it came right after, right after Stonewall, 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.240 when men were just starting to be like, it's all 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:29.439 about gay pride and we are love and life and 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:33.479 having more sex than we've ever had ever as a community, 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:37.360 and having a hundred or a couple hundred sexual partners 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:41.000 in the late seventies among gay men was pretty standard. Yeah, 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:42.720 I don't know it definitely. I don't think it made 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:47.960 you an outlier, you know, continue so and a caveat 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:52.319 all this with I'm assuming, Well, let me just get 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:54.280 into it. Let's say a hundred partners in a year. 0:13:54.679 --> 0:14:00.679 Let's say of those partners are promiscuous. Man, this is so, 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:04.320 then they have a mathematic. Then they have a hundred partners. 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:08.439 So that's people. And and this is not people who 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.880 are infected. This is assuming. Let's say that there's a 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.719 smaller percentage that don't use condoms. And even if you 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.040 don't use a condom, it's not like every time you 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.640 have sex you're going to transmit aids um. But this 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:24.200 is a possibility, is what I'm saying. Let's say that 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:30.240 group are promiscuous. You end up from that one single 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:37.320 person people who could possibly potentially be exposed if nobody 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:41.000 wore condoms at all. And of course that number goes 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:43.760 way down because people are smarter now and use condoms. 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.520 But in the late seventies, I mean that number could 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.760 be accurate, you know, oh yeah easily. So I mean, 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:52.440 what are you gonna wear a condom back then? For 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:55.200 nobody's getting pregnant, you know, yeah, I mean there was 0:14:55.240 --> 0:15:00.120 no reason to. Uh, so you can see how can 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.080 spread so quickly, and that is also the reason why 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:05.520 it stays latent, or the reason the fact that it 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:08.880 stays latent for so long, that's the single reason why 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:14.440 you need to get tested. Yeah, regularly, gay, straight, black, brown, 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:18.400 candy striped. It doesn't matter, get tested because you may 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.440 have it and not know it. And HIV eighth is 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.120 an outlier as far as diseases go, in that there's 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:28.160 no there's no vaccine against it, um, there is no 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:33.160 way to easily treat it. It spreads quickly, and because 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:36.480 it has what's called late onset symptoms, like you said, 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:40.080 people go ten years after being infected before they realize 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.160 they're sick, especially if they're not getting tested in the meantime. 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.920 And so it just keeps spreading and spreading and spreading 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.960 among people who think they're healthy but who actually have 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:51.880 the virus. Yeah, and if you're promiscuous, it's not like 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:55.360 you can name the partners you've had over the last 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:57.880 decade to tell them maybe you want to get tested, 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:02.640 you know. And then even more than that, and again, well, 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.960 so with the gay community, it's such an at risk 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.320 UM subgroup. We'll explain why in a second, but one 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:11.560 of the reasons why it spreads quickly in the gay 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:15.120 community because it's a relatively small community. So that means 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:20.040 that the pool you have to draw from for sexual partners, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:24.240 statistically speaking, you're at higher risk. Yeah, because it's smaller, 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:27.240 because it is a smaller community. But even beyond that, 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:32.480 biologically speaking, they're at higher risk as well. Gay men are. Yeah, 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:35.600 well we should just go ahead talk about that. The 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:39.040 main reason is it's easier to get HIV from anal 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:44.120 sex and that is men and women because um, the well, 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:46.640 there's a few reasons for that. One, the lining of 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:50.440 the rectum is very fragile, it tears very easily. UM, 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:54.520 and intercourse lots of blood vessels, lots of blood vessels. Um. 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:57.640 The cells that line the rectum are more susceptible to 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.560 HIV than cells of the vagina. Right and then uh 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:06.320 semen and rectal mucosa, which is the lining of the rectum, 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:10.520 carry more HIV than vaginal fluid. So boom, right there, 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:15.520 you're I think eighteen percent eighteen eighteen times more risky 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:20.960 with anal intercourse than just regular vaginal inter course. Right, 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.760 and saying that right, you are, yes, and um, gay 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:29.200 men and straight women are equal risk of AIDS through 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:35.600 um through unprotected sex anally, because it doesn't it doesn't 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:38.040 matter that you're a man or not. No, a man's 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.199 rectum is the same as a woman's right exactly as 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:43.080 far as I know. I'm pretty sure you're right about that. Yeah, 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:46.320 I mean it says in here, uh the risk. Yeah, 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:50.320 that's exactly right. Another reason is a role versatility is 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:52.680 what they call it. Whether or not you're a top 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.440 or a bottom, you can get it either way by 0:17:56.280 --> 0:18:00.800 giving anal sex or receiving anal sex. So you're kind 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:05.439 of in a lose lose situation precisely. Uh. So that 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:09.520 and I never knew that until I've studied this, that switching, 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:15.000 like why why do gay men get a HIV more 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.760 than uh, straight people if it's passed through intercourse? And 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:24.840 now it all makes sense, all right? Going back to 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.520 why AIDS is so scary and HIV, I feel like 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.240 we're interchanging those and we shouldn't be. No, let's let's 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:33.919 lay this out right here right now, you're ready, because 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.920 I didn't realize this fully until we started researching this episode. 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:44.119 So HIV is a it's called the progressive disease in 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:48.399 that it goes through stages. So technically UM and HIV 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:54.359 infection has zero stage zero to stage three UH and 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.480 all of this is based on the number of T 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:01.439 helper cells you have in a milli leader of blood. 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:05.600 Normal healthy person has about a million T helper cells 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.720 called CD plus four cells in one milli leader of 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:14.280 their blood. As you um, as the the HIV infection progresses, 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.640 it diminishes the number of these helper cells. And as 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:22.320 it goes down you go to certain stages, so like 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:26.840 stage three HIV is um I think five hundred thousand 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.600 per milli leader or blood or less. And then once 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:34.120 you reach two hundred thousand uh c D plus four 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:38.080 cells in your blood UH, you have AIDS. So AIDS 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:41.040 is not a separate disease. It's not a it's not 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:46.360 a new condition that that arises out of HIV. It's 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.080 all it's just part of a classification system. Yeah, it's 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:54.200 basically ND stage HIV. It's stage four HIV, and it's 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:56.879 really bizarre that they have a whole different name for 0:19:57.000 --> 0:20:00.280 it if you think about it. But a this is 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:05.520 just basically the end category of HIV. And it used 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:08.560 to be that was a death sentence. Once you had AIDS, 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.800 you were basically dead. And in the eighties and nineties, 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.280 especially before I think the AIDS cocktail, which we'll talk 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:21.320 about came out, it was, um, you basically were diagnosed 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:23.639 and you were dead in twelve to eighteen months. That 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:26.480 was that. Now it can keep going you, I mean, 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:29.720 people just live for decades now with AIDS. But once 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:34.440 you have AIDS, once you have that designation, UM, you 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:37.159 have that for the rest of your life, unless you're cured, 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:39.639 which has only happened a handful of times. Yeah, and 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:42.160 there's a guy named Todd Heywood that wrote this great 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.560 article uh saying it's time to retire the medical category 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:47.679 of AIDS, and he makes a lot of good reasons 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:50.720 why we should just call it HIV disease like you 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:54.080 would say heart disease. Right, So we're not gonna say 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:58.640 HIV disease in this show. We're not that big as friends. Well, 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:02.480 I just wanna go with traditional terms because some people learn. 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:04.520 But I think there is a good case to be 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:07.440 made for that is what I'm saying. I mean, this 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:13.439 is also another UM. Another mark in that guy's in 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:17.359 favor of that argument is that AIDS was named in 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:22.400 and we've learned so much about this disease since then, 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:24.639 and one of the things we've learned is this is 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:28.000 a progressive disease that goes through stages. AIDS is just 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:30.160 the end stage of it. Why have a different name 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:32.560 for it? And there's no, it's not the same in 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:36.240 any two people. Uh, And HIV disease is just more 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:38.960 all encompassing. I think, yeah, so we're not going to 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:42.800 use it, are we. That's gonna be tough. What to 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:45.600 not say HIV disease? Oh, AIDS, I thought you were 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:49.760 saying yeah. Uh. And the final reason, boy, this took 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:51.280 like twenty minutes to get back to us. Wait what 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:53.919 are we talking about? The final reason that HIV is 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:58.560 uh super scary is because of its very unique way 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:02.920 it manifests itself, which is um it invades and destroys 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:05.480 the immune system. The very system that is supposed to 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:10.479 protect you from disease is ruined. It's yeah, it's HIV 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:12.639 is a virus, so it behaves like a virus. But 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:16.879 other viruses attacks, say like you're fat cell that you 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:21.000 could care less about, So who cares? AIDS or HIV 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:25.400 attacks your immune system directly. The cells, a specific type 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:27.480 of cell of your immune system and that's what eventually 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:30.000 leads to your death or used to definitely lead to 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:33.040 your death. You know, I'm back in my day, all right. 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:34.600 I think we should take a break and we will 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:36.879 talk a little bit about how it is and is 0:22:36.920 --> 0:23:02.160 not transmitted right after this, all right, Josh, it's uh, 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:06.320 George Orwell is in charge. I'm in elementary school, and 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:08.520 AIDS is a scary thing, and you can get it 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:13.600 from toilet seats and mosquitoes and kissing and shaking hands. 0:23:13.600 --> 0:23:17.320 Shaking hands, Yeah, being too near to somebody. It was 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:20.560 very scary as far as times go to be a kid. 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:22.880 None of that stuff is true. Think about it, man. 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:26.120 We were raised during that horrible little ven diagram where 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:29.879 the Cold War and the AID scare overlapped. Like we 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:32.440 just basically didn't want to leave our houses. We missed 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:35.080 out on the days where free secs and and drugs 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:38.639 was like, didn't hurt anybody, and just sprinkle in a 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:41.560 little stranger danger in there too, why not? Yeah, a 0:23:41.600 --> 0:23:44.760 little satanic panics sure. And the eighties what a crazy 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:46.840 time now that you know we've got a little distance 0:23:46.880 --> 0:23:50.960 from it. Parachute pants is that all about culture? Club 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:53.439 was actually great? That's the only good thing about the eighties. 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:57.880 UM the ways that you can get HIV sexual contact, 0:23:58.520 --> 0:24:03.520 sharing needles interview in his needles, breastfeeding, mother to baby, 0:24:04.240 --> 0:24:08.520 UM infected mother to fetus during pregnancy, at birth, and 0:24:08.760 --> 0:24:13.280 blood transfusions, which used to happen a lot and doesn't 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:16.080 happen that much anymore. No, and there was It's another 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:17.720 thing for me in the band played on, was this 0:24:17.960 --> 0:24:22.400 big to do about whether or not UM Blood Donation 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:25.439 Center say like the Red Cross should have to test 0:24:25.600 --> 0:24:28.320 blood for this new disease. They were like, do you 0:24:28.359 --> 0:24:30.520 know how much this is gonna cost. It's gonna completely 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:32.840 dent the blood supply. People are gonna die because we 0:24:32.880 --> 0:24:35.240 have to do this. But then as it became very 0:24:35.240 --> 0:24:40.080 obvious that you this stuff spread really easily through blood transfusions, 0:24:40.119 --> 0:24:42.359 they definitely started to check it. They came up with 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:48.840 a I think a fairly cheap test for it in UM. Yeah, 0:24:48.920 --> 0:24:52.080 the FDA approved something in to test it. But I 0:24:52.119 --> 0:24:56.880 mean without these tests suck. You have a nine thousand, 0:24:57.040 --> 0:25:02.920 two hundred and fifty chants out of ten thousand of 0:25:02.600 --> 0:25:08.400 of acquiring HIV from a blood transfusion. That's yeah, man, Yeah, 0:25:08.480 --> 0:25:11.719