@op,why must u donate blood in the first place?while i believe hiv does exist,theory of microbial mutation is not based on solid scientific evidence.cellular mutation does not produce new organism.hiv is hiv.i do not believe theory of hiv-1, or hiv-2.what i know is immulogical response is different from person to person and race to race.i think africans are adapting immunologically to hiv menace to the surprise of western scientist.

I can understand how people feel when some of these diseases become regionalized. Let us face it, some diseases are more edemic to one region than another. In the case of HIV, as a virus, some many strains have developed.

Before you blame the white man, because they brought it in the first place, check out your areas for what is edemic and not just HIV. There is no doubt that HIV was spread worldwide by gays from California. Anyone that watched Tony Brown Journals on PBS in the 70s and 80s would have noticed the prediction that HIV is going to become Blacks disease because of less or lack of medical care.

My advise is to take whatever you are told, research it before condemning it. Your health comes first before anything else. So yes, there are strains of HIV for every region including Europe and America. Even at the same infection rate, the ease of treatment and medical care reduce incidents comparatively.

Some have refused Africans blood donations because of Hepatitis B as well.

This thread is proving to be an eye-opener. Many Nigerians are averse to scientific research- not advanced research O, I mean just basic one. Have you ever tried to get people to fill a questionnaire? You will know what I am talking about.

@ Poster
I am an infectious disease doctor.

The information you have posted  is very accurate and has been available since the late 1990.

This information is used to make ALL HIV  antibody testing kits from reliable manufacturers so that they routinely detect antibodies to HIV1 or 2

When we order a test for HIV screening this is what we write "HIV 1/HIV 2 antibody".

The different subtypes or clades of HIV you mentioned N,  M, O, P etc are mainly academic and have little significance when it comes to diagnosis and treatment.

All HIV-antibody testing kits are made to be what we call "global kits" so they can detect all subtypes.


The problem with blood supply and donation in Nigeria is not with the HIV strains but that the blood is screened with antibody-based kits instead of HIV- particle detecting kits.

When someone first gets infected with any microorganism (including HIV) it takes about 6 weeks for them to form enough antibody for it to be detected by the lab test. We call this the "window period".  It is because of this "window period" we ask all HIV-negative people to repeat their test in 6 to 12 weeks. If people who are in the "window period"  donate blood, the antibody-based test will not detect this blood may contain HIV particles.  

There are test out their that can detect HIV-particles (DNA and RNA) in blood. They are not routinely used in Nigeria to screen donated blood because they are a lot more expensive.

These are the preferred test for screening donated blood and are more accurate because they directly look for HIV particles in the blood.  These HIV-particle detecting test are also the preferred test for screening babies under the age of 1 year whose mother's have HIV-infection.  We prefer these test because mother's HIV-antibodies crosses the placenta into the baby in the last 3 months of pregnancy and the HIV-antibody based kits are not capable of telling us if any antibody found is being made by the mother or baby. Therefore we may wrongly say the baby has HIV-infection when is actually the mother's antibody in the baby's blood that is making the lab test show up as positive for HIV antibody.

I had not heard of this before. I would not dismiss it out of hand, there is always a possibility of these things mutating to new types.
[img]http://s01.flagcounter.com/count/7uR/bg=FFFFFF/txt=FFFFFF/border=FFFFFF/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/pageviews=0[/img][img]http://s10.flagcounter.com/count/oH/bg=FFFFFF/txt=FFFFFF/border=FFFFFF/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/pageviews=0[/img][img]http://2.s01.flagcounter.com/count/7uR/bg=FFFFFF/txt=FFFFFF/border=FFFFFF/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/pageviews=0[/img]

fred2265:

I had not heard of this before. I would not dismiss it out of hand, there is always a possibility of these things mutating to new types.ws=0[/img]

Brilliant. It's nice to see intelligent life on this thread.

abeg afrikaans,dem dy mad,na dm brng am cm nw na we get factory bah!we hv sufad,strands,na so dm talk say we b babarians as we black,see as dm resemble ple wey acid pour.mtchew, God 4gv m nd dm.

Efemena_xy:

Agreed the claims of the topic under discussion are questionable

but, @ the bolded - so if you're in a life 'n death situation, would you be happy to recieve blood from a white? I ask becuause your statemtent is a bit strong. . .

Reread my post. I made it clear that life or death situation is an exception.
definitely, i will be glad to donate to save a life and will welcome a reciprocated gesture. However, i will NOT give my life-stream for any emergency blood bank. ( that is, for storage purposes).
It is surprising that people dont seem to know that HIV/AIDS is a biological invention. I can't type the details off-hand but its a comfirmed fact. H1N1 virus was recently reinvented by an American scientist who was barred for publishing the genetic formula.

Do people with HIV/AIDS owe royalties to the patent holder of the AIDS virus?
 
In April 1984, Dr. Robert Gallo filed a United States patent application for his invention, the HIV/AIDS Virus. Normally, when a patent is filed and approved, as Dr. Gallo's was, anyone who uses the product or invention owes a royalty payment to the inventor. Thus, holding the intellectual property laws to their fullest interpretations, one must only wonder why Dr. Gallo has yet to file a lawsuit seeking to recover damages from the usage of his invention? As odd as this scenario may sound, it bears need for additional scrutiny.
 
The scientific evidence is complete and compelling, the AIDS Virus is a designer bi-product of the U.S. Special Virus program. The Special Virus program was a federal virus development program that persisted in the United States from 1962 until 1978. The U.S. Special Virus was then added as 'compliment' to vaccine inoculations in Africa and Manhattan. Shortly thereafter the world was overwhelmed with mass infections of a human retrovirus that differed from any known human disease, it was highly contagious and more importantly, it could kill.
 
A review of the Special Virus Flow Chart ("research logic" reveals the United States was seeking a 'virus particle' that would negatively impact the defense mechanisms of the immune system. The program sought to modify the genome of the virus particle in which to splice in an animal "wasting disease" called "Visna".
 
According to the Proceedings of the United States of America, AIDS is an evolutionary, laboratory development of the peculiar Visna Virus, first detected in Icelandic sheep. Recently, American and world scientists confirm with 100% certainty the laboratory genesis of AIDS. This fact is further underscored when one reviews the 'multiply-spliced' nature of the HIV 'tat' gene and Dr. Gallo's 1971 Special Virus paper, "Reverse Transcriptase of Type-C virus Particles of Human Origin".
 
Dr. Gallo's 1971 Special Virus paper is identical to his 1984 announcement of AIDS. Upon further review the record reveals that he filed his patent on AIDS, before he made the announcement with Secretary Heckler. Earlier this year, Dr. Gallo conceded his role as a 'Project Officer' for the federal virus development program, the Special Virus.
 
The Flow Chart of the program and the 15 progress reports are irrefutable evidence of the United States' secret plan to cull world populations via the unleashing of a stealth biological microorganism that would 'waste' humanity. In light of this true genesis of the world's most divesting biological scourge, it is the United States that owes 'royal' payments to the innocent victims. Each and every victim of AIDS is deserving of a formal apology and a sense of economic closure for an invention of death and despair, perpetrated by the United States.
 
The eyes of the world are upon the General Accounting Office's Health Care Team, under the direction of William J. Scanlon. Between 1964 and 1978, the secret federal virus program spent $550 million dollars of taxpayer money to invent AIDS. It is now necessary to spend whatever it takes to dismantle an invention that has led to the greatest crime against humanity in the history of the world.
 
http://www.rense.com/general13/inve.htm

Dont quote me

@ Poster, Sinju is spot on! While working as a doctor in Nigeria, we regularly tested for HIV 1 and 2 antibodies. So i don't believe HIV 2 is a new strain. You are right, HIV 2 is predominantly seen in west Africans and is also more "lethal". From the little experience i've had in the U.S, blood donation isn't accepted from people born in some countries in Africa (Nigeria inclusive) because of the extremely rare HIV1 group O which isn't detected consistently by screening methods used here. This isn't a new strain but it is just not picked up all the time with the screening method used here so i guess the regulatory bodies are erring on the side of caution.

LOL it seems, just like celebrities, doctors too like to pull publicity stunts. 
I mean think about it, they get "more recognition" when they "discover" things. What better way to raise one's ranks without consequences than to "discover" something that can't be verified in some distant place that is (according to your perception) inhabited by nothing but monkeys , swamplands and tree-pygmies so as not to cause chaos in your immediate western society.

<british-accent>
"Here ye, Here ye my fellow associates. I, in my most educated, most elevated status as doctor. . .  have discovered that all natives of the western sector of the continent of baboons. . .  commonly referred to as. . .<forgets and looks at map>. . .  Africa, I believe. . . are infected by a virus that science cannot detect or find.

As you see, there is absolutley NO way to verify this, because it is an invisible virus.
Some may, because of this, call me an attention-seeking medical LovePeddler. Those people, mind you. . . are f00ls. Good morning!  " 
</bristish-accent>

I appreciate all the postings thus far. I think that the main reason for my post has been lost in all the opinions. I want to know how the Doctors in Nigeria test subjects for H.I.V. I want to know if they are using the regular test for HIV1 virus strain or if they are using a more sophisticated test that can detect these strains for the O. Many of us in the medical community know about the different strains of HIV and that people can be infected with multiple strains. Are we testing Nigerians for strains that are discovered in the Western and Central African regions? or are we still using the traditional western test? I think it is important to know these things because it will be more beneficial in providing the treatment at its earliest stage in order to reduce the deaths. By the way Nigeria has a low infection rate in at 3.5% or so.

This topic has given me every reason to believe documentary I have been watching and some research I conducted. Hmm.
Let me give you a tip!
Black eye pea said this in one of their songs "you are slowly being slaughtered, go prepare for the new world other" Do a research on that, you will find something interesting.

Shalom!

2buff:

LOL it seems, just like celebrities, doctors too like to pull publicity stunts. 
I mean think about it, they get "more recognition" when they "discover" things. What better way to raise one's ranks without consequences than to "discover" something that can't be verified in some distant place that is (according to your perception) inhabited by nothing but monkeys , swamplands and tree-pygmies so as not to cause chaos in your immediate western society.

<british-accent>
"Here ye, Here ye my fellow associates. I, in my most educated, most elevated status as doctor. . .  have discovered that all natives of the western sector of the continent of baboons. . .  commonly referred to as. . .<forgets and looks at map>. . .  Africa, I believe. . . are infected by a virus that science cannot detect or find.

As you see, there is absolutley NO way to verify this, because it is an invisible virus.
Some may, because of this, call me an attention-seeking medical LovePeddler. Those people, mind you. . . are f00ls. Good morning!  " 
</bristish-accent>

Im sorry to say that it is not detectable, i should have been more specific. These strands are tested by health practitioners in the country and they look for similarities and differences. The differences could make it hard or damn near impossible to treat that person because the drugs will not be as effective as a person that has the classic case of the disease, i hope my point was clearer now.

This is new to me but doesn't shock me as much as when I found out about the Exposed seronegative individuals (ESN) and if I remember correctly when I saw it on some documentary a few years back they specified that many people from Gambia have this ESN "genes" as well as some Northern Europeans ?!? and here I was thinking that no one is immune to this deadly virus!!!

Read this article to understand a little better. Its not just Nigerians, there are a lot of people and countries too that are restricted from donating.
for example:
The American Red Cross is refusing donations from people who have spent a cumulative three months in Great Britain or those who have spent six months in any part of Europe since 1980.

Also i noticed that South Africa is not on that list, that's interesting.
http://www.bloodbook.com/donr-requir.html

On a different Note
Download the Ngpoll app on blackberry,
We link to know how you feeling and thinking. Ngpoll is a research group with focus on Nigeria.

http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/79631/?lang=en

there's no known cure for HIV yet, however, medication can keep it under control. To migrate to abroad, first, one has to pass the medical test. Since your brother is HV positive, I'm afraid its a No.


http://www.brainalin.com/

my question is, if they are not detectable, how come did they know it exists, i mean how did they discover it exists ?

@ Sinju, thanks for the explanation - it certainly throws more light on the topic being discussed 

27naira:

Reread my post. I made it clear that life or death situation is an exception.
definitely, i will be glad to donate to save a life and will welcome a reciprocated gesture. However, i will NOT give my life-stream for any emergency blood bank. ( that is, for storage purposes).

Okay.

It is surprising that people dont seem to know that HIV/AIDS is a biological invention. I can't type the details off-hand but its a comfirmed fact. H1N1 virus was recently reinvented by an American scientist who was barred for publishing the genetic formula.

Are you saying what I think you're saying? That HIV / AIDs is not real??!! 

If so, then how would you explain the prominence of the disease in Southern Africa??

The word is "engineered".

Ever wondered how aids never killed anyone in the old days without condoms? Where vikings banged every wench skin to skin anywhere.

2buff:

The word is "engineered".

Ever wondered how aids never killed anyone in the old days without condoms? Where vikings banged every wench skin to skin anywhere.

What evidence do you have that states that AIDS did not kill people in the old days? Most people that contracted the disease in the early 70s are now dead trust me. The ones that were infected with HIV not AIDs in the 80s were lucky to receive the drug cocktail to save their lives but unfortunately are now taking their last cocktail and unless scientist create a now cocktail for new strains then they will die from the disease. Stop this conspiracy theory of engineered diseases.

That's preposterous!