Rod, at 13:53 on Jun 07 1996, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

ALM> I seem to recall reading recently that the latest research
ALM> is showing about 5% of the population is immune to HIV.

BG> This is surely a guess, as I can't imagine anybody setting
BG> up a double-blind trial in an attempt to prove otherwise...

RS> You dont actually have to do a double blind on that one. Whether
RS> they are HIV+ or not is just a test result, doesnt matter a stuff
RS> if the person administering the test knows which group they are in.

True enough, but...

RS> You dont even need a blind trial either, if the group that never
RS> does become HIV+ has the same behaviour rooting wise etc as the
RS> ones which did become HIV+, particularly when the vast bulk do
RS> become HIV+, its obvious there must be some reason some didnt.

There's a vast difference between SUSPECTING immunity and PROVING it.

RS> I was talking to one of the medicals who had been to Rwanda
RS> as part of our army medical team. Apparently the HIV+ rates
RS> are completely fucking unbelievable, 85% class rates.

Which is more than twice the "official" WHO-reported rate. 
Still, the Tootsies and the Hootoos needn't have bothered dulling their
machetes on each other, as 10 years down the track, it'll all be rather
academic anyway.

Regards, Bill
@EOT:

--- MsgedSQ/2 3.30