Hiv Articles

HIV Reservoirs and Strategies to Control Them – A Major Hurdle to a Cure

HIV is one of the most feared diseases that a person can contract today, but with modern advances in treatment it no longer carries the same death sentence that it did twenty years ago. While the search for a cure continues, several hurdles exist that must be overcome. One of the main ones is the problem with HIV latency. Some researchers would even say that this is the single biggest obstacle to eradicating the disease, since treatments can eliminate up to 99 percent of the virus’ burden in a person’s body. That one percent is normally the portion of the virus that enters a latent state.

Essentially, the latency process involves HIV infecting a CD4 white blood cell as it is dividing. Next, it integrates itself with the cell’s chromosomes while some of the cells enters into a state of rest. When this occurs, the cells themselves and the HIV inside them can lay dormant in the body for years. Since Interleukin-7 can only add to their resistance by triggering a cloning process, new methods of eradicating these cells must be uncovered in order to halt HIV persistence in the body. Luckily, new tools and techniques not available in years past have given new hope to researchers trying to eliminate HIV reservoirs from the body.

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In chromosomes, DNA is coiled around proteins that are known as histones. When purge drugs are introduced that cause the DNA to uncoil, amino acids form proteins. For many researchers working on HIV eradication, forcing HIV DNA to uncoil is the key to eliminating HIV reservoirs. One such purge drug is known as SAHA and is showing promise for removing the acetyl groups that work to keep HIV latent in the body. These HDAC inhibitors may be the weapon that researchers have been waiting for, and other methods such as blocking the DNA methylation that contributes to the gumming up of the histones.

One of the major issues that confront researchers working to control HIV reservoirs is that reawakening the virus that has lain dormant without causing it to spread and infect other parts of the body that are free from infection is very difficult. Researchers in numerous facilities including the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City are working round the clock to find an effective method of dealing with HIV latency. A cure is still a long way off, but gets a bit closer with each new discovery. Overcoming HIV reservoirs will be a huge step towards eliminating the disease, but a step that will take some time to make.

HIV Reservoirs and Strategies to Control Them – A Major Hurdle to a Cure

HIV Dating Sites

If you are HIV positive then you know how lonely life can be. It can be very difficult to find someone to share your life with. There is always the fact that you have HIV hanging over your relationships. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. You can find singles just like you that are HIV positive. All you need to do is join one of the many HIV dating sites.

The Internet has connected people from all over the world. It is now possible to meet someone across the country or even just across your city with the click of a button. When you join an online dating site for people with HIV you are not limited to meeting people in your town. You can meet people from anywhere. The great thing about these sites is the people you meet already know you are HIV positive. Your biggest fear is already conquered.

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It can be hard to choose from the many HIV dating sites out there. One thing you need to keep in mind that while free sites may sound tempting a paid site may be better. There are a couple of reasons for this. First a paid site may have a higher class of people on it. The free sites could attract less savory characters. When people have to pay for something they tend to take it more seriously. The second reason you should choose a paid site is the security options should be better than a free site. You don’t want your HIV status posted all over the Internet for the whole world to see.

Once you have decided on a great site then you need to create a profile for yourself. Get an updated photo to load onto your profile. Make sure you project a positive outlook on life in your profile. You can choose how much or how little you want to reveal about yourself. You may get messages and requests to chat. You can choose who you want to talk with and who you don’t.

If you join one of the great HIV dating sites out there your social life can take a turn for the better. You will be able to meet wonderful people who are having the same difficulties as you. Having someone understand what you are going through is the biggest benefits of these sites.

HIV Dating Sites

Sample of Grant Proposal For HIV

This sample grant proposal for HIV is used to illustrate one approach to writing a proposal for grant funds. Usually grant proposals are accompanied at least by a cover letter which summarizes and gives light to the proposal.

Project Abstract

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Project Abstracts should have a concise summary of the project in one page or less. It should include the need for the project, the population it will serve, a brief description of the project and its goals and objectives. The abstract should have information about the applicant’s background and qualifications. Include the amount of funding being sought. Mention how the program will be evaluated to measure the success of the programs. Write the abstract last. Funders may request something specific for each abstract, so always check Funders’ guidelines

Example: Grant College in Grantville, GA is seeking a grant to expand our HIV awareness program for the purpose of helping all students of the college, and in particular the over 500 at risk students. The objective is to create a peer support group and center, with phones and staff, to not only raise awareness about HIV, but to also provide the support out students need to help fight it. Our program has been tested on a small scale, with great success, and we’d like to roll it out to more students. Funds equaling 9,200 is requested for additional staff, training and computers for the new center.

Statement of Need

The statement of need should describe the problem that the project will attempt to address. Describe the population that will be served.

Example: Grant College’s student population of 15,000 has at least 500 at risk students between the ages of 16 and 25. It is imperative to reach every at risk students, and preferably the entire student body, with the risks of HIV and AIDS. Once armed with the information, they will need a support system to help answer questions along the way to provide support in challenging situations.

Program Description

Describe the project or program and provide information on how it will be implemented. Include information on what will be accomplished and the desired outcome. Example: This project will enable at risk students to improve their decision making skills through education and peer support. The students will be challenged regularly and need a safe place to learn about the issues, ask questions, and receive support.

Additional Information

Information regarding technology to be used or anything else that might be relevant can be included here.

Goals & Objectives

Describe the project objectives in measurable terms that address the needs of the target population

Example: The goal of this effort is to raise awareness of HIV, to enable the targeted students to make informed decisions, to provide a safe place for students to ask questions and to reach out, and to provide a support system for students when they need it.

1) Yearly assessments of students with HIV

2) Monitor number of peer support students helping students

Timeline

Outline realistic expectations about the installation of equipment, hiring and training of staff, etc.

Example:

Submit Grant Proposal: Spring, 2009

Expected Grant Notification: Summer, 2009

Purchase Computers, start training, hire peer support team: Fall, 2009

Renovate Support Center and install phones: Winter, 2009

Sample of Grant Proposal For HIV

HIV Positive Singles – 7 Tips For Successful First Dates When Newly Diagnosed

First dates can be a daunting process especially for those dating for the first time after learning of their HIV positive singles status. With your confidence at an all time low it can be hard to actually relax and enjoy the whole process. What you need is a few pointers to get you in the correct frame of mind in order for you to enjoy getting rid of your HIV positive singles status once and forever.

Relax

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Your emotions are going to be running riot, this is normal. However you must remember what this date is all about. It is an opportunity to get to know each other and that is all. If it does not work out, what have you lost? Well actually nothing. But you have gained the advantage of knowing that he/she was not the one for you. So hey great… onto looking for the next possibility that may end up being the one you have been searching for to end your HIV singles status!

Dating as an HIV positive single means that you are probably a little agitated and so trying to relax before your big date is a great idea. Taking a slow relaxing bath is a wonderful way to unwind. Make sure you have time for a really leisurely soak and take the telephone off the hook and turn off your mobile to ensure that you will not be disturbed.

Another way to relax is by listening to some calming music. This is great when you are dressing and doing your hair as it will hopefully help to take your mind off of what you are getting ready for.

Dress Accordingly

One easy way to get worked up is by not being able to work out exactly what to wear. For this reason it can be a good idea to try on your clothes the day before. Knowing where you and your date are going will help you be able to correctly dress for the occasion. The last thing you want is to turn up at the cinema in your expensive cocktail dress or in your dinner jacket.

Dressing also includes shoes. Ladies need to ensure that there shoes fit the purpose. Yes heels are great for showing off your legs but not so good for a romantic country walk. Also try not to wear new or tight fitting shoes as you do not want blisters to ruin your evening.

Finishing Touches

Remember this is not a big deal. You are dating with HIV, and positive singles have as much right as anyone. All you are going to do is discover if you have anything in common with this other person. Make sure you look and smell nice. But there is really no need to go overboard. Make up should be natural looking as the majority of men do not like women to be all caked up.

Also try and arrange your hair so that it is as easy to handle as possible. Now is not the time for ultra hold styles. You do not want to have to keep popping to the toilet every half an hour to check how it is holding up. Also go easy on the products. Should things get romantic later on and home in on a goodnight kiss, your date will not want to get caught up in a sticky birds nest.

Remember to clean your teeth before leaving. And dab on a few spots of after shave or perfume to wrists and neck. Again do not go overboard – you want to smell nice not overpowering.

Be Ready to Ask Questions

Have a few questions prepared in advance so that should any awkward silences come into play, you are ready with a covering question. Just think of nice easy conversational questions about your date. Everyone likes to talk about themselves so by making the questions personal you should easily be able to fill the lulls. But beware do not ask anything you would not be prepared to answer yourself, as after answering they may ask you the same thing.

Get Yourself to and From the Venue

No matter if you are male or female, it is a good idea to make your own arrangements concerning transportation. This way you are not reliant upon your date taking you and you can leave whenever you wish. Also should the date not work out then they do not have your home address.

Drink in Moderation

When you are nervous it is easy to reach for your glass and keep taking a sip. Then before you know it you have finished the glass! So be careful and try and drink slowly. Always remembering that if you have not eaten alcohol will get into your system that much faster. Drinking water in between glasses of alcohol will cut your consumption by half.

Enjoy Dating as an HIV Positive Single

At the end of the evening, finish the night off with a goodnight kiss and nothing more. Hopefully this will leave both of you in a state of wanting a second date. Hence you will be half way to eradicating your HIV positive singles status with this one step alone.

The most important point of all is that you enjoy yourself. HIV positive singles can have as much fun as anyone else and should do so. HIV should not govern your life, you need to live life and enjoy each step of the way. For if you are enjoying yourself chances are your date is not either. So relax and have some fun and hopefully you will soon be removing yourself from the HIV positive singles group.

HIV Positive Singles – 7 Tips For Successful First Dates When Newly Diagnosed

Some Various Possible Ways to Contact HIV-Aids

HIV/AIDS can be contacted from oral sex:

If there is a broken tissue or sore in the mouth or where ever there is a possibility that the body fluids can be exchanged, the potential of HIV/AIDS transmission is likely to be contacted. Oral sex can transmit HIV/AIDS infection both from an infected male to an uninfected female and from an infected female to an uninfected male too. Both semen and vaginal fluid from HIV/AIDS infected persons contain a very large quantities of HIV/AIDS virus. The viral burden in these fluids reflects the amount that is found in the blood plasma.

You can also get infected if you swallow sperm semen during oral sex even without any sores in your mouth. HIV/AIDS can be infected through the ingestion of semen from an HIV/AIDS infected person regardless of whether the recipient has sores in their mouth or not. Having a sore or break in the mucosa will simply increase the risk of transmission through oral sex or suck.

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Even when the infected person dies, the HIV/AIDS virus still exist in the body of the corpse. The relevance for this is involved in the burial practices during the preparations of the corpse like bathing the body and touching the body while preparing it for burial. The risk does not only lie with the HIV/AIDS virus but also with so many other opportunistic infections in the body of the corpse most particularly if known to be an HIV/AIDS infected person, corpse must be handled as if infectious. This would be irrespective of the duration of time since the death of the corpse. Any fluids or tissue should be handled with utilising universal precautions like using gloves during autopsy, gloves and eye protections should be used at all times. As stated above, there is high risk from infections beyond HIV/AIDS. Most other hepathogens are heartier and longer lived than HIV/AIDS. You would be concerned about hepatitis, and TB amongst many others.

HIV/AIDS virus can also survive in the blood outside the body:

If the blood is dried, the virus will be dead, but if is wet, then a chance exist that it could still be active. the risk is very small but rather be safe. Always try and use gloves when you are in the situation where you might be in contact with blood or fluid. HIV/AIDS is very short lived on an inanimate surface. Consider it very infectious in wet fluid than in a dried fluid.

You can also be infected through kissing:

There is so much speculation around this issues and there are no absolute answer. If there are open sore in the mouth, the chance does exist that bodily fluids can be exchanged. Saliva can carry the HIV/AIDS virus but enormous amount of saliva has to be present for an infection to occur. The options here is to dry kiss as opposed to the wet kiss but it is very sad that young people miss out of the pleasure of kissing. Kissing provides a good motivation for knowing the HIV/AIDS status of your partner.

Some Various Possible Ways to Contact HIV-Aids

The Four HIV Stages Which Lead to AIDS Or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

There are basically four HIV stages which lead to the “AIDS” or “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome” disease.

When a person is infected with the “HIV” or “Human Immunodeficiency Virus”, the T helper lymphocyte cells which are a critical part of the immune system are essentially attacked by the HIV virus killing these cells which greatly reduces their number over a period of time. When these T cells drop below a certain level this is when the individual is diagnosed with having AIDS.

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The first of the four HIV stages is known as the “Primary HIV Infection”. This is the stage which occurs shortly after the individual has become infected with the HIV virus and may appear as flu like symptoms and last for only a few weeks which is the primary reason why many people do not even realize that they have the disease as they believe it to be simply a form of influenza.

The second stage of HIV is called the “Clinically Asymptomatic Stage” this stage lasts on average for a period of ten years and in most cases mainly affects the lymph nodes causing swollen glands with very few other symptomatic problems.

The third of the HIV stages is called “Symptomatic HIV Infection” which occurs when the HIV virus has broken down the immune system to the to a critical level in which the individual no longer has the resistance to certain types of cancer or infectious bacteria that they would normally have.

The fourth and final stage of HIV is basically the development of AIDS where the HIV virus has significantly damaged the immune system to the point where the individuals T cell count has dropped below a certain level or in some cases AIDS is diagnosed if they have developed one or more of a certain type of cancer or severe infectious bacteria.

The Four HIV Stages Which Lead to AIDS Or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

Dealing With HIV Transmission

People have been talking about HIV and HIV transmission for years and yet there is still a steady increase in the number of cases reported from all over the world. There is a lot of campaigning about HIV and AIDS everywhere. People are learning more and more about the deadly infection including how to prevent its spread.

Despite all these media and information being sent out there is still a need to reach more people as many of them still lack even the basic knowledge when it comes to HIV. They still have those erroneous beliefs about the illness. They still view people who are infected as walking plagues who, at a mere touch, can infect anyone, including the people they care about. This is very much unfair to the people who have tested positive with the virus. HIV does not choose who to infect. It can be anyone, from the person sitting beside you, your colleague, friend and even a family member or even you. Everyone in the planet has the potential of being infected by the HIV virus.

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Over and over again experts are saying how HIV transmission is made possible. Learning and understanding how it is transmitted greatly helps in the prevention of the disease from spreading. HIV is considered a sexually transmitted infection because of how it is generally transmitted. Most of the cases that are being reported show that people got infected most of the time through sexual intercourse. There are cases, though very minimal, where a person got infected through other means. But generally HIV is transmitted through semen, vaginal fluid, blood, and breast milk from mothers who are infected. HIV is a very frail virus and easily dies when exposed to the outside environment. That is why there is a need for extreme contact and exchange of these fluids before one gets infected. One does not get infected through casual contact or other bodily fluids such as sweat or saliva.

The myths or misconceptions about HIV transmission should be prevented. They do not help in the situation especially in dealing with the spread of the disease. In fact they can only add more problems. Instead of people learning how to protect them they are more focused on the people who are known to have the infection.

No one can really say who is infected with HIV unless one gets tested. The focus of people should not really be on the people who are tested positive but instead to everyone else who has not been tested. The people who know they are positive are the ones careful not to spread the infection. The people who are not aware they are infected are the ones that should be cautious since they are spreading the virus without their knowledge. Knowing how this virus gets transmitted gives everyone the opportunity to alter their lifestyle so that further spread of the virus is prevented. There is a lot of information out there and it is only right that everyone makes use of this information. HIV is very much real and one would be foolish to ignore all the facts about this dangerous virus. Get tested regularly at STD clinics to know if you have the dreaded disease or not.

Dealing With HIV Transmission

HIV and AIDS

Like younger people, senior citizens are also at risk for contracting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). This virus damages the immune system, the body’s defense against infection and disease, and causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV is transferred from one person to another through the exchange of bodily fluids, including blood, semen, and vaginal fluid. 

     Contracting HIV

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People can contract HIV at any age by having unprotected sex or sharing needles with someone infected. People who are typically at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS include:

When people first become infected with HIV, they do not experience any symptoms. After a few weeks, people may exhibit flu-like symptoms. More serious symptoms may occur about a decade after contracting HIV. People who have HIV complain of headache, cough, diarrhea, loss of appetite and weight loss, fevers and sweating, repeated yeast infections, skin rashes, pelvic and abdominal cramps, sores in the mouth or on the body, and short term memory loss.

Getting Tested

When thinking about getting tested for HIV/AIDS, you should remember the following facts:

It takes 3-6 months for the virus to be detected in the blood
Your local healthcare provider or a local hospital or clinic can perform an HIV/AIDS screening
Counseling is usually provided along with HIV/AIDS screenings
Tests are usually private and can be performed without giving a name
You can test your blood at home using a test called the Home Access Express HIV-1 Test System which is available at drug stores

Treatment

While there is no cure for HIV/AIDS, there are medications that are used to treat symptoms and spread of the virus. Doctors commonly use a combination of drugs called HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy), which have greatly reduced the number of deaths due to HIV/AIDS. People can prevent the likelihood of contracting HIV/AIDS by:

Making sure all sexual partners have been tested and been shown free of HIV
Using condoms
Not sharing needles
Getting tested for HIV if you or your partner had a blood transfusion between 1978 and 1985 or received an operation in a developing country

Senior Citizens and HIV/AIDS 

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in senior citizens is increasing. Some people speculate that there are even more senior citizens with HIV/AIDS, because seniors are not typically tested for HIV/AIDS or they may confuse symptoms with the normal effects of aging. Senior citizens seem to know less about HIV/AIDS and how it is spread than younger people. This is partially because healthcare workers and senior citizens do not usually discuss HIV/AIDS together. 

Women and people of color are reported as more likely to contract HIV/AIDS than other demographics. Reports also show that most of these cases are due to sex with infected partners. Because women live longer than men, they may be seeking sexual activity at older ages with less anxiety about becoming pregnant, thus being less likely to use a condom. Less protection and more cuts and tears that can result from vaginal dryness that plagues older women; this can lead to an increased susceptibility for contracting HIV/AIDS. 

HIV and AIDS

HIV Support Groups – Helping HIV Positive People to Cope With the Deadly Virus

Life is full of surprises. It brings happy as well as sad moments for all of us. If you are healthy and living normal life then you are really lucky and blessed. You can enjoy the best of both the worlds – good health and a good life. But on the other hand, if someone is diagnosed with a deadly virus like HIV then all of a sudden everything comes to a halt.

People often think that suffering from serious diseases like HIV positive leads to a slow death. But that is not true. There are millions of people out there who have been affected by this disease but they are still trying hard to struggle their way out. With the development of medical science and technology, you can now find numerous medicines and treatment methods that are actually working for the affected ones. Even HIV positive people can now lead a normal and healthy life with the help of these life saving drugs and confidence.

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Join the fight against HIV – Support now!

1) HIV Support groups: The HIV Support groups are very encouraging for the HIV positive people. The right support groups can make the life of the sufferers much happier and fulfilling by providing emotional co-operation for eliminating the pain. It is often observed that HIV positive people are reluctant to share their problems with others in the society fearing rejection. They suffer in silence without letting others to know about it. The support groups provide a platform to all those people who are directly or indirectly affected by the deadly virus. Speaking on one such a platform you can easily let all your worries and fears come out in the open without fearing societal consequences. This support can come from different directions like NGOs, local groups, clinical groups or the popular online support groups. But the very best help comes from those who are really close to you and in a position to truly understand your problems.

2) HIV Aids Chat Groups: If you are looking for HIV Support, you can join the online HIV Aids Chat groups. All you need to do in order to join an online support groups is simply get yourself registered with the popular online support forums. And the best part is you can do all this without having to leave your home or speak to anyone face to face. Another benefit of joining an online HIV Support group is that you can get to know people from different countries and different walks of life.

HIV Support Groups – Helping HIV Positive People to Cope With the Deadly Virus

The Catholic Church’s Influence Over the HIV Plague

I have often stood alone, especially in my battle against the pseudo-science of Peter Duesberg and Thabo Mbeki and it was indeed gratifying to be invited to the recent UN Humanitarian Awards regarding my position on this issue. I have always openly said that it is morally wrong to force a HIV/AIDS infected partner to sleep with another human being in the knowledge that the sexual act will in all probability cause the death of the innocent person. In 2001, a group of Catholic Bishops from Southern Africa condemned the use of condoms to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. Bishop Michael Coleman stated, “their use is immoral and dangerous and the promotion of condoms is a misguided weapon in our battle against HIV/AIDS”. He then continued, “condoms don’t make a difference…this country is saturated with condoms yet we have the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world”. This again, is pseudo-science masquerading itself as scientific fact. Dr. Halpenny states “apart from the fact that condoms has done nothing to halt the spread of AIDS” and unwittingly falls into this propaganda trap flouted by the Catholic Church in Africa to promote the policies of the Humanae Vitae doctrine. On this basis, I will deal with the scientific issue first.

The WHO has recently condemned the Catholic Church’s views, saying: “These incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people, and currently affects at least 42 million.” The United Nations have also recently been profoundly disturbed by propaganda from the Catholic Church telling people in HIV/AIDS stricken countries not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which HIV can pass. The Church is making these claims across four continents despite a widespread scientific consensus that condoms are impermeable to HIV. A senior Vatican spokesman, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, backs the claims about permeable condoms, despite assurances by the World Health Organisation that they are false. Scientific research by a group including the US National Institutes of Health and the WHO found “intact condoms… are essentially impermeable to particles the size of STD pathogens including the smallest sexually transmitted virus… condoms provide a highly effective barrier to transmission of particles of similar size to those of the smallest STD viruses”.

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Things get worse, in Lwak, near Lake Victoria, Gordon Wambi, the director of HIV/AIDS in the area has gone on record stating that local priests in the region are telling the populous “that condoms are laced with HIV/Aids.” In Kenya (where an estimated 20% of people have HIV) the Archbishop of Nairobi, Raphael Ndingi Nzeki has gone of record stating, “the Catholic Church condemns condoms for promoting promiscuity and the rise of HIV/AIDS in that country. He also repeats the claim about permeability. So why would the ecclesiastical authorities openly tell lies against scientific fact and try to spread false propaganda to the distressed and diseased people of the plague stricken African nation.

Thankfully, the days of Galileo (who proclaimed the truth of the Copernican doctrine) where the Holy See believed itself to be the supreme authority in all matters of science are now behind us. In order to withstand the perceived wrath of the Catholic Church which states that the doctrines of Humanae Vitae “are contained in the Word of God, written or handed down, and defined with a solemn judgment as divinely revealed truths either by the Roman Pontiff when he speaks ‘ex cathedra,’ or by the College of Bishops gathered in council, or infallibly proposed for belief by the ordinary and universal Magisterium”, I am going to use the intellectual argument of “licit dissent” to challenge the respective canons of the Codes of Canon Law. It is recognised by the Catholic Church that, as long as the disagreement against Humanae Vitae is well founded and respectfully stated, and as long as the Church’s official teaching is properly con veyed alongside the theologian’s expressed doubts, such theological dissent can be classified as “licit.”

To be fair, neither Blessed John XXIII nor his successor Paul VI foresaw the conflagration of public dissent that occurred following the issuance of the encyclical Humanae Vitae in July of 1968. The majority of Catholic professors teaching theology in North America and many others worldwide at the time-publicly dissented from the doctrines of Humanae Vitae and this opposition has lasted up to the present day.

The problems started when Pope Paul VI attempted to clarify the Catholic Church’s ancient teaching on artificial contraception following the Protestant church’s reversal on the ancient prohibition of birth control during the Lambeth conference of 1930. Doctrine relating to the regulation of birth and the prohibition against artificial contraception was defined in doctrines, dating back to the Council of Nicea, (Canon 1) AD 325. The Church’s teaching that the procreative element cannot be removed from the act of sex without incurring grave sin and violating the sanctity of marriage was largely influenced by theologians like St. Augustine, who we should remember prior to his conversion to Christianity, was a lustful youth who lived for years with a woman who bore him a son. This theologian was also enamoured with a dualistic philosophy called Manichaeism, which viewed matter as an evil opposed to spirit.

Unquestionably, these experiences coloured his views on marriage and sexuality and questionably still have some part to play in the deaths of HIV/AIDS patients in Africa. We should also remember that theologically the Bible has virtually nothing to say about birth control per se. The closest we get to this is the story of Onan (Gn 38: 1-11) being condemned to death for practicing coitus interruptus and this pertains more to his refusal to father children for his deceased brother (as Jewish Law required) than the practice of a form of birth control.

Eventually in 1964, Pope Paul VI created the Papal Commission on Population and Birth Control. The commission consisted of two parts, one of 64 lay persons, the other of 15 clerics, and they met from 1964 to 1966. One of the clerics was Pope John Paul II, then a Polish cardinal. Unfortunately, Pope Paul VI gave the Commission only one mission, not to review the moral doctrines relating to birth control but rather to determine how the Church could change its position on the issue without undermining papal authority. In 1966, the Commission concluded that it was not possible to make this change without undermining papal authority. They also stated that the Church should make the changes anyway because it was the right thing to do! In fact, the lay members voted 60 to 4 for change, and the clerics, 9 to 6 for change. Of more interest is the fact that the co-author of one report Karol Wojtyla (who is now Pope John Paul II) stated:

“If it should be declared that contraception is not evil in itself, then we should have to concede frankly that the Holy Spirit had been on the side of the Protestant churches in 1930. It should likewise have to be admitted that for a half century the Spirit failed to protect Pius XI, Pius XII, and a large part of the Catholic hierarchy from a very serious error”.

In 1968, Pope Paul V1 issued the controversial Humanae Vitae encyclical to the protests of Catholics around the world. Following the massive public dissent registered against the encyclical, theologians loyal to the Church’s magisterium, claimed that the teaching was both true and even infallible. I think I am write in stating that, Pope Paul VI himself never made this lat ter claim, indeed, his theological spokesman at the time the encyclical was issued, Fernando Lambru schini, specifically remarked that the encyclical’s teach ing was not infallible. Hans Kung, the renowned Swiss Catholic theologian stated that a highly credible argument against infallibity could be made on the ba sis of the virtual unanimity with which the popes and the bishops had always maintained over the centuries that contraception was an evil. In June 1978, this argument was furthered by two moral theologians: the late Father John Ford, SJ, (an advisor of Pope Paul VI on the subject), and a layman, Professor Germain Grisez in an arti cle entitled “Contraception and the Infallibility of the Ordinary Magisterium”. Hans Kung further stated that it was not possible to solve the problem “relating to contraception/condoms until we solve the problem of infallibility. We should remember that the Pope only became infallible in July 1870, the same year as the loss of the Papal States. Catholic historian Bernhard Hasler considers in his book, “How the Pope Became Infallible” that for more than a millennium, the Vatican had possessed temporal power that ensured its survival. With the loss of the Papal States, it appeared all but certain that a strong papacy would simply disappear and Pope Pius IX enacted the decree to consolidate the power of the Vatican.

Either way, millions of children go to bed each night without parents each night in Africa. If Dr. Halpenny can tell me where the evidence of “respect for human life and dignity” exists in this situation, I would certainly be glad to listen. I would also question whether in reality the proponents of this flawed theory would actually allow their HIV infected partner to have sexual intercourse with them if they that they were positive. They certainly would be showing little respect for one life ..their own!. The other theological argument relating to whether a clone could actually have a soul is not vacuous but certainly will mean that the Church will eventually have to redefine it doctrinal wording relating to the actual situation when God gives a soul to a body. However, that can wait for another day.

The Catholic Church’s Influence Over the HIV Plague