Re: What does any of that have to do with Aids?

> We must remember that all of these diseases are much higher now than they were in the past, 100, even 50 years ago. A lot of factors, I'm sure, but let's look at the things we are using, and using more of, compared to that time.

Thats not stricly true with Aids. Aids is a completely new disease - it didn't exist in humans until the late 1970's.

Although the origin of the disease was initially unknown, it was quickly discovered that it is caused by a virus - the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Everyone with Aids has this virus. Not everyone with HIV goes on to develop Aids though because initially the body (succesfully) fights the HIV virus and keeps it in check. This period of relative health can last years, even decades and perhaps in a lucky few indefinately. There have even been reports of (a handfull) of cases where an individual has gone from being HIV positive to HIV negative - i.e. the human body has successfully eradicated the virus. I must stress though that this is an extremely rare occurence.

You can give a person Aids by injecting them with the HIV virus and then letting nature take its course. Indeed there have been legal prosecutions to this effect (where people with HIV have knowingly infected others). Aids can be induced in the laboratory by passing on the HIV virus (or its various analogues).

HIV is transmitted through body fluids including blood and semen. Although saliva can theoretically carry the disease it is thought that infection this way is very rare. Because of the means of transmission HIV is predominant amongst certain groups. In particular:
Intravenous drug users,
Haemophiliacs,
Homosexuals,
Those engaging in promiscuous behaviour.

We know for sure that these groups have a much, much higher likelihood of catching Aids. This makes sense because all of the above activities involve the sharing of body fluids with others. This is the mechanism by which the HIV virus is passed from one person to another.

We can test with exactness whether a person has HIV or not. A (large) proportion of those will go on to develop AIDS. Indeed the only test for Aids is the test for HIV. If you don't have HIV, you can not possibly have AIDS.

If Aids were enviromental it would affect all groups equally, and not be heavily linked to body fluid exchange.

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