1. Describe your feelings about or response to the interview.
- As a group, we were all very impressed regarding the outcome of the interview. Dr. Menitove was very educated on the subject of HIV and the possible transmission of HIV through blood transfusions. He was able to answer all of our questions with insightful comments. He had his own views and opinions on certain aspects of HIV. We learned a lot about the evolution of HIV, but even more about the evolution of treatments for HIV. This interview made me personally feel like there are many aspects of HIV research that don't get as much attention or are not as well known. I felt like I walked away from the interview knowing a lot more about HIV research and testing than I had known before.
2. What changes occurred for you as a result of your interview?
-Before the interview, I thought that it would be common sense to want to know the evolution of a disease, especially if you are diagnosed with the disease. When talking with Dr. Menitove, he asked us if we would want to know how rapidly a disease evolves if we had it. It made me realize that knowing the rapid evolution of HIV would fill me with the fear of never finding a cure, rather than filling me with courage. I do believe it is important for people to know how serious this disease is and to educate them on the consequences of certain actions, but this interview made me realize that maybe it isn't always the best idea to educate people with certain diseases about the evolution of that disease. I think it would be more encouraging to educate them on what is being done in research labs to treat the disease.
3. Did anything about the interview disturb you?
What I found surprising was the test used to detect HIV when donating blood is not 100% effective. There is a 11 day period that starts at the very beginning of infection that can not be detected by the HIV test. This is due to the lack of virus built up in the blood. Dr. Menitove went on to explain that theoretically, more people could be getting HIV from blood transfusions than actually do. There was 1 case in the past 4 years. He explained that this number is so low, because people who know they have HIV don't come in to donate blood. People who want to donate blood are doing it for the right reasons. If people know they are sick, they are not going to come in to donate and potentially make someone else sick. Even though there is only a slight risk for contracting HIV via blood transfusions, it was still a little disturbing to me that someone receiving a blood transfusion is still at a risk.
4. Describe the connections you found between the interview and your research & classwork
-Grid-computing is a recent technology that can help to find cures for diseases that have been studied for many years. After this interview, we realized how important grid-computing really is. HIV is a very complex disease that continues to evolve, making it hard for a cure to be discovered. Understanding how HIV works and evolves could open up new opportunities for researchers. Even though HIV is constantly evolving, the tests do not need to change. This has allowed researchers to look at new options for treatment.He explained that there is new technology in Europe that could possible eliminate many diseases from blood transfusions without having to spend money on the same tests every year. This test is called the pathogen-reduction test. This is a novel idea, but it doesn't sit well with many people for the mer fact that it hasn't been proven to be 100% effective. The pathogen-reduction test uses UV light to destroy pathogens in the blood before they are even used in transfusions. It would not only destroy HIV, but other pathogens and diseases as well. Dr. Menitove did seem confident, however, that these tests will become almost foolproof and will eventually be the future of eradicating HIV from the blood banks.
