Gillison is a researcher first. So I would guess that her opinion about the dormant thing is true to a researcher's nature. Evidence based. No evidence, means every idea is supposition. Gillison was part of that original vaccine trial and it had positive outcome in the 2 people that have been looked at for increased antibodies. But it was a very small trial, and the remaining people in the trial have not been examined yet. Even if they were all people that had a positive antibody result, it isn't a big enough trial to move forward on - just a proof of principal trial. That means it needs big money to go to the next step. Right now you might as well be a snow ball in Hell when it comes to getting funding for a new trial like that of any size.

Your doctors when you ask them, will tell what they believe. Belief in this situation is just that, but do not mistake that for evidence based fact. When someone gets the funding to really look at the life cycle of the virus, there will eventually be an answer. The debate will be this: Is answering that question, and the cost to do so, the best thing we could do right now related to the expenditure of money on this virus?

One major breakthrough on HPV was in the OCF news about 10 months ago. A team was finally able to develop a technique to keep it alive in a petri dish. Doesn't sound like much, but it is a huge leap - it means that we can study it more closely when it is not in people, (in vitro) and at significantly less expense.

It is a wonderful opportunity for me to be around people that are world class researchers, and I get to be in sponge mode. But at those same conferences I am listening to people who are medical shills for the spit tobacco industry, others who are lobbyists for the status quo, and obstructionists to progress in early detection. Believe me there are many agendas out there and turf to protect, for reasons that have nothing to do with what is best for patients or the population as a whole.

Think it's cool to hang out with A list celebrities? Try putting up with self absorbtion, and priorities that defy logic to the rest of us. The triumph of materialism and ego over using celebrity for good in the world. For sure they are not all like that, but too many of them are for my taste in people to hang with.

Yup, all this is quite a privilege. But there is balance when you find some young bright researcher who has never been published with an epiphany, and you have the very small amount of money they need to prove it. Think Gillison, OCF, and the Runyon Foundation in 2000. It just happens too slowly for me. And I ain't getting any younger or prettier.....

Last edited by Brian Hill; 10-05-2009 09:34 PM.
Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.