I haven't seen the movie yet but know that it is implied that Christie has AIDS and is showing many of the symptoms. Having studied AIDS in biology, I remember learning that it takes approximately ten years from initial infection with HIV for the symptoms to start showing. So...if that were correct, then Christie would have been infected with the virus at around age 7 or 8? Am I wrong, can AIDS develop more quickly?
shareMy understanding is that the average incubation time for the HIV virus to become full blown AIDS is ten years (and probably longer now with sophisticated drugs). But that's an average. Some people transition into AIDS far more quickly, in as little as months from the time of contraction.
shareEver since I saw the movie I wondered if Christie had aids. Her character had some of the symptoms.
Whatever doesn't kill you.. is gonna leave a scar! Leave a scar. -Marilyn Manson:High End Of Low.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).[1][2][3]
This condition progressively reduces the effectiveness of the immune system and leaves individuals susceptible to opportunistic infections and tumours. HIV is transmitted through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-seminal fluid, and breast milk.[4][5]
This transmission can involve anal, vaginal or oral sex, blood transfusion, contaminated hypodermic needles, exchange between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or other exposure to one of the above bodily fluids.
AIDS is now a pandemic.[6] In 2007, it was estimated that 33.2 million people lived with the disease worldwide, and that AIDS killed an estimated 2.1 million people, including 330,000 children.[7] Over three-quarters of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa,[7] retarding economic growth and destroying human capital.[8]
For numbers on the heterosexual, Caucasian, non-drug using community within Ontario, Canada the statistics as of 2006 are: Heterosexual men and women who had not injected drugs, had not come from an African or Caribbean country or were not gay or bisexual men, accounted for 14 per cent of people living with HIV/AIDS in the province (3,715) and 20 per cent (355) of new infections.
These are the facts: cold hard numbers and information.
Just to get back to the film a little bit here, I think something to keep in mind is that we are dealing with Ellis characters. Christie has probably been having sex and engaging in IV drug use since she was at least ten, so undiagnosed AIDS is not totally implausible. Whatever the case, the final scene with her laying on the beach to die was beautifully haunting.
shareYou can always look better.. be thinner
shareIV drug use since she was 10? Sorry but No Way. Her skin was flawless, and she was tan up until that last scene. She did nothing in the movie to indicate she used drugs intravenously.
Some fellows get credit for being conservative when they are only stupid.
- Kin Hubbard
Having read through the comments in this thread, I must say that I found this debate more interesting than the movie.
I do think the unifying theme in the film to be HIV/AIDS contact and transmission.
The fact that multiple character/story strands were presented and their sexual escapades and the degrees of separation is the tip-oof, as well as the early reference to the initial outbreak of the then unknown AIDS virus.
As to the type of sex indicated in the movie, it seemed to be all types, anal, vaginal, homsexual, heterosexual, simply all-out free-for-all sex.
In the book, the beach scene at the is supposed to be set several years later, so this would explain how it would be a feasible storyline for her to have developed a disease over the course of several years, and therefore not have been infected by aids at such an early age. I guess for the purpose of the movie, the plotline was moved forward in time to give it more coherence, although clearly this is not what has happened in actuality!
shareI'll be sure to remember that, thanx. How much menstrual fluid would I be allowed to drink? I found that one glassful every 3 days cured smoking.
share[deleted]
She was poor. That's why our family couldn't afford cigarettes. However I absorbed from her a large percentage of alcohol content. So I have to tell health workers, not that my mom was a lifelong drunkard, but to make it sound better, that I have Tourette's Syndrome.
shareSo that's how a person dying from AIDS really looks like?
They have all these black welts spotted over them?
You had better decide whether you're hangin' on the cross... or bangin' in the nails.
If one of the people in hetero sex is infected, then HIV can be spread..."hetero sex" has nothing to do with it. If there is penetrative sex and no protections, and one of them is infected, there is a great chance that the other will get infected too (no matter if it's hetero or not)
And taking into mind the post regarding getting AIDS from a kiss on the lips...
How are people this *beep* stupid? It's 2010 not 1980. You'd think people would be more well-informed.
You are a tool, do you know that?
There are many many cases of straight men getting HIV from prostitutes via unprotected sex. Do you even have any medical science research backing your stupid assumptions.. Stop spreading misinformation dude.
My job is to watch stupid movies and complain about them on IMDBshare
It does usually take awhile to develop to HIV related illnesses. But at that point in time, when there were no drugs, and with her lifestyle and probably already compromised immune system, it could go much faster. They made it sound like she had Kaposi's sarcoma, which could kill you. She probably would have had the virus for at least a few years.
share