Its related, but complicated. We know a lot more about the virus and how it causes damage over time than we did in the early days. Also, U=U & TasP are now important factors.

But it wasn't always this way. Time for history lessons... and a discussion of why it matters

1️⃣

https://twitter.com/AdvancedTweaker/status/1950374872560853293

First, a brief reminder that the illness that came to be called AIDS was first identified in June 1981 & the first treatment - AZT - wasn't approved until March 1987. Originally a cancer drug, early adaptations for HIV used too-high doses and had horrific side effects.

2️⃣

so, here's the shit we need to talk about.

EVERYONE HAS LATENT VIRAL INFECTIONS FROM CHILDHOOD.

everyone. fully vaxxed or fully unvaxxed. you have at least a few.

your t cells keep them in check usually.

SARS-CoV-2 infection kills t cells & can allow reactivation

1️⃣

https://twitter.com/YaniPNG/status/1949918737257361904

The fake debate about whether or not immune dysregulation persists, which is falsely framed with all the wrong terminology to keep us confused, doesn't actually even matter.

It is settled science that SARS-CoV-2 causes acute lymphopenia in hospitalized patients.

2️⃣

I've written ad nauseum about my journey thru this long covid nightmare for over five years now. You're probably all sick of hearing about it by now, but I figure you stick around because you think I'll find the answers somehow. And maybe I did, but you ain't gonna like it. 🧵 For those few that don't know - I contracted SARS-CoV-2 (herein, sars2) early in 2020 and subsequently developed persistent cd4 specific lymphopenia (the same type of immune deficiency seen in advanced HIV/AIDS) 🧵

I know everyone wants quick answers for #LongCovid but the thing is, they don't exist. Not for us, and not for #Virology or #Immunology in general. And when you try to force it, you run the risk of making things worse and not being able to determine the cause. 🧵 It's horrific and inexcuseable that the healthcare system, governments, and researchers have left us in the position of trying to live long enough for them to unass their heads and help us, but here we are. Thing is, that means we have to do it smart. 🧵

Hear me out. Everything is allergies now, right? Well, in a way, the deniers are actually correct. Most people are allergic to viruses, and can become very ill from contact with them. We should use this technicality to its fullest potential. 🧵 First, the background. What are "allergies?" Allergies are an immune response to a foreign substance the immune system perceives as a threat.That is, when your immune cells encounter pollen, for example, they perceive it as a threat and mount an attack as they would a virus 🧵

Luc Montagnier was a Nobel Prize recipient for his work in isolating HIV, but early in the pandemic when he demonstrated genetic sequences of HIV appearing in the genome of SARS-CoV-2 he was forced to withdraw his paper under political pressure. 🧵 Our community hasn't wanted to talk about what that potentially means, even in the face of massive amounts of data suggesting not only that they "may have function," but also that this seems to be the only part of SARSCoV2 which persists-independent of the rest of the virus. 🧵

Millions of us contracted SARS-CoV-2 in early 2020, a full year before any of the vaccines existed, and are still very ill. Since those don't have whole virus, but only spike? There is only one way they could possibly be the same illness. 🧵 If the vaccines are actually causing the same illness as Long Covid, then the spikey bits alone must be responsible. That's basic logic. And the only way that could be the case in Long Covid, years after infection, is if its replicating independently. 🧵

Imagine getting a virus you were told was a simple respiratory virus - "like the common cold" & "mild for most people," and five yeas later you are still sick, still disabled, and dying in a tent from so-called "AIDS defining infections." That is my reality. 🧵

https://twitter.com/froglet80/status/1914349066151920007

I got SARS-CoV-2 in February, 2020. That was a full year before the vaccines existed, for the timeline-challenged. The virus did this to me, not the vaccine. 🧵

Every time I think stuff can't get any weirder, I'm promptly proven wrong by politics. Unfortunately, I haven't had the same luck with science. The universe has a helluva sense of humor.

Check out the update... then read on 🧵covid.gov The Wayback Machine records this version of Covid.Gov from April 10, 2025 - just over a week ago.
web.archive.org/web/2025041023…🧵

I've been trying to figure out how to even write this for a while, but its hard because what I need to write about is most of the reason that I can't. Its not "brain fog;" I don't have clouds in my head. Its the fucking virus. 🧵 Both the one no one wants to talk about, and the ones that actually do the killing once another one takes down the t cell sentries. The ones we all carry but ... no one wants to talk about. 🧵

this is completely false. we don't think the science abandoned us; we know that society abandoned science - and us. this derogatory headline is actually proof of it. read on to see why - and if you are able, request community note on the OP below 🧵

https://twitter.com/TheAtlantic/status/1907187517641597363

SARS-CoV-2 causes immune dysfunction. This is not speculation; I made an entire thread linking to scientific studies published in peer reviewed academic journals showing this. You can read it here.

https://x.com/froglet80/status/1868154603876802654?t=tToD87q05aLT5HdEfZHiuw&s=19

I had hoped by this second #LongCovidAwarenessDay, as I wouldn’t need to write one of these posts. That by now, we'd be in the "living with it" stage in the true sense of that phrase - but I've been sick for 1,857 days.
#LongCovidAwarenessDay2025
#LCAwareness
#LongCovid
#LongCovidAwareness On my first #Covidversary, I wrote about the simultaneous terror and hope. I'd just heard the first whispers of possible persistence - in a type of immune cell, no less. The parallels to another virus were chilling.
#LongCovidAwarenessDay2025

i feel like a goddamn truther but i think i should probably put this here for future reference and i hate that i think that and these 🤦🤦🤦
im just tryin to read the news and catch up i swear 😭🫣

i do not and will not endorse a candidate that is an hiv minimizer/denialist no matter what he promises "us." and that is why i dont really consider this "my community."

https://twitter.com/frogess33/status/1884797320354525649

Neither my support nor my silence can be bought. Not for empty promises of vague focuses, nor even for guaranteed and badly needed funding. I DO NOT WANT YOUR HELP if the cost is harm to the HIV community. And I will NOT remain silent, I will NOT endorse you, while you harm them.

Obviously, HIV and SARS-COV-2 are different viruses. That's why they have different names, after all. But they do share many pathological mechanisms, and that's been known for literally years now. 🧵

https://twitter.com/thesicktimes/status/1879611277879955937

SARS-CoV-2 and HIV-1: So Different yet so Alike. Immune Response at the Cellular and Molecular Level
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC96…

Please help me fund the testing I need in a quest to figure out how to manage Long Covid. Every share & donation helps. Thank You 🙏

•gofundme.com/SaveFroglet80
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•cash.app/froglet80
•venmo.com/u/froglet80
•paypal.me/froglet80 12/13 #FrogletAid
🚀BOOST 🧵thread
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There's been a lot of posts lately, remembering a weirdly romanticized version of the political activism spurred by the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s. Everyone likes to talk about Larry Kramer and ACT UP, but how many actually remember the rest of the story? 🧵 Behind the political activism, there were real people really dying from a real illness while the rest of the world really just ignored it. Kinda like today, actually - but weirdly no one likes to discuss this part of history. 🧵

12/10 #FrogletAid #CommunityCare Thread

Drop your #MutualAid requests & #Crowdfunding links in the comments on *this* thread

LIKE & SHARE

-- If able, please donate to those in need! --

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https://x.com/froglet80/status/1866024754039095464?t=Ky-rQ9tiaZRUSSAu8ZQlUQ&s=19

https://x.com/LongCovidAidBot/status/1863226291002208284?t=WyHij9OQQdsxkGXVTG-kqg&s=19

gofundme.com/SaveFroglet80
Hi, I’m Froglet. I’m a 44 year old disabled unhoused female in Texas with Long Covid & resulting immunodeficiency. I’m crowdfunding for medical tests & treatments that might help me manage my illness instead of doing this to survive month to month. Please, if you don’t read any further, just take a moment to share this campaign on your social networks before you go. 🧵 I contracted SARS-CoV-2 in February 2020, and never fully recovered. I have since been diagnosed with persistent CD4 specific lymphopenia - which is the same type of immune deficiency seen in HIV/AIDS. I’ve experienced significant neurocognitive decline, changes in vision and hearing, dysautonomia, and opportunistic infections including reactivated cytomegalovirus, candidiasis, and p jirovecii pneumonia, as well as ongoing GI and dermatological symptoms, weight loss, night sweats, pain, and fatigue. 🧵

Remember how in the eighties, everyone mistook the fact that the first cluster of patients with AIDS were all gay men, to mean that only gay men could get it, so they didn't connect the dots when people getting blood transfusions fell ill until a few more years went by? 🧵 Thats exactly what i hear all over again when i see people trying to find any commonality between people with long covid other than the fucking obvious one that is right there in the name: covid. thats it, the answer is covid, its not even a mystery this time. 🧵

I have masked in indoor public spaces for 5 years. Today, with a cold front bearing down on us and in desperate need to wash my winter clothes - and thankfully with funds to do so because of a generous donor - I found myself in an impossible situation 🧵 I spent over two hours attempting to get a ride via @lyft @AskLyft, from a popular business parking lot near my camp. FOUR drivers waited until they pulled up, to cancel my ride. In each instance, I had let them know in the driver note, I am not ill but immune compromised, my mask protects everyone. 🧵