Quote:
Originally Posted by WaxOff
What if some of the viruses in this world are caused by the body trying to reject the foreign substance? Can you tell me with 100% certainty that they are not?
|
Yes?
The mechanism for rejecting foreign bodies (specifically w/re: organ transplants) is so well-known that we have drugs to help prevent it (with varying degrees of success). Just because the immune system is attacking the new liver, for example, does not believe the liver is acting in the same way as a virus.
Put another way: your immune system will attempt to break down a splinter that is stuck in your finger. That does not mean that the splinter is causing a virus, right? Why would you assume, then, that other interactions with the body/immune system would "cause" or produce a virus?
Quote:
|
But getting to my point, which I failed to bring across, is the virus, any virus has to start from somewhere or something. They have their own specific genetic makeup. Their own DNA. If scientists can trace the DNA of our species and countless others back to their origins, why can't they do it with this or any other virus? Why can't they then use that information to help fight it?
|
We can map the genomic structure of HIV pretty easily. You seem to miss the point though - the human genome has been "mapped" fairly successfully for years, but that doesn't mean humans have been "traced back" to some origin point. Wouldn't it be nice if we did? All those Texas schools could get back to actually teaching proper biology of evolution . . . what a world.
However, just because we know the physical structure, that doesn't magically unlock a cure - everything in science exists in context, and the context in which HIV exists (namely, the human body, and more specifically attacking the immune system) is inordinately complex.
I worked in a virology lab that worked with gene therapy techniques for cancer treatments - we did extensive work with HPV, a much simpler virus than HIV. You'll notice that HPV vaccines are just now becoming prevalent, and only for the most important strains - that's after nearly 30 years of work. Cancer and HIV both encounter a key problem: how do you stop reproduction without killing the host? How do you interact favorably with genetic mutation/insertion in ways that don't feature consequences worse than or on par with the initial issue?
For every one assay that shows any success, 25 fail - and no amount of historical knowledge would really affect this at all. Ever. Mapping the structure of HIV has been done. Finding the origins would be largely a fool's errand, one that is MUCH more important for epidemiologists and sociologists than for those looking for a cure.
Threaded Mode
