How does modern day science try to fight viruses?Unlike bacterial infections, viral infections cannot simply be eliminated by taking an antibiotic. The only known "cures" for most viruses are actually vaccines. When given a vaccine, the doctor is actually injecting a very small amount of the virus into the system. The vaccine contains the virus in order to stimulate the body's immune system to recognize the virus as foreign, destroy it, and keep a record of it, so that the immune system can more easily recognize and destroy any of these microorganisms that it later encounters. This is why vaccines are not even considered cures. They create memory cells and a resistance against the virus, but that doesn't mean the resistance will be enough to fight off the virus entirely, which is why vaccines cannot be considered a true "cure" against a virus.
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Common VirusesOne of the most common viruses in the world is the common cold. The common cold can never be "cured" by modern medicine, meaning that there can never be an efficient vaccine for it. The common cold virus is something you can catch over and over again because there are so many different strands of it floating around in the atmosphere. In fact, there are well over 200 documented strains of the common cold. It is impossible to deduce who will get what strain of the cold, which is why a vaccine would be pointless. Another well known virus is the influenza virus, which causes the seasonal flu. The influenza is easily fought in developed country, and new vaccines for the ever mutating strands are released to stay on top of things. Other well known viruses that are becoming more and more common are sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, herpes, and the like. Some sexually transmitted diseases are able to be treated.
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HIV & AIDSAIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is the final stage of HIV, a retrovirus. Today, though many people suffer from the disease, there is no functional cure for HIV or AIDS. However, there have been many advancements in the treatment of both that have significantly increased the lifespan and quality of life of people living with the diseases.
Recently, a research team from the University of Pittsburgh obtained the first direct proof of a long-suspected cause of multiple HIV-related health complications. The finding supports complementary therapies to antiretroviral drugs to significantly slow HIV progression. The study found that a drug commonly given to patients receiving kidney dialysis significantly diminishes the levels of bacteria that escape from the gut and reduces health complications in non-human primates infected with the simian form of HIV. According to the article, chronic activation of the immune system and inflammation are major determinants of progression of HIV infection to AIDS, and also play an important role in inducing excessive blood clotting and heart disease in HIV patients. Doctors believed this was due to microbial translocation, which occurs when bacteria in the gut gets out into the body through intestinal lining damaged by HIV. However, no direct proof of this mechanism existed. The doctor in charge and her colleagues showed blocking the bacteria from leaving the intestine reduces the chronic immune activation and inflammation, thus slowing the transition of HIV to full blown AIDS. (Information in this section pulled from this article) |
Other Dangerous VirusesNot all of the dangerous, life threatening viruses in the world are sexually transmitted diseases. In fact, some of the scariest viruses in history are "normal", to an extent. One of the most frightening viruses, Ebola, causes hemorrhagic fever and is transmitted through bodily fluids like blood and secretions from infected animals. Ebola is responsible for around 100 deaths or less per year, but the number is rising. Death from Ebola is extremely miserable, causing most patients pain in the form of excessive bleeding from holes in the body and continuous vomiting. Death is not caused by the bleeding, however; usually death results from shock or organ failure.
Despite how scary Ebola seems and despite the threat it poses, scientists are constantly searching for a cure. Recently, scientists have found a molecule that saves rodents and monkeys from various hemorrhagic fevers. Furthermore, the drug exhibits activity against a wide range of different viruses. The drug obviously isn't a cure, but it's a step in the right direction. The influenza virus can also cause a pandemic, though usually only in underdeveloped countries that do not have access to recent vaccinations and research. |