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| Acmlm's Board - I3 Archive - World Affairs/Debate - Will we ever find a way to stop viruses? |
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spiroth10 Paratroopa                 Since: 01-28-06 From: USA Last post: 6279 days Last view: 6279 days |
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| 1000 years ago, I'm sure someone thought we'd be able to cure the cold by now.
I know this is far from a menial task, but will we ever find a way to stop them. After hearing about them in Bio class (only in HS but so what...), I think about this a lot. It fascinates me. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that we can stop them if we work at it the right way. I'm no scientist, but before I go on, here are my thoughts: my best thoughts on the matter turn to the way we produce insulin, and the way viruses reproduce. Figure this, you have a virus that as injecting its DNA into your cells' nuclei. This DNA is entirely different than yours (I know this may not always be true, there may be similarities). We produce humulin by using enzymes to cut human DNA at a point, and replace it with a bacteria's. now, I know there are trillions of cells in our body, but by inserting an enzyme formulated for the virus in question into the cell, would it not simply slice the viruses DNA in two as it entered the cell and basically immunize cells against that type of virus? This is totally impossible with a person living now, as we have trillions of cells and no way to do this to them all. but it would be a starter. Not only that, but the error ratio in virus reproduction guarantees the DNA/RNA that makes them up would probably change, making this method essentially useless. Still a fun idea though. also, these are rather simple, but they are still valid: extreme temperatures -- can viruses remain active in extreme hot/cold? you can freeze a person with cryogenics for up to an hour, if extreme cold could affect a virus, then it may lead to a (rather dangerous and expensive) future treatment plan. I'm not saying it would simply stop the virus, just possibly slow it down. if they do remain active in extreme cold, then we should work on cryogenics more, as the virus would then not be able to reproduce, and eventually, it would just dissappear, no? as for heat, it would kill a person, but I'm sure it would kill the virus too. Just another starter for ideas. back on to the subject: essentially if you could stop viruses from reproducing, you would end them. To do this, you would need to find some way to break the DNA/RNA injected by the virus into the victim's cells, without damaging theirs. A huge problem, as I stated above, with viruses, is that they have many mutations (changes) in their genetic make-up as the rapidly reproduce. the only suitable idea I can think of is to compare the human body to a computer, and the immune system we have as a virus scanner (virus being a virus, lol, and a hacker too. it has to get in there somehow.). See, the virus hacks/infects you. You have no firewall, and by the time your virus scanner(immune system) even realizes trouble, damage has been done. the virus then changes, and your scanner can no longer pick it up. so essentially we need a firewall. again, not a simple task to put into application, but a simple idea nonetheless. Something included in cells, or the bloodstream, that would identify problems and eliminate them, or simply stop these anomalies from creating more of themselves. This is basically an artificial immune system. my question is, will we ever find that firewall? Ever find a way to stop these little things? I think if we cure the cold, the same method will work for all other viruses. |
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MathOnNapkins  1100  In SPC700 HELL    Since: 11-18-05 Last post: 6279 days Last view: 6279 days |
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| I think if we're going to take an approach like this to fighting virii, we'd better damn know what we're talking about with no room for error. What if the plan backfires and you end up with a ridiculously effective virus strain that kills people left and right? Or what if you end up damaging the patient's DNA?
I'm of the opinion that to strengthen our bodies against infection the best route is to strengthen the immune system (not put up a firewall or whatever you've called it.) i.e. if you can train your immune system to fight off an enemy it has never even faced that would be optimal. I do believe vaccines put this principle into practice by subjecting the body to a weakened form of a virus, so when it faces the real thing it will know how to deal with it. Now what if we could eliminate the need to have the viral exposure... what if there was a way to tell the body a direct way to fight it off via some kind of encoding of data into the body's cells? This thread is pretty hypothetical, so I don't really know where it can go. |
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Arwon Bazu Since: 11-18-05 From: Randwick, Sydney, NSW, Australia Last post: 6280 days Last view: 6280 days |
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| Viruses are organic material which mutate rapidly. They're therefore difficult to keep up with and difficult to differentiate and isolate from native body tissues in order to fight, so therefore any cure for all viruses would need to:
A. Attack only viruses. and B. Attack them based on features common to all viruses. Biotech and nanotech seem like the two most likely paths. Something engineered to target some feature of viruses that ordinary human tissue does not share. I'm not sure if this is possible, but I assume there's some protein or structure that can be used to differentiate between the two. I guess it's a matter of getting the engineering up to scratch. Talkin outa my ass here. (edited by Arwon on 12-28-06 09:49 AM) |
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SamuraiX Broom Hatter Since: 11-19-05 Last post: 6279 days Last view: 6280 days |
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| The traditional method of dealing with viri is simply to keep up the immune system, which seems to work best.
However, viri are very hardy and aren't actually living, are they? One has to consider if the marginal benefit of eliminating viri is greater than the marginal costs of eliminating viri. Example: Viri are eliminated or incapacitated, however, people have to live in a hospital environment. Or another example, people who might carry viri or are likely to do so are eliminated as well as the viri. Even if it is possible, the consequences might be more detrimental than simply living with viri. |
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Rom Manic Since: 12-18-05 From: Detroit, WHAT?! Last post: 6279 days Last view: 6279 days |
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| We should use the media to convince the nervous system that all bacteria everywhere are radicals.
But that aside, there is no single solution but time. We'll adapt to cancer and aids eventually one day. |
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Metal Man88 Gold axe It appears we have been transported to a time in which everything is on fire! Since: 11-17-05 Last post: 6279 days Last view: 6279 days |
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| Program viruses (and later, nanomachines) to destroy other such viruses. You've seen their effectiveness on the human body--now it's time for them to put that deadliness to the test against the other viruses. | |||
Ailure Mr. Shine I just want peace...  Since: 11-17-05 From: Sweden Last post: 6279 days Last view: 6279 days |
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I yet have to hear about viruses attacking other viruses, though I heard about viruses attacking bacteria (so called bacteriophage), and those can be useful if modified, and for killing other nasty stuff (such as cancer apparently). But seeing how viruses works I don't know how you would make them attack each other.  |
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