HIV survivor

[GST_Nemisis]

i the news recently i have seen an article about a man who has gotten hiv and then with the help of drugs become immune to it. this means they will be able to make a cure from his antibodies. i dont understand this process, what is the idea behind it?

 

[Chaotica]

I'm far from being a scientist, but in lamence, it's on account of everybody's DNA being different - every human body has about 30-50 genetic mutations - they aren't big, obviously, and as a fun fact, to like milk over the age of 24 is considered a mutation... now you have a relative idea of how small some are. On the other hand, some are big - Einstein had an enlarged brain cavity, hence his high intelligence.
In this current case, this man has become immune to losing white blood cells, which I'm pretty sure is what HIV causes.... in either case, he has developed an immunity to the deterioration of his body. Whether this can be accounted for by a high rate of biological regeneration or simply a very resilient blood pattern, he has truly performed a miracle, if he's fully ridden himself of it... I'm worried that because HIV is a blood-related disease, if the cure will only work on certain blood types. But that's just my philosophy. As far as maintaining the antibodies required, I think they may have to produce clones which will raise the whole activist community about cruelty, yadda yadda... ever still, the day that community stops fighting, there's gonna be a lot of angry souls...

 

[GST_Nemisis]

yeh i did understand that hiv changed the DNA, what i really meant, is how are they going to use his immune DNA to help other people? coz its not like a bacterium where u can just take the white blood cells of an immune person and cure someone with them... i dont really know what they do with viruses.

 

[Chaotica]

Technically with a transfusion something like that could be possible, but they would have to
a) transfuse ALL of one's blood
b) transfuse a little bit of blood.. because technically if the immune blood suffered none - to - minimal loss of its antibody structure, then it in turn would eliminate HIV within the infected body..
c) create a disease that would infect the infection.. the whole fighting fire with fire principal... but that would, of coruse, lead to other harmful side effects...

In the mentioned article, it doesn't really say that he was removed and cured of the disease, just that it no longer affected him.. therefore, options a or c are the most likely... but it'll take years for them to mix through the equations, and even still, he may be a single lucky case... because the issue of cloning will undoubtedly come up either way...

 

[Shados]

@GST_Nemisis An immunisation technique for HIV is already available to the super-rich.

1@Chaotica HIV doesn't cause you to lose white bloods cells, it mutates them into HIV-production factories. Scientist clone individual cells all the frickin' time, noone gives a shit.

2@Chaotica 0.o, you can't INFECT A VIRUS! you can only create another virus that fights the first virus, but it couldn't infect the first virus. What about option d where they breed tons of this guys anti-bodies and inject them into an HIV-affected person?

 

[GST_Nemisis]

i heard that mosquitoes are immune to hiv, i think they should take the gene that makes mosqitoes immune to it and implant it in humans.

 

[SeasonsOfLove]

HIV has an absurdly high mutation rate, so if it isn't completely eradicated, it mutates very quickly, and can often infect someone.

What HIV really does is that, during its "hibernation", it is attacking full-out, but the immune system is also fighting back so hard that after a certain amount of time, the immune system burns out, and the virus takes control.

So, while being immune to one strain of HIV is great, that doesn't make any sort of immunity to the other strains.