[extropy-chat] magic johnson, aids, longevity ...

[Robert Bradbury]

On 4/13/06, Damien Sullivan <phoenix at ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Apr 13, 2006 at 07:46:33AM -0500, Robert Bradbury wrote:
> >
> >    The thing to remember about viruses is that they are very small and
> if
> >    one can control their numbers they are not a problem.  So this allows
> >    people to live with diseases like TB or Hepatitis for extended
>
> Pedantic note: TB is a bacterium, not a virus.


True.  I could have phrased this better.  Though TB, unlike the bacteria
which may produce sepsis, replicate slowly and live most of their lives
within intracellular vacuoles they are generally hidden from the immune
system they are relatively non-pathogenic in non-immunocompromised
individuals.  Interestingly, the Wikipedia entry indicates that TB currently
infects ~2 billion people worldwide.  It appears that the synergism between
HIV and TB coinfections is actually one of the major causes of problems with
HIV infections.

>    that drug was ineffective against.  With the development of the
> >    so-called "triple cocktail" approach three drugs are used which
> target
> >    different vulnerabilities in the virus reproduction pathways.  So to
> >    work around the drugs the virus has to develop three mutations which
>
> If only we'd been using antibiotic cocktails...


I'm not sure I follow (unless some humor is being attempted).  Antibiotic
cocktails would be ineffective against viruses and would contribute to the
ongoing development of antibiotic resistance which would not be good.

Robert
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