Jstas
01-22-2008, 11:36 AM
Just saw this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7196812.stm
Essentially what scientists have done is neutralize the Ebola virus. I mean, it's not a sure fire way to stop it but it's a huge step in making progress towards curing things caused by viruses.
They removed a protein string that allows the virus to replicate. No protein string, the virus doesn't copy itself. It essentially allows the scientists to work with the virus without being infected by it.
What they did though was grew monkey kidney cells that contain the protein string that the virus needs to replicate so that they can still study it. But if the virus transfers to a human, the human cells do not have the necessary protein for the virus to replicate therefore, it's essentially harmless.
This is some neat stuff because if they can do it to one virus, there's gotta be a way to do it to others like HIV and such. This is a huge boost to research and may even lead to a way to stop viruses dead in their tracks itself. I mean, currently, antibiotics are the only way to fight a virus and they are quite ineffective. Some viruses have vaccines but the problem with them is that eventually the virus mutates to adapt to the vaccine. But, if you destroy the virus' genetic code to reproduce, you don't need to fight it, you just have to wait for it to die.
Cool stuff. Very sneaky trickin' the viruses like that. I like it!
Essentially what scientists have done is neutralize the Ebola virus. I mean, it's not a sure fire way to stop it but it's a huge step in making progress towards curing things caused by viruses.
They removed a protein string that allows the virus to replicate. No protein string, the virus doesn't copy itself. It essentially allows the scientists to work with the virus without being infected by it.
What they did though was grew monkey kidney cells that contain the protein string that the virus needs to replicate so that they can still study it. But if the virus transfers to a human, the human cells do not have the necessary protein for the virus to replicate therefore, it's essentially harmless.
This is some neat stuff because if they can do it to one virus, there's gotta be a way to do it to others like HIV and such. This is a huge boost to research and may even lead to a way to stop viruses dead in their tracks itself. I mean, currently, antibiotics are the only way to fight a virus and they are quite ineffective. Some viruses have vaccines but the problem with them is that eventually the virus mutates to adapt to the vaccine. But, if you destroy the virus' genetic code to reproduce, you don't need to fight it, you just have to wait for it to die.
Cool stuff. Very sneaky trickin' the viruses like that. I like it!