WE HAVE A CURE FOR HIV

[CubaTBird]

...i think, it seems crocodile blood can cure the disease.. or so says yahoo news...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ile_blood_dc_1

is this it? is this finally the answer to a cure for HIV?

[Jaffa Cake]

Crocodile blood may yield powerful new drugs

With emphasis on the may. It's very, very early days yet... but hopefully it's a step in the right direction this time.

[strider42]

Originally Posted by CubaTBird

...i think, it seems crocodile blood can cure the disease.. or so says yahoo news...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ile_blood_dc_1

is this it? is this finally the answer to a cure for HIV?

That's cool. I saw a documentary over a year ago that talked about the pretty amazing immune system of crocodiles. Of course, their very different physiology and metabolism may help them in some cases too. But there's definiltey some to be learned there.

[hob]

I thought there were already drugs for HIV?

[clayj]

Originally Posted by hob

I thought there were already drugs for HIV?

There are drugs to TREAT HIV, but not to cure it (i.e., eliminate it from your system).

[vouder17]

Originally Posted by hob

I thought there were already drugs for HIV?

and these drugs cost quite a bit, and they have serious side-effects.

If this is true it will be great, but viruses are tricky little organisms to overcome. If this is perhaps a cure for HIV/AIDS then we might see cures of flu and other viral diseases in the future...

[cantthinkofone]

this is weird, because i have always wondered if the cure for HIV/AIDs was something really simple and we were just try to hard.

Chlorine kills the HIV virus, but getting a injection of it would probably seal the fate of a very pain full death.

[iriejedi]

Originally Posted by Jaffa Cake

Crocodile blood may yield powerful new drugs

With emphasis on the may. It's very, very early days yet... but hopefully it's a step in the right direction this time.

I thought it said powerful NEW antibiotics..... HIV is viral

[Jaffa Cake]

Originally Posted by iriejedi

I thought it said powerful NEW antibiotics..... HIV is viral

The report mentions antimicrobial drugs, which destroy or inhibit viruses (amongst other things).

[devilot]

But in the best case scenario... if this "cure" worked, it wouldn't necessarily always work because the virus is constantly mutating, right?

[~Shard~]

I don't think we should jump to any conclusions here, but this defintely could be a step in the right direction. Before anything groundbreaking comes out of this though, I'm guessing it will be at least 10-20 years, so don't hold your breath.

All in all though, good news! Although I can't say I'm surprised that something like this comes from nature. You have all these drug companies pumping out abstract, complex chemical brews left, right and center that do who-knows-what to your body, when sometimes the simplest and most effective remedies and "drugs" are naturally occurring.

[dops7107]

I think a "cure" is practically impossible, because of the way the virus reproduces: it actually integrates its DNA into your cells. It genetically engineers the victim. Short of removing every T-cell (I think that's the target) from the blood and replacing them I don't see how the trace of the virus can be removed.

However, it may well be possible to *suppress* the virus's activity so that it is rendered benign. As devilot remarks, the mutation rate is the main hurdle in achieving this.

[AppleMatt]

Originally Posted by devilot76

But in the best case scenario... if this "cure" worked, it wouldn't necessarily always work because the virus is constantly mutating, right?

Not exactly. Imagine any type of cell in your body as a globe. On the surface of that globe are flags sticking out to identify it. When our body detects a 'foreign flag' it takes note of it and makes 'markers' that attach to these flags (and therefore their cells) which tell the immune system to destroy them. This however takes a long time and HIV has a number of flags that it keeps changing, at a phenomenal rate. The body literally can't keep up with this. Therefore if it can't mark the HIV cells it can't differentiate them and therefore can't destroy them.

So it only changes the surface coat of the cells that mutates. The actual HIV DNA itself is very highly conserved, as all viruses are (they have to pack a lot of coding information into a small space).

Originally Posted by dops7107

it actually integrates its DNA into your cells. It genetically engineers the victim.

All retroviruses work this way - that includes the common cold. Our DNA contains thousands of mutations caused by the many viruses we get during our lives. Some become activated later in life and some just become artifacts of our genome and are passed to our children.

AppleMatt

[stubeeef]

lets hope it doesn't cure the good things in our bodies too. It does sound promising, I hope they can adapt it for us!

[Mord]

crocodiles have a whole bunch of junk DNA, croc blood would essentially act like a liquid mop mopping up the HIV viruses, or so i would have thought.

[StarbucksSam]

That is ****ing fabulous. I hope that the drugs to help these people come out soon and that all of the people who got HIV can be cured.

[~Shard~]

Originally Posted by stubeeef

lets hope it doesn't cure the good things in our bodies too. It does sound promising, I hope they can adapt it for us!

Good point - when dealing with the bodies natural defenses and such, researchers will have to be careful they don't do more harm than good. A rough analogy would be that of chemotherapy - although it may save cancer patients' lives, you're pummeling your body with radiation, leading to all sorts of terrible side effects. Of course, the ends justify the means in that case (most of the time), but regardless, it is quite a brute force tactic.

[~Shard~]

Originally Posted by StarbucksSam

That is ****ing fabulous. I hope that the drugs to help these people come out soon and that all of the people who got HIV can be cured.

As others, including myself have said, it will be a LONG time before anything of this nature is tried, tested and approved through Phase III for the public. Realistically, we may be talking well over a decade.

[amin]

Interesting idea, but as others have pointed out, this may have no application in human health care. Certainly doesn't sound promising for the near future.

[iBlue]

wow, interesting approach.

great things have already been said (and great description AppleMatt) so i won't reiterate.

i've also heard there is more research being done because a group of (i think brazilian) women and their children seem to be immune to HIV despite repeated exposures. this seems to indicate there is something in genetics immunology that holds a key of sorts as well.
i have something from HBO on my DVR about this very thing, i think this has inspired me to watch it finally.

[clayj]

Originally Posted by ~Shard~

Good point - when dealing with the bodies natural defenses and such, researchers will have to be careful they don't do more harm than good. A rough analogy would be that of chemotherapy - although it may save cancer patients' lives, you're pummeling your body with radiation, leading to all sorts of terrible side effects. Of course, the ends justify the means in that case (most of the time), but regardless, it is quite a brute force tactic.

Actually, and I know you know this, chemotherapy does not involve radiation... it involves use of a toxic chemical that kills cancerous cells (tumors) more quickly than it kills YOU (hopefully).

Ironically, one of the original chemotherapeutic agents was derived from a military chemical weapon... mustard gas.

[~Shard~]

Originally Posted by clayj

Actually, and I know you know this, chemotherapy does not involve radiation... it involves use of a toxic chemical that kills cancerous cells (tumors) more quickly than it kills YOU (hopefully).

Sorry, thank you, I was incorrectly over-generalizing - the toxin isn't radioactive (even though it has some of the same properties, one could argue). Thanks for the clarification, and yes, I did know that.

[Lacero]

I think I'll wait for Borg nanomite™ technology to cure HIV before I inject myself with crocodile blood.

[~Shard~]

Originally Posted by Lacero

I think I'll wait for Borg nanomite™ technology to cure HIV before I inject myself with crocodile blood.

That would be very cool! Or, for a more obscure reference I'm sure no one will get, how about nanogenes from Doctor Who? They would do the trick nicely as well....

[AznBboy58]

Originally Posted by Lacero

I think I'll wait for Borg nanomite™ technology to cure HIV before I inject myself with crocodile blood.

LOL .... you trademarked "nanomite" ... LOL

We will find the cure for HIV sooner or later ... as it has been said before ... humankind has a strong history of overcoming disease ...