October 03, 2008

Centurian Virus. A "48-year-old lymph node biopsy reveals the history of the deadly virus." A finding that the virus causing HIV/AIDS can be traced back 100 years. I'm sure, by now, we all know someone or of someone who has the HIV/AIDS virus. I've lost a family member and three good friends to HIV/AIDS. Still grieving. The more known about it's origins perhaps the faster an effective cure might be found.
posted by Blacksheep 16 years ago
  • That's pretty stunning. I know HIV had been going on long before AIDS (or "gay cancer") was discovered, but that's amazing to me that a virus can exist for that long without discovery.
  • I wish there was enough research money to poke around in more old tissue samples with new tests. The amount of stuff we'd learn about history, biology, and medicine boggles the mind.
  • Oh I dunno MCT - it wasn't too long ago that the idea that stomach ulcers were caused by bacterial infection (and treatable with a course of antibiotics) was considered crackpot unlikely.
  • Sorry - left out the point which was that bacterial infection is many times easier to isolate and demonstrate than viral. But that still doesn't make it easy (in some cases).
  • Oh, I'm willing to concede my ignorance of medical research and its difficulties. Hence my surprise, obviously. Still, the idea of a life-threatening virus not being identified for a century is amazing to a layman like me.
  • The battle between viruses and higher organisms has been going on for millennia, the effects of which can even be found in our DNA record, according to some.
  • Yes, indeedee! They're finding all sorts of DNA "trash" that's been left behind by bacteria, viruses, and just plain "junk" from our ancestors. DNA is not just The Building Blocks of Life, but it's a record of our origins and history. I lubs me some biology!