[ ARC forum 2 ]

Re: Basically, crack some good books

Written by Ivan at 04 Jun 2003 07:11:55:

As an answer to: Basically, Ivan written by chImp at 04 Jun 2003 02:02:26:

>Could we agree that it is a very abnormal (if not unprecedented) behaviour for a virus, if it does harm while being dormant? If you think otherwise, please find an example (chicken pox was bad, since it does no harm in between the battles, and so were your other examples I guess)

Dormant is your word and it is highly inaccurate. 'Latent' is better because while it is not manifesting itself in overt symptoms, it is actively destroying the body's system for handling invaders - chipping at the foundation as it were. Just as when you chop a tree down, it takes a good while of cutting away at the trunk, then you start to hear some cracking, you give a few more good chops and the whole thing falls. Instead of relying on this obviously fallatious poseur, read up on the disease and you will see that a very coherent explanation of the course of the disease has been pieced together from the evidence.

You want other examples of infections that reside in the body before manifesting themselves (by the way, you are wrong - chicken pox and the other herpes viruses are fine examples of the basic principle - they aren't exact because they do not attack the immune system)? There's scrapie, which may be the same thing as CJD and mad cow disease. Strictly speaking these are not caused by a virus, but an infectious agent has been implicated (thought to be a prion - an infectious protein particle). There are also indications that Alzheimers disease, or at least some of the cases of it, may be caused by a slow virus which gradually builds up plaques in the brain.

"Oh Brave New World, that hath such wondrous creatures in't" - but you have to educate yourself on them to appreciate them, else you'll be taken in by charlatans like Dueshbag. And after you have learned about viruses and prions, take a gander at the fungi - it is just awesome the many ways they shape the biosphere that we do not even perceive until we fill our minds with more than mush.


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