4 ms·

I wonder if infecting a person with AIDS with milder form of HIV will make them better.

by guard-of-terra 12y ago

Beltiras 12y ago
HIV rewrites how the immune system works. Doing it again more mildly will not improve the situation.
- Dylan16807 12y ago
  Don't just assume that. (Even if you happen to be right in this case.)
ars 12y ago
That would imply that HIV viruses compete with each other, and this competition is able to suppress each other. This is typical with bacteria, but I don't think it happens with viruses.
- couradical 12y ago
  Sure it can - think of smallpox: the first smallpox "vaccine" was actually inoculation with cowpox - a similar, but less virulent virus. The provoked immune response rendered a smallpox infection less lethal, and provided a measure of protection. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_vaccine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_vaccine
  - ars 12y ago
    That's quite different, we are speaking of have two pathogens compete, not about triggering an immune response. If you took someone who is already infected with smallpox and gave them cowpox it would not help. You confused in what order the infections occur.
SideburnsOfDoom 12y ago
> wonder if infecting a person with AIDS with milder form of HIV will make them better Basically, no. Based on current experience it seems that it would not improve matters and may make them worse. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1169464/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1169464/ http://www.rense.com/general8/multiple.htm http://www.rense.com/general8/multiple.htm http://i-base.info/qa/2881 http://i-base.info/qa/2881
streptomycin 12y ago
You are not the first to wonder that! Back in the early 90s some scientists actually tried it on people with severe AIDS http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~piecze/Lancet.PDF http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~piecze/Lancet.PDF - some seemingly improved, but the trial was too small and preliminary to be conclusive. When they published those results, there was a huge backlash about ethical concerns and the research got shut down. I took a class taught by Dr. Pieczenik about 5 years ago and he still believed this idea would work if it was allowed to proceed.
cryoshon 12y ago
No, not make them better, but there is an interesting story here which I heard when I attended a lecture at my job researching HIV. HIV-1 is the "HIV" we all know and fear. While HIV-1 was derived/evolved from SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus), it's actually not as similar to SIV as HIV-2, another strain. HIV-2 is far less dangerous and transmissible in comparison to HIV-1, and doesn't exist in large quantities outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Critically, there is some new research which shows that infection with HIV-2 first provides a substantial amount of protection against later infection by HIV-1. People who were infected with HIV-2 before being infected with HIV-1 had lower viral loads and slowed disease progression in comparison to people who were infected with HIV-1 alone. This lead the researcher giving the talk to state the extremely stunning (yet perhaps true) fact: "HIV-2 is the best vaccine against HIV-1 that we have."

I wonder if infecting a person with AIDS with milder form of HIV will make them better.

Beltiras 12y ago

HIV rewrites how the immune system works. Doing it again more mildly will not improve the situation.

Dylan16807 12y ago
Don't just assume that. (Even if you happen to be right in this case.)

ars 12y ago

That would imply that HIV viruses compete with each other, and this competition is able to suppress each other. This is typical with bacteria, but I don't think it happens with viruses.

couradical 12y ago
Sure it can - think of smallpox: the first smallpox "vaccine" was actually inoculation with cowpox - a similar, but less virulent virus. The provoked immune response rendered a smallpox infection less lethal, and provided a measure of protection. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_vaccine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_vaccine
- ars 12y ago
  That's quite different, we are speaking of have two pathogens compete, not about triggering an immune response. If you took someone who is already infected with smallpox and gave them cowpox it would not help. You confused in what order the infections occur.

SideburnsOfDoom 12y ago

> wonder if infecting a person with AIDS with milder form of HIV will make them better Basically, no. Based on current experience it seems that it would not improve matters and may make them worse. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1169464/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1169464/ http://www.rense.com/general8/multiple.htm http://www.rense.com/general8/multiple.htm http://i-base.info/qa/2881 http://i-base.info/qa/2881

streptomycin 12y ago

You are not the first to wonder that! Back in the early 90s some scientists actually tried it on people with severe AIDS http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~piecze/Lancet.PDF http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~piecze/Lancet.PDF - some seemingly improved, but the trial was too small and preliminary to be conclusive. When they published those results, there was a huge backlash about ethical concerns and the research got shut down. I took a class taught by Dr. Pieczenik about 5 years ago and he still believed this idea would work if it was allowed to proceed.

cryoshon 12y ago

No, not make them better, but there is an interesting story here which I heard when I attended a lecture at my job researching HIV. HIV-1 is the "HIV" we all know and fear. While HIV-1 was derived/evolved from SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus), it's actually not as similar to SIV as HIV-2, another strain. HIV-2 is far less dangerous and transmissible in comparison to HIV-1, and doesn't exist in large quantities outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Critically, there is some new research which shows that infection with HIV-2 first provides a substantial amount of protection against later infection by HIV-1. People who were infected with HIV-2 before being infected with HIV-1 had lower viral loads and slowed disease progression in comparison to people who were infected with HIV-1 alone. This lead the researcher giving the talk to state the extremely stunning (yet perhaps true) fact: "HIV-2 is the best vaccine against HIV-1 that we have."