What should we do? (Viruses)

**Lord Snibb** · February 16, 2007, 06:11 PM

Viruses. Man do they suck. The though just occured to me how dangerous they are. HIV attacks the immune system, the only part of the body capable of resisting it. With the destruction of immune cells, they body is defenseless. The only thing that saves the human race is that the virus cannot be transmitted limited contact.

When it eventaully gains this capablity, are we not completely screwed? A disease with a 100% fatality rate that spreads as easily as a cold would kill 99% of humans on Earth. We wouldn't stand a chance.

So my question is: What should we do? Viruses are not-living and therefore cannot be killed, exist in huge numbers, and regenerate when smashed apart (I have seen this.)

**TheKwas** · February 16, 2007, 06:34 PM

You must have some pretty powerful eyes...

**boofhead** · February 16, 2007, 06:38 PM

One day mother earth will solve the problem of overpopulation with a fast-moving, easily contractible virus which will slaughter most of humanity. It might suck for those who perish, but it will be excellent for the planet overall.

Don't worry about it. We're all gonna die someday anyway - maybe this afternoon, maybe in 80 years. What matters is how you live your life NOW.

**Banned** · February 17, 2007, 02:12 AM

Originally Posted by Lord Snibb

So my question is: What should we do?

Nothing...

Let Gaia sort out with the problem of overpopulation on earth.This way there will at least be something over which the homo sapiens won't have full control on the face of earth i.e. diseases incurred by microbes including viruses.If there weren't viruses,oh no....they are my dearest friends

**Dr. Dwermer** · February 17, 2007, 06:53 AM

It's a common theme in virus evolution that, given enough time, especially virulent and contatgious pathogens seem to lose their punch over time. Viruses are most effective when they can spread to multiple possible hosts without killing the first host. That's why small incredibly contagious viruses, like the cold, have evolved to do relatively little damage. Syphillis origianally had symptoms including sores so large that large patches of skin sloughed off the afflicted's faces. Today, the virus is easier to spread between carriers, however it is usually only accompanied with the characteristic sores.

Look at ebola, almost 9 of 10 people die after infection, but they die quickly; too quckly to be as dangerous as some viruses.

**The Fish** · February 17, 2007, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by Dr. Dwermer

It's a common theme in virus evolution that, given enough time, especially virulent and contatgious pathogens seem to lose their punch over time. Viruses are most effective when they can spread to multiple possible hosts without killing the first host. That's why small incredibly contagious viruses, like the cold, have evolved to do relatively little damage. Syphillis origianally had symptoms including sores so large that large patches of skin sloughed off the afflicted's faces. Today, the virus is easier to spread between carriers, however it is usually only accompanied with the characteristic sores.

Look at ebola, almost 9 of 10 people die after infection, but they die quickly; too quckly to be as dangerous as some viruses.

Syphilis isn't spread by a virus, but by a bacteria (T. pallidum). You are correct that the disease doesn't do as much damage as before, but part of that is also due to the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy.

**Captain Arrrgh!** · February 17, 2007, 07:06 AM

AHOY, AWE YE'S VIROOS FEARIN' TROGS!!!
Da Captain 'as arrived ta save tha day!! An' Oi'll doo wun o' me 'step-by-step' guides ta' make it easily learnable fer all o' yoos out there!! Now, virooses t'aint no laughin' matter, so's make sure ye's follow tha steps exactly ta becum as imoone ta them as a moighty pirate!! Arrghhh!!!

STEP WUN) Drink lots 'o grog!! Nuthin' puts 'air on yer testes faster, an' staves off virooses like a good mug o' grog. Be sure ta start at a young age, like say, tree or four years old. Better yet, make sure yer mum drinks grog while she be pregnant, then suckles yoo wi' grog-laced teet milk. You'll 'ave a beard an' a hearty constitution by first grade, aye!!!

STEP TOO) Fart in an enclosed environment. Dis dar builds up an immunity ta all dirty tings, an makes yer nose 'airs thicker so's ye don't 'ave ta inhale any virooses throo yer nose. Best ta squeeze yerself into a grog barrel, close the lid o'er, an' fart so hard yer bum hurts! *IMPORTANT NOTE* Make sure tha grog barrel be empty first, or ye moight drown if'n ye's can't drink yer way oot! If both yoo an' yer mate fart tagether, it doubles yer imunity power!!!!

STEP TREE) Avoid yon intercourse wi' chicken's, monkeys an donkies. Sheep's is okay, so long as it be not psalm Sundays.

STEP FOOR) Don't WASH!!!! Fer the luv o' Mary, nuthin' brings tha flux on quicker than 'avin a hot bath wi' cursed soap! Also, yer B.O. keeps enemies away, as well as diseases.

STEP FOIVE) Eat lot's o' blood sausage. T'works fer tha Captain!!

There ye's 'ave it, moi lovies!!! Follow tha steps an' ye's'll be imoone ta everyting under thar sun!
ARRRghhhh!!!!

**scottishranger** · February 17, 2007, 07:09 AM

A virus will not liekly kill all of humanity because really, why would it. It would not be beneficial to the virus because, one everyone is gone, it could no longer spread and multiply.

At least that is my theory...

**Time Commander Bob** · February 17, 2007, 07:45 AM

Well, if such a virus broke out, the rich would probably hide in sterile shelters and wait it out. A few of the more alert people would probably lock themselves into their cellars/basements. For everyone else however (the majority) there would be few survivors. Perhaps there will eventually be a handful of people immune to the virus that will survive. Maybe a group of researchers could develop a vaccine quickly enough.
It's an unlikely scenarion anyway, a virus that kills its host too quickly won't last very long itself.

**Lord Snibb** · February 17, 2007, 05:33 PM

HIV, unlike ebola, doesn't not kill quickly. It just kills conistantly. HIV may lie dormant for years before taking effect. If it were easily contagious, it could spread to dozens of people from one infected host before killing the victim. And I personally do not approve of the idea of idly allowing literally millions or billions of people to be slaughtered. Dr. Dwermer and others are right, overly deadly viruses tend to be less effective, but that is because (as a rule) the start doing damage right away rather than waiting a long time like HIV. Imagine how many people could catch a cold from you in twenty years!

**Simetrical** · February 17, 2007, 10:01 PM

Viruses are only sort of alive, but they can be killed. We may not be able to find a one-size-fits-all solution, but I'm confident that with simultaneous progress in both bioengineering and nanoscale engineering, we should be able to deal with viruses much more effectively within our lifetimes.

**Foreign Fruitcake** · February 21, 2007, 10:37 PM

We are screwed. The Stand is gonna happen. Lets hope your are the one in a 100,000 or so that have an immunity.

**HeracliustheVictor** · March 01, 2007, 10:52 PM

I would stop worrying. That probably would not happen because the virus would die off because it killed its host to fast. Also I wouldn't worry about HIV too much because as long as you don't use Heroin or any other fun stuff like that ,and have safe sex there's nothing to worry about.

**turtle** · March 02, 2007, 11:08 PM

Actually, the possibility of a virus spreading rapidly and destroying most of the human population on the planet is not as far fetched as it may seem. But, I highly doubt it would wipe out the entire population, that would be very hard to accomplish as a virus. To tell the truth, a virus is one of the best candidates for mass death among the human race, it just hasn't happened on a scale we can comprehend, yet.

Bacterial and viral threats have and always will be one of the gravest dangers to our species, despite any critics to their effectivness among mondern technological and medical advances. If anything our forward steps have given the viral community a chance to advance itself. Multi and Single celled organisms are the most advanced, primitive and adaptive organisms known to man; the millions of years of evolutions won't be side steped by a few new ideas and tools that, we think, will save us.

I'm not saying that viruses are going to take over or wipe us out without a any kind of hope, I'm just saying that viruses are very powerful organisms that can adapt to anything you throw at them, given the right cirucumstance. So, for any of you who think we are completely safe from viral destrutction, think again, because we are far from being safe. We are constantly in contact with an organism that can tear us down quicker than bing drinking. Our bodies have just adapted to handle those organisms. We are still very susceptable to a new strain of killer, which wouldn't discriminate based on the fact that it is killing its source of life... us. Simple, yet complex, organisms don't have the consciousness to understand the level of their destruction. The only way a virus would change to compensate for a shortage of hosts would be if it began to die out from the reason, then microevolution would take place and who knows what could happen.

Viruses are unpredictable and should not be looked at lightly when it comes to catastrophic epidemics; they are a strong possibility and will eventually happen.

EDIT: Sorry, I spaced out the whole point of this thread. Yeah, there's pretty much nothing we can do to prevent such epidemics from occuring, they're gonna happen; it's just a part of nature.