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AIDS Virus Can Hide In Bone Marrow

Posted by kdawson on from the no-one-can-see-us-here dept.

suraj.sun writes "The virus that causes AIDS can hide in the bone marrow, avoiding drugs and later awakening to cause illness, according to new research that could point the way toward better treatments for the disease. Dr. Kathleen Collins of the University of Michigan and her colleagues report in this week's edition of the journal Nature Medicine that the HIV virus can infect long-lived bone marrow cells that eventually convert into blood cells. The virus is dormant in the bone marrow cells, she said, but when those progenitor cells develop into blood cells, it can be reactivated and cause renewed infection. The virus kills the new blood cells and then moves on to infect other cells, said. In recent years, drugs have reduced AIDS deaths sharply, but patients need to keep taking the medicines for life or the infection comes back, Dr. Collins said."

9 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Uh This is a Surprise? by CorporateSuit · · Score: 2, Funny

    You wouldn't remove it. You'd replace it with a nonmalevolent retrovirus.

    $genome = str_replace($retroVirus, $superPower, $genome);

    Just make sure you get the values in your variables correct, and that your body is upgraded to PHP v4.1 or later

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  2. What's all this biology? by R3coiler · · Score: 4, Funny

    Gosh, doesn't the submitter realize that Slashdotters are computer geeks and not biology geeks? Use analogies we can understand, like comparing this "hiding" virus to a rootkit or something.

  3. The HIV virus... by Pteraspidomorphi · · Score: 4, Funny

    Also known as the human immunodeficiency virus virus.

  4. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  5. Re:this is one nasty little bugger by oldhack · · Score: 2, Funny

    yeah, but at least it's not sarcoidosis.

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  6. Re:How about a bone marrow transplant? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    So, in a way, AIDS is a rootkit infection.

  7. Re:How about a bone marrow transplant? by networkBoy · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oh I don't know...
    Improve Phizer's and GSK's margins?

    Yeah, yeah, but you did ask what good it would do. That's all I could think up.

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  8. Re:How about a bone marrow transplant? by GigsVT · · Score: 2, Funny

    What do you want, a decree from God or something? We have some pretty large mountains of scientific evidence.

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  9. Sorry but you're wrong by Weaselmancer · · Score: 2, Funny

    They never made any sequels to Highlander.

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    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.