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310 Comments
- parkermauney, on 02/10/2009, -5/+429My name is Robert Neville. I am a survivor living in New York City. I am broadcasting on all AM frequencies. I will be at the South Street Seaport everyday at mid-day, when the sun is highest in the sky. If you are out there... if anyone is out there... I can provide food, I can provide shelter, I can provide security. If there's anybody out there... anybody... please. You are not alone.
- immatellyouwhat, on 02/10/2009, -1/+176Hey HIV...Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!
- fakesinatra, on 02/09/2009, -4/+176Or maybe it will cause an influenza virus to mutate into something extremely virulent.
- unbrooken007, on 02/10/2009, -1/+132Did anybody think this could go terribly wrong?
- Lokonopa, on 02/09/2009, -0/+113Follow up story: global epidemic of super bugs wiped out the elderly, terminally ill, children, and people who never wash their hands.
- Tyrghast, on 02/10/2009, -2/+80There are only two outcomes: superpowers or zombies. Either way, chainsaws at the ready...
- junkjunk, on 02/10/2009, -0/+74i was saving that bacon
- OmniAVA, on 02/10/2009, -0/+68and if it mutates into an airborne virus...?
- freakincampers, on 02/10/2009, -0/+66In other news, Madagascar closed its borders.
- CynicSight, on 02/10/2009, -3/+49So with this new drug, people with HIV will be able to be mutants and become like the X-Men?
That's totally awesome. - sdub74, on 02/10/2009, -1/+46Wasn't this the way I Am Legend started? With this great cure for Cancer than mutated into something that made humans turn into predators or something.
- jayzeus, on 02/10/2009, -0/+45Except that they are. Kinda. Hence the whole problem....
- rukeypoo, on 02/10/2009, -0/+44Didn't Umbrella try this?
- blackninja543, on 02/10/2009, -0/+42ZOMBIES!!!!
- omenmedia, on 02/10/2009, -1/+40Actually there is not a unified consensus in the scientific community regarding whether or not viruses are considered to be "alive". They teeter on the edge of the notion. But yes, it's silly to say "mutate to death" regardless.
- feezus, on 02/10/2009, -0/+39SUPERAIDS. It's only a matter of time.
- HaSatan, on 02/10/2009, -1/+39OH HELL NAW!!!!
- ricoboy24, on 02/10/2009, -1/+37What the *****? What if it mutates to something worst?! That's scary as *****.
- inactive, on 02/10/2009, -3/+38My father (AIDS!)
My sister (AIDS!)
My uncle and my cousin and her best friend (AIDS AIDS AIDS!)
The gays and the straights
And the white and the spades
Everyone has AIDS!
My grandma and my dog 'ol blue (AIDS AIDS AIDS)
The pope has got it and so do you (AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS)
C'mon everybody we got quilting to do (AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS)
We gotta break down these baricades, everyone has
AIDS - dolbersen, on 02/10/2009, -1/+35I wish I could digg this comment up about 20 more times
- inactive, on 02/10/2009, -3/+36It's like giving a convicted serial killer a gun in hopes that he might accidentally shoot himself!
- Silentdrowning, on 02/10/2009, -1/+31Neither is time, but yet, you can kill time. Figure of speech.
- spunkinator, on 02/10/2009, -18/+45Viruses are not alive. Therefore, they can't mutate to "death". Get it right, people!
- bassman12593, on 02/10/2009, -0/+27We're *****.
- inactive, on 02/10/2009, -1/+27Can I bring my grill? Beer?
- 80hd, on 02/10/2009, -2/+27Yes, argue with researchers.
What is meant is that the virus will mutate to a point of being too genetically corrupted to continue propagation. Kind of like the south.
No seriously though the point is that a virus with garbled RNA will infect a cell and produce ineffective copies of itself, if anything at all. And the south sucks - anonymousmedic, on 02/10/2009, -2/+26This will not end well.
Captain Tripps, is that you? - sugarazor, on 02/10/2009, -1/+25You people watch way too many movies.
- kev0476, on 02/10/2009, -0/+22Stand Back! I am doing science!
- StaticThunder, on 02/10/2009, -2/+23Or it will mutate to become resistant to the new drug that much faster.
- blackninja543, on 02/10/2009, -0/+20Yes they did.... and they ended up with some bad movies in the process.....
- blackninja543, on 02/10/2009, -1/+20Hurray! I can fly..... but i have a third leg
- Berkana, on 02/10/2009, -2/+20Let's speed up the mutation process on a virus constantly subjected to strong selection pressures. Gee, what could possibly go wrong?
- VDoon, on 02/10/2009, -0/+17HIV is an RNA virus which converts itself to DNA, then inserts itself into the host DNA. Then, from that DNA it transcribes more RNA, creates protein, etc. The key step that differentiates it from almost all other RNA based viruses (like influenza) and humans is the step where it converts its RNA to DNA. This step is called reverse transcription, and is already extremely error prone.
Most mutation is not beneficial to the virus. The number of mutations that will mess something up is far greater (and thus more likely) than the number of mutations that will benefit it. As a very crude comparison, imagine having no idea how a car works, and then randomly replacing parts, paying no attention to which parts you replace, or with what. Almost every time you change something, you'll damage the car, but once in a blue moon you'll make it a little better (again, very crude comparison). HIV will undergo reverse transcription millions of times, and many times nothing will change, sometimes it'll change for the worse, and very rarely it'll change for the better.
If you start inducing extremely high rates of mutation, it'll almost certainly render the virus useless. To return to my terrible car comparison, now imagine changing 10 parts at a time. Whereas before it was possible (but unlikely) to improve the car, now it is almost completely impossible. By constantly forcing the virus to mutate, it should destroy it.
As for asking what this drug will do to the patient, it shouldn't do anything. Humans do not have reverse transcriptase, and thus won't be affected by the drug. Our replication and transcription machinery performs quality control, and will not incorporate\use the drug.
(Disclaimer: This assumes that the drug IS specific enough that host machinery won't use it. Also, peeking around their website, it looks like the suspended the phase 2 trials, though they don't really say why. Perhaps it isn't especially effective.... they're vague on details, except to say that it isn't due to toxicity issues.) - AgentD, on 02/10/2009, -0/+17dammit, I can never get madagascar
- VDoon, on 02/10/2009, -0/+17I assume I'm getting the ***** trolled out of me, but here goes. Also, kind of stupid to start with a please and end with a *****, no?
In short form:
Reverse transcriptase (as well as being prone to error, and that you don't find it in humans) (old reference, but this really isn't new science)
Bbenek, K., Kunkel, A. T (1993). "The fidelity of retroviral reverse transcriptases". in Skalka, M. A., Goff, P. S.. Reverse transcriptase. New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. pp. p. 85
Influenza is an RNA virus (The only thing I said was it was an RNA virus, but not a retrovirus, ie: does not have reverse transcriptase)
Hilleman, M (19 August 2002). "Realities and enigmas of human viral influenza: pathogenesis, epidemiology and control". Vaccine 20 (25–26): 3068–87
KP-1641 works by interfering with reverse transcriptase.
KP-1212/1461, a nucleoside designed for the treatment of HIV by viral mutagenesis. Harris, K.S., Brabant, W., Styrchak, S., Gall, A., Diafuku, R. Antiviral research. 2005; 67: 1-9.
Mechanism of action of a novel viral mutagenic covert nucleotide: molecular interactions with HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and host DNA polymerases. Murakami, E., Basavapathrumi, A., Bradley, W.D., Anderson, K.S.
Antiviral Research. 2005; 67:10-17.
As well as an outline of why this approach can work:
Lethal mutagenesis of HIV. Smith, R.A., Loeb, L.A., Preston, B.D.
Viral Research. 2005; 107:215-228.
You can pubmed any of those for an abstract if you'd like. - skc0der, on 02/10/2009, -0/+16+5, Troll
- greenlight2001, on 02/10/2009, -0/+16I think you missed fakesinatra's point.
- groo68, on 02/10/2009, -0/+15So i get to be a vampire? That's what they were in the book, not zombie predator things. and the point was that the will smith character was the last of his kind, a monster that killed the vampires while they slept. he was their monster, who they told ghost stories about. he was legend.
- inactive, on 02/10/2009, -0/+15Didn't anybody learn from I am Legend (the newest version)?
- YZBot, on 02/10/2009, -0/+14This sounds like the beginnings of a great zombie movie.
- ErickStevenson, on 02/10/2009, -4/+18not a scientist or anything but this doesn't sound like such a good idea.... maybe the Mayans have it right about the 2012 thing.
- bdfariello, on 02/10/2009, -0/+13It can mutate to the point where it can no longer reproduce. Kind of like how genitals exposed to a certain amount of radiation makes you sterile. The radiation mutates your sperm or eggs such that you can no longer produce viable offspring.
- danwallace, on 02/10/2009, -0/+13This is what happens when Black Mesa tries to cure AIDS.
- caitlinwoodward, on 02/10/2009, -1/+13At first, I thought the title meant that HIV mutates the victim to death with the new drug. And I couldn't understand why scientists would continue testing.
- bassman12593, on 02/10/2009, -0/+12Read your guide. Chainsaws are a poor choice as they require you to be in close quarters to your target. The blood spray could easily turn you. They are also more difficult to maneuver, as well as being noisy. You will only attract more undead. Did I mention that they also need to be refueled often? Sell your chainsaw and buy a silenced submachine gun and remember to aim for the head.
- Timicus, on 02/10/2009, -0/+12SHUT.
DOWN.
EVERYTHING. - innovati, on 02/10/2009, -1/+12nor are they ever really alive in the first place.....
- immatellyouwhat, on 02/10/2009, -0/+11in the butt...
- anonymousmedic, on 02/10/2009, -1/+12Viruses don't mutate until after they infect a cell and produce a successive generation. It's like an orgy of fresh genetic material to propagate from.
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