Our BetterMost Community > Chez Tremblay
Corona - what does help you? Your fears, thoughts, everything
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on August 13, 2020, 06:17:49 pm ---That makes sense, because apparently it's not even a living thing, like bacteria. I read an article about it in the New Yorker, and came away with a little more understanding of the challenges of treating it. But I still don't really get it. If it's not alive, what is it? Why does it jump from host to host?
--- End quote ---
You could ask the same questions about the flu. :(
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on August 14, 2020, 12:50:30 pm ---You could ask the same questions about the flu. :(
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I knew that doctors tend to overprescribe antibiotics, giving them to patients who have the kind of sickness that antibiotics don't help, often just to placate a demanding patient, and that as a result the antibodies are becoming increasingly immune to them, leaving many antibiotics useless and leaving us with the prospect of another big disaster.
But I never could remember which was which -- viral vs. bacterial -- and didn't know the explanation at the microscopic level. I guess it's because viruses aren't antibodies or even bodies; they're just things.
I don't know where I first heard this explanation from Dr. Fauci, whether here on BetterMost or where, but he noted that HIV and herpes are also viruses, which is why they haven't been definitively "cured." Chicken pox, a virus, remains in your system and can pounce back years later as shingles.
There was one exception he said. Polio, I think?
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on August 14, 2020, 01:35:29 pm ---I knew that doctors tend to overprescribe antibiotics, giving them to patients who have the kind of sickness that antibiotics don't help, often just to placate a demanding patient, and that as a result the antibodies are becoming increasingly immune to them, leaving many antibiotics useless and leaving us with the prospect of another big disaster.
But I never could remember which was which -- viral vs. bacterial -- and didn't know the explanation at the microscopic level. I guess it's because viruses aren't antibodies or even bodies; they're just things.
I don't know where I first heard this explanation from Dr. Fauci, whether here on BetterMost or where, but he noted that HIV and herpes are also viruses, which is why they haven't been definitively "cured." Chicken pox, a virus, remains in your system and can pounce back years later as shingles.
There was one exception he said. Polio, I think?
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That's become a real problem, bacteria become resistant because of overuse of antibiotics.
I'm not clear on what you mean by polio as an exception. It can't come back, but I have read about some people who survived it getting some sort of syndrome related to it decades after they had polio.
Measle, mumps, rubella, and smallpox are all viruses, and once you're vaccinated against them you're in the clear, I think.
brianr:
Smallpox virus has been officially eradicated from the world. I was vaccinated before my first trip to Asia and Europe in 1974. It was an unpleasant vaccination because you were given live cowpox virus so usually developed a small fever. Vaccination is no longer needed
Polio does still exist in a very few countries but since vaccines were developed it is now almost negligible. They estimated more than 350 000 cases in 1988 but there were 22 reported cases in 2017. If vaccination stopped, it could quickly develop again.
Measles is a virus. Many of us older folk had it as children so are now immune. It can cause severe problems in populations that are not vaccinated as happened in Samoa and Tonga last year. It is a worry in NZ among Pacifica populations who are influenced by anitvaxxers. My opinion of antivaxxers could not be repeated in public.
You can read about the most deadly viruses here, makes my skin crawl
https://www.livescience.com/56598-deadliest-viruses-on-earth.html
southendmd:
Viruses are nasty. There’s some debate as to whether they are “alive”. They carry genetic material and can reproduce, but they can’t really live on their own or very long, without a host. So, they’re kind of parasites.
Even creepier are prions, which are mutant proteins that also want to replicate and cause trouble. Prions are responsible for mad cow disease and many other scary neuro-degenerative diseases.
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