Why Is It Not Possible to Be Virus Free - Article Example

Editor, With response to the advertisement “Be Virus Free” appeared in your esteemed journal, I would like to express my views on the as given below. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why is it NOT POSSIBLE to ‘be virus free’? Viruses are a group of microorganisms that can cause numerous infectious diseases in plants, animals and humans. They are found in all ecosystems (air, water and earth) with a great diversity. Although all viruses are not harmful to other life forms, there are a number of common human diseases such as common cold, influenza (flu), stomach flu (gastroenteritis), ear infections as well as serious and life threatening diseases like AIDS, Ebola, small pox, SARS, hepatitis and many more that are a result of virus infections. Since there are a vast range of diseases caused by viruses, it is imperative to find measures to cure as well as prevent these diseases. Can we cure a viral disease? Of course, through proper medication, which involves mainly vaccination, it is possible to cure some of the diseases. However, the fact remains that whether humans could be ‘totally virus free’? At this stage, I would like to draw your attention to an advertisement that appeared in your journal, titled, “Be Virus Free”. The afore said advertisement advertise on an alternative healing method which require no drugs, is effective, permanent and seems to guaranteed to be an ‘once only treatment for complete protection from viruses’. It also lay claim to have received a ‘1999 Australian achiever award’ and is ‘highly commended’. In my point of view, this advertisement is not based on any scientific reasoning or on any concrete research finding which can ensure a complete virus-free status. An in-depth study on the behavior of infectious viruses and the resulting diseases implies that such a ‘virus free’ status is yet to be achieved. Before proceeding further, it may be advisable to explicate the characteristics of major viruses and the mechanism of viral attacks to clarify why a totally virus-free status is still hard to achieve. A virus is a portion of DNA or RNA, wrapped in a protein. It can replicate only when it is inside the cells of a living organism and thus, they are a virulent agent with highly infective nature to ensure their survival. Basically, a virus causes cell lyses where the cells of the host organism break open which cause subsequent cell death. These viruses use the important metabolic system of the host cells for their replication and reprogramme the host cell to produce new viruses, and for this, use the proteins of the host cell. The mechanism of viruses in producing a disease in a human (or any organism) is mainly based on the viral species (Table 1) and it is interesting to note that some of the deadliest human diseases, some of which still do not have a real treatment, are caused by viruses. Table 1. Diversity of viruses causing some major human diseases Viral family Clinically important species Picornaviridae Hepatitis A virus, Polio virus Herpesviridae Herpes simplex types 1&2, Human herpes virus Hepadnaviridae Hepatitis B virus Retroviridae Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Orthomyxoviridae Influenza virus Paramyxoviridae Measles virus, Mumps virus, Respiratory syncitial virus (RSV), Newcastle disease virus (NDV) Papillomaviridae Papilloma virus Rhabdoviridae Rabies virus Togaviridae Rubella virus Flaviviridae Dengue virus (DENV) The best medication for a viral infection is vaccination. However, the only major viral disease completely eradicated to date by a global vaccination programme is the small pox disease. What makes the complete eradication of these diseases so difficult? The reason perhaps can be explained with a look into behavior and nature of viruses. Antigenic drift An antibody is a protein used by the immune system of a living organism to recognize and destroy harmful agents such as bacteria and virus. Viral antibodies recognize these harmful agents by a specific part on the surface of the virus known as ‘antigen’ which is specific to an immune receptor. Once infected with a virus, the host’s body produces many such virus-specific immune receptors that inhibit further infection from the same type of virus. During vaccination, the immune system of a body is further trained to neutralize the antigen of the harmful virus, thereby accelerating the process. One drawback of this whole system is that the viruses are always mutating and thus produce new forms of antigens which cannot be recognized by the host’s immune system. This is ‘antigenic drift’ which prevents a single vaccination or a medication programme, unsuccessful. This type of reaction is observed with Mumps virus (Rydbeck et al., 1986) and in Herpes simplex (Ashe and Scherp, 1963). A fine example for antigenic drift is observed in influenza virus where two types of antigens affecting the immune system (Taubenberger and Kash, 2011) and hence, vaccination for influenza has to be modified annually. Some of the human viral diseases such as rubella, measles, polio (and small pox) are antigenically stable and thus can be cured or controlled by vaccination successfully. Carrier state In certain instances, the host does not express any symptoms when its cells are infected with the virus, but is in a state of being a ‘carrier’ of an infectious disease. Viral hepatitis B is one example which can produce a carrier state (Henrietta et al., 1989; Edmunds et al., 1993). This situation can be further enhanced by vertical transmission of the disease (mother-to-child) which makes it still more difficult to identify and cure. Serotype multiplicity In cases like HIV and Dengue, the multiplicity of serotypes (an antigenic property of a viral cell that can be identified by serology) hinders effective vaccination. For example, the dengue virus has four serotypes as DENV-DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4 (Chao et al., 2008) which impedes effective treatment of dengue by vaccination. Presence of an animal reservoir Some viruses have a reservoir in animals. Birds can act as reservoirs for influenza, Newcastle diseases and SARS, monkeys and chimpanzees as reservoirs for Ebola, HIV-1 and HIV-2 while Rabies virus is found in dogs, cats and other domestic animals as well as in wild foxes. Unless the domestic pet population as well as the wild animals who are prone to be infected are vaccinated (which is practically impossible), these viruses cannot be totally eradicated. Dengue, a deadly viral disease that has claimed thousands of human lives especially in tropical and subtropical countries, is a mosquito-borne disease. Hence, controlling dengue require a mass-scale mosquito eradication programme (which is again a practically impossible task). Efficient transmission methods of viruses Viruses are found in all spheres of earth and have efficient and powerful transmission modes. They can transmit vertically as well as horizontally. Most of the major viral diseases transmit horizontally by means of skin contact (HPV), respiration (influenza, rubella, mumps, measles, cold), sexual act (HIV, HPV, herpes, hepatitis B) and by faecal-oral (polio, hepatitis A) mechanisms. These methods, in addition to birds, animals and insects, contribute to a very efficient system of virus transmission. I think this description of virus itself is enough to realize the virulent nature of viruses and the reason for the impracticality of a ‘onetime treatment’ for viruses as is made known in the advertisement. Another aspect of the advertisement which I would like to draw your attention is that it is an alternative healing method. Use of alternative healing methods is fine, but, it should be noted that these methods usually are not backed up with clinical experiments or scientific research. Treatment for a particular disease may vary according to the country and is mostly based on cultural and historical traditions and spiritual beliefs. A main advantage of alternative haling method is that the treatment not only focuses on the symptoms but the whole person. Attention is payed on self-care, self-heal, nutrition and preventive measures as well. Ayurveda, Chinese medicine including acupuncture and homeopathy are some alternative medicines that have being practiced from ancient times (“What is CAM”, 2007). These methods have addressed all aspects of illnesses including viral infections such as Herpes (Picozzi, M.) and most alternative medicines mainly aim at strengthening the immune system in addition to healing (www-1). So far, effective treatments with 100% success from viral infections are not realistic due to the various reasons as described. No therapy, whether conventional medicine or alternative medicine can guarantee a ‘complete protection from viruses’ as is claimed in the advertisement. In fact, only recently, it is reported that a broad-spectrum antiviral therapy named DRACOs, which selectively induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) in virus-infected cells, without harming the uninfected cells (Ridder et al., 2011). The initial results of this study revealed that DRACOs is effective against 15 types of virus including dengue, and H1N1 influenza. Even this is still under research level and needs more clarifications based on clinical experiments to apply onto humans. Although genuine alternative healing methods can reduce the suffering of patients infected with viral diseases, in most cases, their efficacy is greatly improved when used in conjunction with conventional medicine. Within this context, informational accuracy of the advertisement in question seems to be doubtful. It seems to exaggerate their treatment method without any hardcore scientific background. Thus, for the present, we have to be vigilant on various healing methods advertised claiming to be ‘permanent’ and ‘only once treatment’ as they may provide unsubstantiated and misleading claims. Sited references: Ashe, Warren K. and Scherp, Henry W. Antigenic Analysis of Herpes Simplex Virus by Neutralization Kinetics. The J. of Immunology. 1963. 91(5): 658 – 665 Chao, Yuan Chang; Huang, Ching-Shang; Lee, Chun-Nan; Chang, Sui-Yuan; King, Chwan-Chuen and Kao, Chuan-Liang. Higher Infection of Dengue Virus Serotype 2 in Human Monocytes of Patients with G6PD Deficiency. PLoS ONE. 2008.3(2): e1557.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001557 Edmunds, W.J.; Medlev, G.F.; Nokes, D.J.; Hall, A.J. and Whittle, H.C.The Influence of Age on the Development of the Heaptitis B Carrier State. Proc.R.Soc.Lond.B. 1993. 252(1337): 197 – 201 Henrietta, M. H.; Wong, Vivian C.W.; Lelie, Nico P.; Kuhns, Mary C. and Reesink, Henk W. Prevention of Hepatitis B Virus Carrier State in Infants according to Maternal Serum Levels of HBV DNA. The Lancet. 1989. 333(8635): 406 – 410 Picozzi, M. Alternative Treatments for Herpes offer Real Relief. http://healingdeva.com/herpes.htm Ridder, Todd H.; Zook, Christine E.; Boettcher, Tara L.; Wick, Scott T.; Pancoast, Jennifer S. and Zusman, Benjamin D.Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Therapeutics. PLoS ONE. 2011.6(7): e22572.doi:10.137/journal.pone.0022572 Rydbeck, Robert; Love, Arthur; Orvell, Claes and Norrby, Earling. Antigenic Variation of Envelope and Internal Proteins of Mumps Virus Strains Detected with Monoclonal Antibodies. J.Gen.Virol. 1986. 67(2): 281 – 287 Taubenberger, Jeffery K. and Kaish, John C. Influenza Virus Evolution, Host Adaptation and Pandemic Formation. Cell Host & Microbe. 2011. 7(6): 440 – 451 "What is CAM?". NCCAM. 2007. http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/. Retrieved 2008-09-10 www-1: http://www.regenerativenutrition.com/printer.asp?id=398 Read More