Someone really smart help me with this. We know that the HIV and AIDS virus is like an emulsion and light can destroy them. So would it be possible to make a machine that would pulse ultraviolet light through the blood to help destroy these viruses? Kind of like a dialysis except it would destroy or erase the virus.
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Do we know that? Where did you hear that? People get dialysis everyday, cleaning up the blood when the kidneys can't do it themselves.
If it were that easy you could just blast the blood with a special light to destroy HIV. Since it's not happening that means it wouldn't work.
AlanRathburn
Level 5
June 30, 2018
0
Currently the best means of treating viruses is to prevent them from doing two things it needs to do— activate it’s genome or insert it into your genome for YOU to do it.
ScientistV
Level 7
June 30, 2018
1
No, that’s like putting cancer cells in a vacuum and saying it cures cancer— sure it kills cancer, but it’ll kill you too.
ScientistV
Level 7
June 30, 2018
1
For it to do that it would have to be rather intense. The problem is, it would damage the regular red blood cells in the process,which could lead to clots being formed, like a pulmonary embolism, and that could prove worse or fatal. (I had a friend die from one of those.)
Anymouse524
Level 2
June 30, 2018
1
Most of the damage would come from heat, and not the radiation. With a regimine of iodine tablets, that could be greatly mitigated. Another reason to have someone else perform the procedure instead of an at home sort of thing. Also the main reason I suggest using LEDs instead of, say, florescents as the light sources. LEDs produce almost no heat and use next to nothing electrically.
@Kafir the UV radiation is what changes genetic pairs and denatures protein. Heat can also alter folds but it is by no means as effective as UV at low levels of exposure.
@ScientistV true, but doesn't that depend on the length of the exposure as much as the intensity? I'm very probably mistaken. It's been over a decade since biology class. Also the frequency range in LEDs is adjustable by the manufacturer to an extent. Would that make a difference, do you think?
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but as an actual scientist I’m trying to explain that it simply can’t work.
The problem with that is that the live viruses, no matter the flavor, reside in the bone marrow. There, they attach to your blood cells as they are being produced, so all new blood cells would still have the virus. The treatment you describe is a viable way to severely reduce the effects of the virus by not letting it grow unchecked, but it would be either a constant procedure, or one that must be done often as per your dialysis example.
Kafirah
Level 8
June 30, 2018
2
Would think such a device would exist to at least alleviate the symptoms.
@azzow2 it could be done, absolutely. The device I'm picturing in my head world consist of a transfusion pump attached to a holding tank that would bathe the blood coming out of the body with UV light before returning it to the body. Sort of like a bypass. Route the blood out of a major artery, through the UV chamber, and then right back in. Rinse and repeat as needed.
@Kafir If I had the funds would be at the patent office. Just think of all the people that this could help.
@azzow2 I could build it for less than $200. The major cost would be either getting trained for phlebotomy so it could be done at home by yourself, or having someone qualified come do it for you, which would be the safer option. The parts list is very small. Vacuum chamber, regulated pump, UV LEDs, and medical tubing and needles. Everything else is just electricity and sundries. It could all be made as small as the blood pressure machine used a billion times a day across the globe.
@Kafir bone marrow... i didnt think of that...hmmm.
@BucketlistBob yeah. Really hard stuff to get to with a UV light...
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