I understand that viruses can be suppressed by the immune system – but it seems most tend to continue living in our bodies and we only get “sick” from them when our immune systems are weakened.
Why can’t we create a cure that eradicates the virus from the body? Not talking about retroantivirals.
In: Biology
Many viruses actually inject their own RNA into the cells they invade, which is then actually *incorporated* into that cell’s genome. These are called Retroviruses, an example of which is Chicken Pox.
Under certain conditions, these genes then re-activate and start producing the virus again, or they express and begin causing the body problems. An example of this is Shingles, which happens if you’ve previously infected by chicken pox.
Some other examples of these include herpes and HIV/AIDS.
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