Cell Size

HIV is a virus, not a cell. It is way smaller than cells.

Expounding...

In one sense the virus is a cell - but this would be a reason that centrifuging or other precipitation methods could not separate cell and virus - in the sense that a virus (essentially an agglomeration of RNA) invades and converts the cell's materials to its own use for reproduction. So, you see, pending cell destruction, virus and cell are intimately involved as parts of each other; ...such that you could no more mechanically separate virus from cell as you could separate a cell fragment from cell fragment and still call the fragments cells (as in intact cells).

doct

I think that is a confusing and non-useful way to conceive of matters. However, I am not a biologist, and I don't know exactly where they would draw the line between a cell and non-cell.

Separation could be done by density (centrifuged) and size (filtrated). T-lymphocytes (host WBC for HIV virus) are slightly larger than RBC's, and they are less dense than RBC's. (Gave Doc Tom a GA)

Can you explain the benefit.

There are way's to "clean" donor blood so that it contains no HIV anymore.

But you can't filter the blood content of a person as it is mixed continuously.

Virusses are nominally smaller than cells, ultimatly speaking they also don't live. They come to life when they find a receptor which fits them, using the host cell to reproduce and 'live'. This means that one virus can be sufficient to infect a person.

As virusses also get trapped in organs and got released from them regularly it is impossible to get someone virus free.

this is valid from all virusses: it is your body which has to do the job to localise and destroy the intruders. Medicins only help to create the best possible environment.

For some virusses they start to find out how to attack it specifically with medicins.

Penicellin and anti-bacteriological inventions have been important breaktroughs in the past but the most important was hygiene. Having surgeons starting to use sterile equipment was way more important than the penicellin treatment afterwards.

It needed many years and a lot of cultural clashes to get to a point where jewellry is removed when you work with patients and hands are washed after each examination.

The same should happen with virusses: create a cultural atmosphere where it is discussable to act hygienically. If you want to have sex use a condom, when you want to use siringes, make sure that you use clean ones.

HIV is only the tip of the iceberg, there are way more virusses that you dont want in your body and that will come in when you don't have a basic hygiene when you interact with people (hepatitis, syfilis, ...)

As mentioned in another blog: Religion will not help out here, only set back.

I hope and pray that we find a cure/prevention for this disease...but it is sad you are so negative of religion and no mention of behavioral (multiple sex partners and drugs) changes.

I'm not negative, I'm realistic.

You are right that the end solution will be that we all need to behave.

But a radical enforcment of behaviour only works for a few.

Defense from this disease primarily comes down to one behavior for each of us: respect the sanctity of the human body ... especially your own.

I am confident that an immunization/cure will come soon. However, this discussion of treating filtered/centrifuged host cells (brain vascular barrier is too difficult to penetrate) is very unlikely to cure this virus (once the immune system is weakened) ... neither will the disgusting practice of having sex with innocent virgin girls (as done in some countries). Some people that have been infected with the HIV virus (it usually takes a "pretty good jolt" ~ more than a few) apparently have been treated effectively with drugs if their own immune system is healthy (it appears to takes both at the present time), but the treatment must be done quickly. My son (a physician) was accidently cut while performing surgery on a patient with AIDS and hepatitis. He was treated for both, but was more concerned about hepatitis than the HIV virus. He continues to volunteer for these surgeries, and I constantly fear for him but respect his actions.

The reason donor blood can be eradicated of HIV is by separating out the Red Blood Cells from the White blood cells & plasma, which contains the virus, and further washing the cells.

First of all: One virus will never be sufficient to cause an infection. HIV needs to reach a specific viral load to cause infection.

Second: Viruses don't get trapped in organs per se, they infect cells, specific cell types are in specific organs.

You are fogetting that HIV is a retrovirus, that means that it integrates into the genome, not to mention that it is in the cells as well as blood.

The problem with HIV is not that it can't be filtered out or killed, it is that it invades and kills T-cells. If you kill the T-cells, the person gets AIDS, T-cells are very important in the immune system.

You can't filter the blood, because the virus is in the cells, not fluid part of the blood. Interestingly enough there was one very rare case in Germany where a man with leukemia and HIV was cured of both. Basically they eradicated all of his white blood cells, and gave him new bone marrow transfusion. They were able to keep the viral load small enoung that the recovering immune system was able to handle the virus. This is not a very good cure because you have a high chanve of bone marrow rejection, and being left with no immune system (speeding up AIDS progress).