If a person with the AIDS virus lived in a germ free bubble would the virus eventually kill them?
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In theory, HIV *by itself* can cause death if it starts to affect cell lines in the bone marrow other than T-lymphocytes. I don't know if clinical cases have been documented, but IIRC the virus has been shown to attack a variety of cell lines including those which produce myelocytes (non-lymphocyte white cells) and platelets. In practice, damage to the immune system produces death by immune suppression long before this would be an issue.
Again, in *theory* a germ-free environment would certainly allow someone with HIV to live longer; but in real life treatment regimens which bolster the immune system while slowing replication of the virus have proven at least as effective (and far more practical).
I'm pretty siure b/c after so long, IT still destroys your immune system...
yes it is auto immune so the attacks often occur ithin the body. outside elements just increase the already present risks
If the person was immune from virus/bacteria, they would not die because of AIDS.
AIDS is the cause of a weakened immune system and a drop in T cells.
It usually isn't what actually kills the person, it is usually a virus like the flu that takes the person's life.
SO.I guess it would make people who have aids live longer if they weren't around viruses and germs.
Yes
The person diagnosed with AIDS is already full of multiple viruses. Prior to the diagnosis.
Even without being exposed to any other viruses the ones already in them will eventually cause their demise.
Dionannan is right on the money. As we grow up we pick up a variety of bacteria/viruses/fungi that a healthy immune system would normally keep at bay.
When someone's immune system is in serious failure, it is often the latent infections a person already has that will act up and cause disease because the immune system is no longer functioning adequately.
Examples include Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Herpes8 (HSV-8), Tuberculosis - reactivation, Toxoplasma gondi (toxoplasmosis), Mycobacterium avium complex. Most of these infections rarely cause disease in healthy people, but without an immune system to keep them at bay, they can multiply and spread throughout the body.
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