Here is an elegant answer to your queston #1, Ebbie.

Re: Why can't doctors find cures for viruses such as Herpes, AIDS, etc?
Date: Fri May 28 09:59:44 1999
Posted By: Brian Foley, Post-doc/Fellow Molecular Genetics
Area of science: Virology
ID: 927736361.Vi Message:


        First of all, don't say we "can't" find a cure. We
haven't yet found a real cure, but we are still working on
it.
        It is relatively easy to cure bacterial infections
because bacteria are very different from humans, so there
are many things that can affect bacteria that don't affect
the human. There are thousands of ways to kill any living
thing, but the trick when one thing is living inside another
one, is to kill the thing inside, without killing the host.
The more different the thing inside is from the host, the
easier it is to find something that will kill the infecting
species, but not the host.

        Viruses not only live inside the human body, but
they also live inside the human cells. Almost all bacteria
that cause problems for people live inside the body, but
outside the human cells. Relatively large molecules, like
the penicillin molecule, can get into the bloodstream,
either through the digestive system, or by injecting it right
into the blood. But most large molecules cannot cross the
cell membrane and get into cells.

        On top of that, viruses are very simple organisms
which use the host cells to replicate. They don't have
their own metabolism. The host immune system can recognize
infected cells and kill the whole infected cell. It can
also recognize the free virus moving between cells and kill
the virus. But the immune system is much more complex and
amazing than any drug or method we can yet design.

        Because of all this, the best way we have to fight
viruses, is to use vaccines to prepare the host's own immune
system to fight the virus. Smallpox, polio, rabies, and many
other viruses have been controlled by good vaccines. Viruses
which change very quickly, such as the common cold viruses,
the human influenza virus, and HIV, are more difficult to
create a good vaccine for.

Brian Foley
HIV Database