Response to Be Virus Free Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Response to Be Virus Free - Article Example Can we cure a viral disease? Of course, through proper medication, which involves mainly vaccination, it is possible to cure some of the diseases. However, the fact remains that whether humans could be ‘totally virus free’? At this stage, I would like to draw your attention to an advertisement that appeared in your journal, titled, â€Å"Be Virus Free†. The afore said advertisement advertise on an alternative healing method which require no drugs, is effective, permanent and seems to guaranteed to be an ‘once only treatment for complete protection from viruses’. It also lay claim to have received a ‘1999 Australian achiever award’ and is ‘highly commended’. In my point of view, this advertisement is not based on any scientific reasoning or on any concrete research finding which can ensure a complete virus-free status. An in-depth study on the behavior of infectious viruses and the resulting diseases implies that such a ‘virus free’ status is yet to be achieved. Before proceeding further, it may be advisable to explicate the characteristics of major viruses and the mechanism of viral attacks to clarify why a totally virus-free status is still hard to achieve. A virus is a portion of DNA or RNA, wrapped in a protein. It can replicate only when it is inside the cells of a living organism and thus, they are a virulent agent with highly infective nature to ensure their survival. Basically, a virus causes cell lyses where the cells of the host organism break open which cause subsequent cell death. These viruses use the important metabolic system of the host cells for their replication and reprogramme the host cell to produce new viruses, and for this, use the proteins of the host cell. The mechanism of viruses in producing a disease in a human (or any organism) is mainly based on the viral species (Table 1) and it is interesting to note that some