Biology 302 Dsicussion
Bigricker12
biology_classmates.docx1
Topic # 1: The reason that Ann stayed healthy, after her constantly being exposed to the chickenpox virus by her children on a daily basis, is answered in the question itself. In the question it was noted that Ann had contracted chickenpox when she was in second grade. When you contracted chickenpox virus your body's white blood cells fight back with antibodies, when you get better the antibodies stay in your blood and develop a resistance against the violence. The chickenpox virus was highly contagious during her childhood, because she had not had it yet, but being that she now has children, it has to have been at least a decade, maybe two, that her body has built up the necessary antibodies to make her immune to getting them again.. Had Ann not contracted the virus in her childhood it could've been life threatening to her as an adult. It is very rare for a person that has had the chickenpox in the past to develop them a second time. The chickenpox virus does however, remain dormant in the nerve tissue of people who have contracted it in the past, and can cause herpes zoster or more commonly known as the nerve infection the shingles.
http://skinchannel.com/viral-infections/chicken-pox/
http://chickenpox.emedtv.com/chickenpox/chickenpox-twice.html
2
Due to AIDS being caused by the HIV-1 and HIV-2 retrovirus (Hunt, R. 2013), it is very long-lasting which can lead to antiretroviral resistance over time from a single agent as the immune system becomes adapted to the agent. Doctors are using a technique called Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) to try and diffuse this situation. Doctors believe they can reduce the presence of resistant strains of bacteria by combining, using a cocktail, of antiretroviral agents when treating AIDS by using this triple drug therapy that targets HIV replication (Hunt, R. 2013).
Due to the HIV-1 and HIV-2 virus being antiretroviral resistant it can fight off the agent and begin replication. Doctors are still testing ways around the antiretroviral situation but have to test theories on humans as they found Chimpanzees can be HIV infected but do not develop AIDS (Hunt, R. 2013) so as of now the “cocktail” seems to be the best solution to avoid resistance from a single antiretroviral agent.
