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Name: Mwansa
Status: Student
Grade:  9-12
Location: N/A
Country: United States
Date: January 2006
Question:
Do you think that studying other diseases like small pox can help find a cure to AIDS or it is just the thinking of mankind which can help get rid of the disease?


Replies:
I don't think that "just thinking of mankind" will help get rid of any disease (or any other malfunction in society). It is ACTION that counts. So in that light, studying a disease like smallpox, may/may not have any direct impact on a treatment for AIDS, but an understanding of how diseases affect humans will ultimately lead to the treatment of AIDS and/or other diseases.

Vince Calder

virus and HIV are very different viruses. Smallpox virus contains double-stranded DNA while HIV contains single-stranded RNA. Also smallpox virus is 10 times the size of HIV.

Ron Baker, Ph.D.


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