MadSci Network: Medicine |
Hi Muriel,
This question has been seen on several usenet news groups before, being
posted by someone who -in my humble opinion- posted the weirdest questions
and sollutions.
Anyhow, the question is not that hard to answer. In many labs that work
with virusses in general and HIV (the AIDS virus), the workspaces that may
have been contaminated with virus are cleaned using UV light. This light
destroys the RNA (genetic material) of the virus and therefore renders it
unharmfull.
I'm not into physics enough to tell which frequency is the most effective
in this process though. However, there probably is a frequency which is
most effective. This frequency will not destroy the protein shell around
the RNA, but only the RNA. The proteins itself are not really
dangerous.
Now for the application of this knowledge, the fun part. As you might know,
UV light causes cancer of the skin in humans, so it's not the way to treat
HIV-positive patients. Moreover, much of the HIV virus hides inside human
cells and would survive. Using UV light to clean the blood supply might be
possible, but there is a good chance that the good parts in the blood
supply (platelets, red blood cells, etc.) are also destroyed.
Anyway, there is a way to clean parts of the bloodsupply, but it can't be
used for all blood products and it is very expensive. How it is done
exactly I don't know, but it is a kind of heat treatment.
Hope this answers your question, a little short answer cause it's holiday,
Regards,
Rolf
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