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From: abc@brl-tgr.ARPA (Brint Cooper )
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Viral infections:  Modern medicine seems virtually helpless!
Message-ID: <612@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 11-Aug-85 23:13:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.612
Posted: Sun Aug 11 23:13:18 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 13-Aug-85 03:50:52 EDT
References: <191@tekig5.UUCP> <324@bbncc5.UUCP>
Reply-To: abc@brl-tgr.ARPA (Brint Cooper (CTAB) )
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab
Lines: 18

The referenced article and a followup discuss the difficulty modern
medicine has in fighting virus invections with other than vaccines for
prevention.  MS and juvenile-onset diabetes were mentioned as examples
of diseases which MAY be virus-related although research has not yet
provided conclusive evidence.

It's more complex than that.  There's other strong evidence that
diseases such as MS and juvenile-onset diabetes may be autoimmune
diseases -- those caused when the body's immune system produces 
antibodies which attack certain of its own tissues.  Rheumatoid
arthritis, pernicious anemia, myasthenia gravis, and lupus (SLE) are
examples of autoimmune diseases.  

I feel that cracking the mystery of cancer will also illuminate causes
of and successful treatments for AIDS, virus infections, autoimmune
disease.  It's a tall order.

Brint