neutralizing the invader – and take up valuable memory space with useless data?”
“So we don’t have antibodies until we’ve been infected with something that poses some danger to us?”
“I didn’t say that. We inherit some antibodies from our mother at birth, which gives us a head start in fighting diseases for the first eighteen months of our lives – until our own immune system can take over. There are also immune-boosting nutrients in the mother’s breast milk, which is one of the reason breast feeding is so important to the health of a newborn child. In addition, we believe that certain antibodies might be genetically transmitted from both parents to a child as kind of dormant memory chips that can be activated if the child later バックリンク encounters the same foreign invader that infected his father or mother. Remember, ‘highly efficient and ver トラック買取 y lazy.’ All of this is called ‘naturally acquired passive immunity.’”
Campbell decides not to pursue the question of inheriting HIV antibodies; it would simply be too much for the jury to grasp at this point. Besides, he had more important points he wanted to get across. “I assume there are other kinds of immunities as well?”
“Yes, and the kind we’re talking about today is called ‘naturally acquired active immunity,’ when we are exposed to a live pathogen – one of those ‘invading organisms’ I mentioned – and create our own antibodies.”
“So, Dr. Fowler, let’s get back to the specific HIV antibodies. I believe you said they were produced as the last step in the immune system’s process of fighting this virus. What I want to know is: Can we have HIV antibodies if we are currently infected with live and active HIV itself?”
“Technically, yes, we can – but for a limited amount of time. Remember that we don’t produce antibodies until our immune system has figured out how to defeat – and is in the process of destroying – the invading organism. So let’s first talk about someone who already has antibodies to HIV, either created from some past invasion of the virus or inherited from our parents, but they get infected again for some reason. Their existing antibodies would be activated, which would then release the Killer T-cells already proven to be successful against HIV. In this case, we could have HIV antibodies present along with the active HIV itself while the Killer T-cells were doing their job of destroying the virus.”
“But if we don’t have antibodies to HIV already?”
“Then our immune system would have to start from scratch to create the right key to let the Killer T-cells do their job to defeat HIV, and then produce the antibodies before all traces of the active virus were destroyed. In both cases, we can have HIV antibodies and live, active HIV present simultaneously. But as I said, that would be for a limited amount of time – and I mean days or even weeks, maybe; not months, or years. In the vast majority of cases, the presence of HIV antibodies would indicate a past infection rather than a present one.”
That was only half of the answer that Campbell was looking for. “Dr. Fowler, can we create new HIV antibodies without the Killer T-cells being activated, which would mean that our bodies were not destroying the HIV?”
“No. At least, it’s not logical. The immune system would not create antibodies until it knew with 100% certainty that it had found the right key required to successfully defeat the HIV, as evidenced by the actual performance of the Killer T-cells. Remember that a primary function of antibodies is to record exactly what key is required to destroy a particular invading organism, and that won’t occur until the destruction process is clearly working.”
Campbell pauses and looks up at the ceiling for a minute, apparently trying to remember something.
“But aren’t there other diseases where you have the antibodies to a virus like HIV, and also have live and active virus causing damage in the body at the same time?”
“Well, until HIV, there was never a case where a positive antibody test result would be interpreted diagnostically as a current, active infection with a virus. There is a test for syphilis, called a Wasserman, and supposedly you can have a positive Wasserman and still have an active syphilis infection. But syphilis is caused by a bacterium, not a virus. So I will say again that until HIV came along, in the absence of any symptoms, a positive antibody test for a virus meant immunity from the disease it could cause and not a current infection.”
Fowler moves slightly in the witness chair before continuing. “When the CDC decided to equate having the antibodies to HIV with having the active, live virus itself, all previous antibody theory – and vaccination theory, as well – suffered a severe blow. So today you can have
“So we don’t have antibodies until we’ve been infected with something that poses some danger to us?”
“I didn’t say that. We inherit some antibodies from our mother at birth, which gives us a head start in fighting diseases for the first eighteen months of our lives – until our own immune system can take over. There are also immune-boosting nutrients in the mother’s breast milk, which is one of the reason breast feeding is so important to the health of a newborn child. In addition, we believe that certain antibodies might be genetically transmitted from both parents to a child as kind of dormant memory chips that can be activated if the child later バックリンク encounters the same foreign invader that infected his father or mother. Remember, ‘highly efficient and ver トラック買取 y lazy.’ All of this is called ‘naturally acquired passive immunity.’”
Campbell decides not to pursue the question of inheriting HIV antibodies; it would simply be too much for the jury to grasp at this point. Besides, he had more important points he wanted to get across. “I assume there are other kinds of immunities as well?”
“Yes, and the kind we’re talking about today is called ‘naturally acquired active immunity,’ when we are exposed to a live pathogen – one of those ‘invading organisms’ I mentioned – and create our own antibodies.”
“So, Dr. Fowler, let’s get back to the specific HIV antibodies. I believe you said they were produced as the last step in the immune system’s process of fighting this virus. What I want to know is: Can we have HIV antibodies if we are currently infected with live and active HIV itself?”
“Technically, yes, we can – but for a limited amount of time. Remember that we don’t produce antibodies until our immune system has figured out how to defeat – and is in the process of destroying – the invading organism. So let’s first talk about someone who already has antibodies to HIV, either created from some past invasion of the virus or inherited from our parents, but they get infected again for some reason. Their existing antibodies would be activated, which would then release the Killer T-cells already proven to be successful against HIV. In this case, we could have HIV antibodies present along with the active HIV itself while the Killer T-cells were doing their job of destroying the virus.”
“But if we don’t have antibodies to HIV already?”
“Then our immune system would have to start from scratch to create the right key to let the Killer T-cells do their job to defeat HIV, and then produce the antibodies before all traces of the active virus were destroyed. In both cases, we can have HIV antibodies and live, active HIV present simultaneously. But as I said, that would be for a limited amount of time – and I mean days or even weeks, maybe; not months, or years. In the vast majority of cases, the presence of HIV antibodies would indicate a past infection rather than a present one.”
That was only half of the answer that Campbell was looking for. “Dr. Fowler, can we create new HIV antibodies without the Killer T-cells being activated, which would mean that our bodies were not destroying the HIV?”
“No. At least, it’s not logical. The immune system would not create antibodies until it knew with 100% certainty that it had found the right key required to successfully defeat the HIV, as evidenced by the actual performance of the Killer T-cells. Remember that a primary function of antibodies is to record exactly what key is required to destroy a particular invading organism, and that won’t occur until the destruction process is clearly working.”
Campbell pauses and looks up at the ceiling for a minute, apparently trying to remember something.
“But aren’t there other diseases where you have the antibodies to a virus like HIV, and also have live and active virus causing damage in the body at the same time?”
“Well, until HIV, there was never a case where a positive antibody test result would be interpreted diagnostically as a current, active infection with a virus. There is a test for syphilis, called a Wasserman, and supposedly you can have a positive Wasserman and still have an active syphilis infection. But syphilis is caused by a bacterium, not a virus. So I will say again that until HIV came along, in the absence of any symptoms, a positive antibody test for a virus meant immunity from the disease it could cause and not a current infection.”
Fowler moves slightly in the witness chair before continuing. “When the CDC decided to equate having the antibodies to HIV with having the active, live virus itself, all previous antibody theory – and vaccination theory, as well – suffered a severe blow. So today you can have