Question: Do you ever think that one of your drugs to fight diseases will cause everyone to turn into zombies like in I am Legend and will smith wil have to save us?
For a drug to have an effect, remember, you have to take it. I seem to remember that I am Legend was a virus, so something that was infectious. We don’t make stuff like that. In fact we make stuff to stop infectious things from infecting us.
So we’re kind of like Will Smith, but in REAL LIFE.
Actually, people do make modified viruses, and one way they can be used is to deliver vaccines (I’m not sure if any ARE in use, but they are being studied). Viral delivery of a vaccine is good because you can target it to the right cells and maybe even make those cells continuously produce the vaccine, so you would never need a booster.
All of this testing is very controlled and contained, and people aren’t trying to infect everyone and make them go weird (that we know of). For the zombie situation to occur, a modified virus would have to be made/mutate itself so that it could infect most people and cause them to turn into zombies. This in itself is unlikely; I think the creation of zombies would require A LOT of changes to the human DNA, which a single virus probably isn’t capable of.
The mutant virus would have to get out into the population and find somewhere to survive (actually, someONE to survive in). It would need to be able to transfer easily between humans. Not all viruses can do this, some need an intermediate host (eg. flea or mosquito) or can only be transferred by blood, etc. This virus would need to spread quickly through the population without killing the people it lives in (if it kills you, it can’t be passed on to others).
So if there was a virus that could turn us into zombies, and it was able to spread easily through the population, and it did escape and start to do so, I wouldn’t be calling on Will Smith to save me. Instead I would use him for testing to find out what it was that made him immune (he was immune right?) then make some of that for me! Maybe I’ll share with the zombies if they ask nicely and promise not to eat me. 🙂
I suspect not. That’s why we test them, a lot.
For a drug to have an effect, remember, you have to take it. I seem to remember that I am Legend was a virus, so something that was infectious. We don’t make stuff like that. In fact we make stuff to stop infectious things from infecting us.
So we’re kind of like Will Smith, but in REAL LIFE.
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Actually, people do make modified viruses, and one way they can be used is to deliver vaccines (I’m not sure if any ARE in use, but they are being studied). Viral delivery of a vaccine is good because you can target it to the right cells and maybe even make those cells continuously produce the vaccine, so you would never need a booster.
All of this testing is very controlled and contained, and people aren’t trying to infect everyone and make them go weird (that we know of). For the zombie situation to occur, a modified virus would have to be made/mutate itself so that it could infect most people and cause them to turn into zombies. This in itself is unlikely; I think the creation of zombies would require A LOT of changes to the human DNA, which a single virus probably isn’t capable of.
The mutant virus would have to get out into the population and find somewhere to survive (actually, someONE to survive in). It would need to be able to transfer easily between humans. Not all viruses can do this, some need an intermediate host (eg. flea or mosquito) or can only be transferred by blood, etc. This virus would need to spread quickly through the population without killing the people it lives in (if it kills you, it can’t be passed on to others).
So if there was a virus that could turn us into zombies, and it was able to spread easily through the population, and it did escape and start to do so, I wouldn’t be calling on Will Smith to save me. Instead I would use him for testing to find out what it was that made him immune (he was immune right?) then make some of that for me! Maybe I’ll share with the zombies if they ask nicely and promise not to eat me. 🙂
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