Slow Virus Infection

Slow viruses are disease agents not yet identified but assumed to exist, because the disease resembles viral diseases in their epidemiology. Slow virus diseases are degenerative nerve disorders that take years to develop. They include the human diseases called kuru and Creutzfelt-Jakob disease, a fatal sheep and goat disease called scrapie, and possibly a recently identified cattle disease called bovine spongiform enchepalophaty, among others.

Theories on the nature of slow viruses include the prion theory that they are nothing but infectious proteins; this idea is not generally accepted. The virino theory proposed that the agent do have nucleic acids, as do known viruses, but lack proteins. A third theory suggests that the agents are viruses that simply are very adept at hiding in body systems. Several known viruses can also act slowly such as the AIDS virus and hepatitis viruses.

Slow viruses diseases sometimes difficult to cure, even some of the diseases still don’t any medicine yet. Slow viruses diseases will attack slow to our body organ, but if don’t cure for long time the disease will very acute and have a damage effect to body organ. Slow virus diseases also will very slowly to cure, for certain diseases need to be cured for a year minimum such as hepatitis. This condition make many people are not patient for waiting and not continue for medication, the effect, the diseases will recurrence again and more difficult to be cured.