ttb@ihuxn.UUCP (12/20/83)
-- All my life I have been susceptible to the Common Cold, also known as Virus Infection, Upper Respiratory Infection, and other names too numerous to mention. If there is anything "going around", I would get it. For years I would invariably fall prey to such a virus infection in late September, and the symptoms would stay with me until mid December. Then, in 1977 I had the opportunity to spend 3 weeks with a church mission in Haiti, naturally this involved many immunizations, including anti-malarial medication. To make a long story short, for 5 years after this trip I didn't have one, single case of virus infection (now I'm back to the old routine, unfortunately). My question obviously is: did one of the immunizations I had act as a preventative for these infections? I think perhaps it did, and I suspect the anti-malarial medication because I know it has long-lasting effects (blood donotations are not allowed for 3 years after taking such medication). Does anyone out there in net-land have any similar experiences, comments, rebuttals, etc.? P.S. -- If anyone wants to conduct a controlled experiment along these lines, I for one would be glad to volunteer as a guinea pig. -- Tom Butler ..!ihnp4!ihuxn!ttb (312) 979-7999
norm@ariel.UUCP (N.ANDREWS) (12/21/83)
re Tom Butler's query re anti-virus use for anti-malaria vaccine: If I remember rightly, some researcher was investigating malaria itself as an anti-cancer agent... --Norm Andrews, AT&T Information Systems, Holmdel, N.J. ariel!norm
bray@bbncca.ARPA (James Bray) (12/21/83)
What might be resposible is a general immunological stimulation provided by the vaccine challenge. I recall there was work done attempting to use vaccine challenges in cancer therapy, the theory being that the resulting immunological stimulation would make the immune system wake up and attack the cancer cells. Malaria is I believe actually a parasitic infection. I don't know what that might mean about the type of vaccine or the immunological response, but the three-year blood quarantine is interesting. --Jim Bray (decvax!bbncca!jbray), jbray@bbncca