What if you could simply take a pill or a shot, and be cured of nearly any viral infection including Rabies (pictured), the common cold and Solanum or even Vampirism? Hopefully our generation will get to see this drug during our lifetime, a drug that attacks only the cells that are virally infected, and leaves the other ones alone.
We already have antibiotics that help defend against bacterial infections, but they are all completely useless, and even harmful, if taken against viral infections as they can create antibiotic resistant microbes or superbugs. Not so in the case of the anti-viral drug, according to this paper published last summer by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the researchers tested their substance against 15 viruses and it was effective against all of them.
There are a handful of drugs that combat specific viruses, such as the protease inhibitors used to control HIV infection, but these are relatively few in number and susceptible to viral resistance so this new drug would be an incredible advance in medical technology.
Now all we have to do is wait for clinical trials, and hope that the big pharmaceutical companies will not hinder the process too much, after all, they’d have a lot of repeat business money to lose if a single pill could magically cure viruses.
