Science Questions

Are any viruses good for us?

Viruses - are they any good? Are any of them actually good for us or symbiotic? For example, cowpox provides immunity to smallpox. Simon

This may be true, despite that fact that most people think of a virus as being something that makes them feel awful!  A recent piece of research in Nature by Skip Virgin, suggested that being infected by one of the family of viruses known as Herpes viruses, such as herpes simplex, which causes cold sores, Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever.  When they infected mice with the rodent equivalent of those infections, the mice developed a much better immune system than mice which had ever been infected.  To prove this, they exposed the mice to the bacteria which causes plague and also listeria, and they found these mice to be 100% protected against these bacteria compared with animals which had never been infected with a Herpes virus.  When they studies these mice they found molecules called interferon gamma at a much higher level, and this molecule is known to stimulate the immune system.  
They think that because we've been living with herpes viruses for millions of years, the body has come to rely on infection to provide additional gene function which our body no longer has.  This stimulated the immune system and we get some benefit.  It's almost a symbiosis, we give the virus a home and it gives us a better immune system.

September 2007