# Can any viruses be cured? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 16, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-any-viruses-be-cured/207819 "2003-10-16T18:06:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Racer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@Racer1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer1)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-any-viruses-be-cured/207819/1 "2003-10-16T18:06:27Z")
I was just wondering… When you think of famous viruses, say, colds, HIV, Herpes, Ebola(?), none of them have an actual cure. I know that some can be controlled with various drugs, and that viruses are tougher than other infections with current medical know-how, but can ANY viruses be cured at this time? If so, which ones please. Also, why are they harder to cure (if indeed they are and I haven’t got a totally wrong idea!) Many thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-any-viruses-be-cured/207819/2 "2003-10-16T18:12:11Z")
Influenza is cured in advance by building up the immune system via a vaccine. The vaccine gets your bodies defenses ready for the virus, effectively curing it in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-any-viruses-be-cured/207819/3 "2003-10-16T18:13:46Z")
[A longer thread addresses this very issue already.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=217671) – Go there and read. ---
**Author:** ![Racer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@Racer1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer1)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-any-viruses-be-cured/207819/4 "2003-10-16T18:24:39Z")
Ah, sorry! The board is running very slow for me today so my searches on the subject fell over. Anyway, thanks for the replies. I’ll go read that other thread. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-any-viruses-be-cured/207819/5 "2003-10-16T18:26:19Z")
This topic is being discussed today in another thread. I’ll close this one and direct further comment to the other, linked to above by **Derleth** bibliophage moderator GQ