# SARS vs. Aids **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779 "2003-05-12T19:42:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BioHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/1 "2003-05-12T19:42:54Z")
I just found out that SARS makes your immune system go crazy, so much it begins attacking the body. Has there been any studies on the effect SARS has on AIDS? Seems to me like they would have a balancing effect on the other, with SARS perhaps even causing the body to destroy the AIDS virus. Any MDs out there? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/2 "2003-05-13T02:41:38Z")
I hate to resort to a cliche, but: cite? I haven’t heard anything about this - not surprising since I don’t have TV anymore, so I’m pretty cut off from my usual news sources. Anyway, I’d be tremendously surprised if (A) anyone had done any sort of research on SARS that wasn’t directly related to figuring out how to kill it, or (B) that it had any affect whatsoever on AIDS. The _last_ thing you want to do with an AIDS patient is infect them with another potentially deadly virus. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/3 "2003-05-13T03:31:17Z")
Sounds pretty whack to me too. Sounds like someone somewhere is engaging in rampant speculation. Our own **KarlGauss** has been on the cutting edge of caring for SARS patients. Here’s info from him: [Ask the SARS doc](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=180729) QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/4 "2003-05-13T04:02:08Z")
I’m too lazy to search but one of the foremost Aids researchers is Taiwanese and has now started investigating SARS. He did not make any close comparisons between SARS and AIDS in the article I saw ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/5 "2003-05-13T10:29:18Z")
There are indeed some significant similarities between SARS and AIDS. according to experts: > [@](#): > > \*\*Scientists are testing a peptide, or synthetic protein > “inhibitor”. > > It aims to block the SARS virus from penetrating human cells. > > This method is taken from a drug used in a cocktail of medicines to fight HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. \*\* > **[Google News](https://news.google.com/search?hl=en-US&edition=usa&q=sars%2Baids&gl=US&ceid=US:en)** > > Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, aggregated from sources all over the world by Google News. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/6 "2003-05-13T12:30:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by istara \* > \*\*There are indeed some significant similarities between SARS and AIDS. according to experts: \*\* Um, the big similarity I see there, in the article cited in _Good Housekeeping_, is that they’re both viruses. Therefore they are susceptible to having their replication process disrupted by certain inhibitor proteins. ---
**Author:** ![BioHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/7 "2003-05-13T19:49:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > \*\*I hate to resort to a cliche, but: cite? > > [clip] > > \*\* U.S. News May 19th, 2003 Page 57… ---
**Author:** ![BioHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/8 "2003-05-13T19:56:49Z")
> [@](#): > > The serious pneumonia that defines SARS now seems to come not from the viral replication in the lung itself but rather from the body’s own immune system violently reacting to the foreign invader. Its almost like friendly fire. U.S. News May 19th, 2003 Page 57, 1st paragraph on right hand side of the page… ---
**Author:** ![HuongHoang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@HuongHoang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HuongHoang)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/9 "2003-05-13T20:37:25Z")
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is an infectious disease which causes degeneration of the body’s immune system. When a person has AIDS, the normal flu is enough to kill him, do not need SARS. But not everyone who is infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is considered to have AIDS. In this case, I think that you wonder whether “SARS perhaps even causing the body to destroy” the HIV virus. No, there are not any studies about it. The scientists are trying to find an effective treatment for SARS. After they fond something, they would come back to your question:) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/10 "2003-05-13T21:57:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BioHazard \* > \*\*U.S. News May 19th, 2003 Page 57, 1st paragraph on right hand side of the page… \*\* Thats basically how many, if not most, viruses work. That’s why steroids are used in the treatment of many viral infections, to try to disarm the immune system. But it’s a tricky balancing act. Expecting SARS to counteract AIDS precisely is like expecting to stop a bullet by shooting it with another bullet. ---
**Author:** ![MaceMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@MaceMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaceMan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/11 "2003-05-14T02:24:49Z")
Hmm…Today is May 13, 2003. Does US News report the news a week in advance? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/12 "2003-05-14T03:13:45Z")
This would seem to be pure speculation. I’m sure full-blown SARS would kill a person with AIDS. One of the Canadian deaths was in an immunosuppressed patient with a recent kidney transplant. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/13 "2003-05-14T04:24:38Z")
[unrelated] **Biohazard** … How fitting. [/unrelated] Move along. ---
**Author:** ![BioHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sars-vs-aids/174779/14 "2003-05-14T18:14:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MaceMan \* > \*\*Hmm…Today is May 13, 2003. Does US News report the news a week in advance? \*\* Weird, I didnt notice that…but sure enough thats the date it says on the cover. Ah well, maybe it fell through a wormhole and into the bathroom here at work…