TB Question?!
Question: Couldn't doctors just genetically modify a virus so that it could infect only the TB bacteria for a cure?
Answers: Couldn't doctors just genetically modify a virus so that it could infect only the TB bacteria for a cure?
I like the way you think. However, the TB bacteria is every difficult and slow to grow in the lab. A simple culture of an organism on a culture plate takes over two weeks to grow if it is done correctly. Just think of how long it would take to grow each and every batch of virus modified bacteria and then test it to see if it is affected. Only to find that you need to do more modification and repeat the process. I am sure that this is probably the way that it will finally be cured but since there are multiple strains of TB that can and do infect humans. It will take some time to develop a vacine or counter agent that will cure all or at least most of the forms.
Yep, totally possible. And it's been done, just not for TB. The things is, it's likely that scientist are trying to design a virus to do just that, and just haven't found it yet. It's something that requires a lot of trial and error, and testing.