On: A very real, though slightly impractical, cure for...

[tocomment]

What makes it so impractical? Isn't a bone marrow transplant just an injection with the new cells? It doesn't even require surgery right?

Disclaimer: I don't know what I'm talking about.

[hugh → tocomment]

I'm no expert either, but I think the problem is that suitable donors are extremely rare -- and most of them would prefer not to give up their bone marrow to some random stranger, thanks very much.

update: Oh, and a bone marrow transplant is a horrible procedure which kills 30% of recipients.

[ComputerGuru → hugh]

Also, unlike other kinds of donations, bone marrow transplants are a bit more taxing on the donor.

It's a painful procedure that requires a hospital stay for donor and recipient, and it's really complicated.

To put things in perspective, it's physically easier to donate a kidney than bone marrow.

[kf → hugh]

Yeah... for it to work you basically have to completely destroy the immune system of the transplant target and they recover in a bubble.

[kylec → kf]

The way I see it AIDS will do that on its own, so you might as well give it a shot.

[kf → kylec]

AIDS perhaps, but anyone that could afford to pay for a treatment like this is unlikely to have progressed past HIV, as they could surely afford the best current treatments.