Medical Question about designing therapies for HIV

[r731]

As far as I know, HIV replicates itself at an exponential rate in a base b. For simplicity, let b = 2.

For example, if one cell is infected, then HIV makes one copy of itself (since b = 2). And the cell dies to infect two new cells. These two new cells die to infect four new cells and so on...

My question is whether it is possible to create a virus that immediately kills only HIV-infected cell but replicates at an exponential rate higher than that of HIV's.

If HIV replicates itself in base 2 but the viral medicine replicates itself in base 6, then it's apparent that the viral medicine spreads much faster than HIV.

 

[Drakkith]

My question is whether it is possible to create a virus that immediately kills only HIV-infected cell but replicates at an exponential rate higher than that of HIV's.

Wouldn't this new virus be even worse if it's infecting your body's cells to replicate at a faster rate than HIV?

 

[Laroxe]

This is in fact a relatively new area of interest in virology, we still have such limited information about most viruses and they inhabit a surprisingly complex world. I don't know about creating one, it appears there may already be some potential candidates in nature. I suspect that the main problems will be similar to the ones seen in attempts to use bacteriophages, our own immune system might help protect the pathogen. You might find this interesting.
https://varuncnmicro.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-rival-for-hiv.html