Can a werewolf be cured?

[Apokryltaros]

i figure you couldn't be cured; if it's a virus you would need as specificaly engineered biotoxin to seek it out and kill it. Then again, what does the virus do?

You can't kill a virus with poison. It's not alive, and has no metabolism to react with. Medicines affect viruses by interfering with infected cells so that more viruses can not be either made, or released, or the infected cells are killed.

[WolfVanZandt]

And if you do "kill" a virus by disrupting the DNA in it, there's nothing to prevent the pison from disrupting your DNA also. DNA is DNA. Anything that messes with one DNA will mess with other DNA. Unless you have little bitty smart tools that can go after the exact DNA (or protien) that doesn't need to be there and cut it up. Of course you have those - they're called antibodies. Medical science can't do that yet.

[Ronkonkoma]

how to cure lycanthropy? hmmmm, interesting question.... and of course to figure out if you can cure it, you need to know what causes it.
Virii aren't considered 'alive' because it needs to attach to a living cell in order to reproduce, so a virus could be considered semi-alive at best.
and while a virus is hard to eliminate from the body, they are easily destroyed when outside the body ( UV light usually beaks them down)

I'd say, if you have a born WW, they're out of luck in terms of being 'cured' of lycanthropy, except if they learn to control their lycanthropy to the degree they don't need to change at all during the full moon, not really a cure, its just surpressing their ability but its their best chance.

Bitten WWs... just as probmatic, I don't think they can be cured by killing the fellow that bit them. Cutting off the bitten limb or surgery to remove bitten area is very extreme and might reduce chances you'd become a WW, but really, who'd want to be a WW with a prothsetic arm/leg/hand/paw?
Now I do think they could eventually learn to surpress their lycanthropy by learning to control it, but definately takes time, years even to learn to do that. One of the worst things a bitten WW could do is try ingesting things like Wolfbane or silver, if in gestalt form, a bitten WW could make themself sick enough so they can't shift back to human form for an extended period of time.

[JoshuaMadoc]

I've absolutely no knowledge about this medical science mumbo-jumbo being spoken about in this topic about homeostasis and whatnot, and it's still gonna be a while before i crack down on medical research for my long-term project. But i COULD say that lycanthropy in the form of a virus... Firstly, i don't think people should speak ill about viruses. They're just that. Viruses.

But anyway, i think there are ways to -dilute- lycanthropy, or ways to "lock" lycanthropy within the affected hosts/victims. IOW it's something like putting a master password inside a computer. But completely neutralizing lycanthropy... If there's still no valid speculations about a cure in about 10 or 20 years, then dilution or lockdown of lycanthropy are the only things i can come up with. :/

[white]

What do you mean by dilution and locking?

Once the host's genetics have been changed, assuming that's how lycanthropy works, I think it'd be irreversable except by a sort of anti-lycanthropy pseudovirus that does what lycanthropy does, only backwards. It would work fine on either bitten or born werewolves, assuming their genetics are the same (which is my stance),

[Grayheart]

The only way I can imagine how to 'block' Lycanthropy is by blocking the ability to change. In my opinion the shift is hormone-induced and if you block the production of these hormones or the receptors of them, then you could block the ability to shift. But 'curing' a werewolf from lycanthropy would be impossible except for the possibility Ralith mentioned about the anti-lycanthropy virus. And it is unlikely that a such high developed virus like the lycanthropy-virus would find an 'enemy' that is 'worth'. The lycanthropy-virus is - in my opinion - 'ever-changing'. Something that alteres a whole genetic structure could easily adopt every strategy to fight off any anti-virus.

[Lupin]

Even if you did block the shifting, they'd still be a werewolf. And blocking it probably wouldn't be probably wouldn't be the best idea lest you get their biological systems all off kilter.

Assuming its the type that changes the host's DNA: You could probably cure someone who had been bitten by using a copy of their DNA from before the shift and engineering some sort of virus that replaces their currrent DNA with that, but that would be fraught with peril.

[Scott Gardener]

For those of us who go with the viral approach, it's one that basically performs genetic engineering on every cell of the body. A cure would involve a technology at least as sophisticated and perhaps slightly more complicated, as it's a lot easier to drop in DNA than to remove selectively the right bits. If you're in the turn of the millennium, you're out of luck, as that kind of science is likely at least 50 years away, and more likely a century or two. Your best bet is to learn to live with it.

Hey, lycanthropy isn't that bad. A lot of people you would never suspect to be lycanthropes have it.

[Ancient]

For those of us who go with the viral approach, it's one that basically performs genetic engineering on every cell of the body. A cure would involve a technology at least as sophisticated and perhaps slightly more complicated, as it's a lot easier to drop in DNA than to remove selectively the right bits. If you're in the turn of the millennium, you're out of luck, as that kind of science is likely at least 50 years away, and more likely a century or two. Your best bet is to learn to live with it.

Hey, lycanthropy isn't that bad. A lot of people you would never suspect to be lycanthropes have it.

I agree with that point. And really?

Sorry to sound ignorant there.

[Apokryltaros]

Hey, lycanthropy isn't that bad. A lot of people you would never suspect to be lycanthropes have it.

Ned Flanders?

[Lupin]

Ned Flanders?

Oh please, eveyone knows that Flanders is Satan.

[Figarou]

Ned Flanders?

Oh please, eveyone knows that Flanders is Satan.

As Bugs Bunny would say.... "Well, now, I wouldn't say that."

[Lupin]

Ned Flanders?

Oh please, eveyone knows that Flanders is Satan.

As Bugs Bunny would say.... "Well, now, I wouldn't say that."

Oh really...

[Figarou]

Ned Flanders. The man of many faces.

Lisa: I'm a Buddhist!
Ned: My Satan sense is tingling! To the root cellar, boys!
Rod (or Todd): When are we coming out?
Ned: Maybe never.
Rod and Todd: Yay!



Homer: Hey Flanders! You smell like manure.
Ned: Uh oh. Better cancel that dinner party tonight. Thanks for the nose-news, neighbor!


Ned:Homie I can see your doodlie!
Homer:Shut up Flanders.


Ned: Looks like you don't have a car.
Homer: Looks like you don't have a wife.
Ned: Whoa, walked right into that one.

[Silver]

A cure for Lycanthropy? WHY? Who would want it? Okay, okay, not everyone wants it.

The consensus seems to be that there is no cure for viral Lycanthropy.

Things we’ve already discussed:
We can always re-hash, but it we’re going to need a way to do it in the film. We HAVE to give the director/writers some final answers. As one of the writers, I thought we’d already discussed a lot of this. Our script is based on what was already a consensus of the Pack.

So here goes what I think we’ve already decided.

WWs are caused by a virus that is transferred through the bite. WWs can, however, be born if both parents are WWs. This is very rare.

The moon DOES affect Wwism. The already affects wolves and humans (look at crime and hospital statistics), so the moon’s affect is emphasized by the virus — it can cause the push of adrenaline that would create a WW during a full moon. This would be highly dangerous, however. Much better to let the body adjust to the disease before the first TF

We never came to a consensus about Ned Flanders.

[Figarou]

We never came to a consensus about Ned Flanders.

Blame Apokryltaros. He brought it up.

[Apokryltaros]

We never came to a consensus about Ned Flanders.

Blame Apokryltaros. He brought it up.

Damdoodily.

[Celestialwolf]

Ned Flanders aside...

No. Werewolves cannot be cured. The way I see it, the virus re-writes the bitten "victim's" DNA. Why would they want to be cured anyway?

[Scott Gardener]

People who would want to be cured:

1. Religious extremists, or anyone who believes that lycanthropy is inherantly evil. This probably includes a lot of Islamics in the Middle East (and not just the violent extremists that hate those of us in the United States), who consider canines an "unclean" animal. I would similarly expect Christian Fundamentalists to be convinced that werewolves were the work of Satan.

2. People who have just gotten lycanthropy, and are not yet familiar with it. Such a thing would be very frightening.

3. People who have intentionally and willingly gotten lycanthropy fairly recently but discovered that it was not what they were expecting. There could be someone who thought it sounded cool and fun, but discovered that they can't walk on walls or deflect non-silver bullets, and are weirded out by the more subtle, everyday things, like noticing cigarette smokers across the room or hearing ultrasonic bug chirps at night. In short, the wannabes who don't wanna be anymore.

4. The tragic "I want desperately to be normal" person with self-esteem issues.

-----

I agree about incurability; it would require selectively removing a lot of genetic information out of every cell of the entire human body, and doing it all at once, to keep from getting re-infected even as the viral information was being removed. Such a procedure would be more complicated and difficult to engineer than creating the virus.

[Apokryltaros]

You also forgot about those people who abhor the idea of shedding on their own furniture, as well as those who are worried about the bill in destroyed clothing.

[Silverclaw]

WWs can, however, be born if both parents are WWs. This is very rare.

One thing I kindof disagre with. I think it would not be very common, but not uber rare or anything like that.

[wolfboy410]

why would anyone want to be cured in the first place i mean if its like the horror movie aspect where you hace no control over the transformations and what you do as a werewolf then yes but if uts like the werewolves in UNDERWOLRD where they have complete and udder control why would you want to be cured

[Just a Username]

I say it depends on whether the person was born a werewolf or was bitten by one.

If they were born one, they're going to have to live with it because it is essentially a part of their genetics, just like your hair colour or your some of your personality.

However, if they're a werewolf due to infection, than I say it is possible but very hard to do, by the time the person realises they have lycanthropy, the virus will have spread around the whole body and it will take something with high potency to get rid of it. And having to rely on small nick nacks of information rather than major sources to prevent being slain by the nearest psycho doesn't help either.

[Terastas]

We HAVE to give the director/writers some final answers.

Why? Can't the characters in Freeborn answer "I don't know" to some of these questions?

[RedEye]

Ahhh, but they can! It's just that the Forumites won't accept those answers. That's all.

Let's see: to Cure a Werewolf, you'd need about two hundred pounds of salt and a really big smoker...