Consider viruses on the molecular scale. They are single molecules with differentiated parts, like organic nano-machines. Viruses live inside (your) cells, using the resources intended for the cell's own use, to the detriment of the cell.
If there are two different viruses living in the same cell, they will 'compete' with each other as well as with the cell. The efficiency with which the virus can assimilate cellular resources will determine it's competitiveness. Deborah Mitchell
reports in Reuters on an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that a good competitor HIV has been identified. It called GBV-C also known as hepatitis G. Individuals infected with HIV and GBV-C survive at three times the rate as persons infected with HIV but not GBV-C.
Investigators claim there is no disease associated with GBV-C but many viral effects are not understood, so talk of viral anti-viral agents is premature.
