One could not have isolated this retrovirus without knowledge of other retroviruses that's obvious. But I believe we have answered the criteria of isolation.
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image.
Everything that's bad for you catches on too quickly in America because that's the easiest thing to get people to invest in the pursuits that are easy and destructive the ones that bring out the least positive aspects of people.