The Second Most Deadly Virus…

There isn’t many things we have created that is as deadly as the Variola Virus, It is responsible for Smallpox and is mercilessly haunted humanity for centuries, But because of the virus it compelled humans to act on it globally, It marked one of the greatest wins for mankind. The virus is a tiny machine which likes to create more of itself, Evidence of It has been found in Egyptian mummies and in writing from India and China as old as 3000 years. 1300 years ago smallpox killed up to a third of Japan’s population. By the sixteen hundreds, it was one of the major causes of death worldwide. In late 18th century Europe, it killed 400,000 a year. Truly a deadly virus. In 2023, there are only two laboratories left where the living virus is officially stored for research: in Koltsovo, Russia and in Atlanta, USA. How Smallpox Kills Variola is highly infectious and catches a ride in small droplets you breathe in. Immediately it begins to infect the cells that line your throat and starts killing them to cause chaos. There are ways to cure it but if this virus battle happens in your body seek medical attention urgently, the immune system. (Extra information): Millions of viruses use the lymphatic highway to spill into your blood and organs, infecting your whole body. Suddenly variola is everywhere. But despite this global attack, your adaptive immune system is struggling to wake up. Your immune cells look for and use critical transmitters called interferons to mobilize the body against viruses. Interferons, as the name suggests, interfere – significantly slowing down virus infections but also quickly activating millions of anti virus weapons. But Variola is able to deactivate interferons, which stuns the anti virus side of your defense system. Other systems would usually help - like the complement system, a sort of mobile minefield that can destroy viruses but variola also manages to shut this down too. And so, with little resistance variola spreads everywhere and infects billions of your cells all over your body. Among the infected are your capillaries, the smallest blood vessels in your body, which die in great numbers. All this death activates an immune cell that you really don’t need right now but that is attracted by death: The Neutrophil. Normally an efficient killer of invaders great and small, it is not very effective against smallpox. And even worse, Neutrophils fight by vomiting deadly chemicals, which kills even more of your cells. Whenever cells in your body die a violent death, your immune cells immediately stream to the site of infection to help out. In this case that backfires horribly. As immune cells begin cleaning up dead cells, eating viruses and killing infected cells , variola infects a crucial cell of your immune system: Your Dendritic cells, intelligence cells that gather information and leave the battlefield to get help. They enter your lymphatic system, a highway network that spans your entire body and connects hundreds of immune bases. In these bases your heavy defenses are activated and should be the last place an enemy would want to invade, but Variola wants to get here. For about 12 days, the virus quietly infects civilian and immune cells, jumping from cell to cell infecting more and more of them. At some point a critical threshold is reached and variola starts its attack for real. Millions of viruses use the lymphatic highway to spill into your blood and organs, infecting your whole body. Suddenly variola is everywhere. But despite this global attack, your adaptive immune system is struggling to wake up. Your immune cells look for and use critical transmitters called interferons to mobilize the body against viruses. Interferons, as the name suggests, interfere – significantly slowing down virus infections but also quickly activating millions of anti virus weapons. But Variola is able to deactivate interferons, which stuns the anti virus side of your defense system. Other systems would usually help - like the complement system, a sort of mobile minefield that can destroy viruses but variola also manages to shut this down too. And so, with little resistance variola spreads everywhere and infects billions of your cells all over your body. Among the infected are your capillaries, the smallest blood vessels in your body, which die in great numbers. All this death activates an immune cell that you really don’t need right now but that is attracted by death: The Neutrophil. Normally an efficient killer of invaders great and small, it is not very effective against smallpox. And even worse, Neutrophils fight by vomiting deadly chemicals, which kills even more of your cells.