My little Virus

Viruses are in no way new territory for mankind, since the dawn of time they have been present, living within their hosts, evolving and adapting to carry on their legacies. But what exactly is a virus and how does it work? With all the chaos and panic surrounding Covid-19 (Corona Virus), which began in the Wuhan district of China towards the end of 2019 and has sky rocketed to being a global pandemic within the first 3 months of 2020, it may help to know what these tiny bio-machines are. After all knowledge is power and ignorance leads to panic. Let's just take a moment to shake our heads at whomever upgraded the Plague Inc game to Real World Edition.

What is a virus

Firstly, a virus is not a cell, in fact they are not even considered living! This is why I refer to them as bio-machines. So why are these tiny bio-machines not cells? A key feature for a cell is the fact that it has a metabolic system, essentially this allows it to convert nutrients it receives into energy, in order to perform its required function and survive. A virus on the other hand, does not have a metabolic system and therefore requires a host in order to be "fed" (like a computer or tv, requiring an outlet) so that it can reproduce.

Viruses are made up of proteins and nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), the amount and arrangement of these determine the size and shape of the virus and how it specifies to its host. Consider that your cells have a biological lock around them in order to protect from attacks and allow survival material through. Viruses are like mosquitoes with lock picks, if they have the right code or shape, they can easily get through the barricade, but instead of sucking your blood out, it's giving you a piece of itself.

What does a virus do?

The effects of viruses vary but many of their life cycles have common aspects. What happens when a virus picks the lock? Remember those nucleic acids? When the virus attaches to a cell and breaks it's security code, it creates a direct link into the cell, this link allows the virus to pass it's genetic code through the cell membrane without the cell even realizing it's been hacked. The cell then picks up the new genetic code which essentially reads "Copy & Paste" and it does this until given the final code "Self Destruct" which causes the cell to erupt and release all the copies it has produced.

The virus then continues on to other cells in order to produce the same effect, at which point the immune system steps in and says "Hang on, you shouldn't be here". It sounds the alarm and an all out war ensues within your body. The kicker? Your immune system is cellular, which means it's soldiers can become host's themselves but when this happens, the genetic code is not "Copy & Paste" it becomes "Attack other host cells" turning your immune system on itself and your body. This is what we call an autoimmune disease. Bear in mind not all viruses are capable of this and so severity of viruses ranges dramatically.

In many cases our immune systems are able to take back control and eradicate the virus, memorizing its code in order to become immune to it.

What makes a virus efficient?

Viruses have the ability to mutate, this allows them to become immune to certain conditions and environments as well as spread and replicate more easily.

• Transmission can occur through various methods and is dependent on the virus, this may be through bodily fluids, inhaling, ingesting or contact with surfaces that the virus can survive on. (Covid-19 is not airborne according to WHO and one of the ways it is contracted is through touching surfaces with contaminated mucus, even if invisible to the naked eye, and then touching one's face. However it can be spread within 2 meters / 6.5 feet, if coughed or sneezed on by an infected person )
• The more volatile a virus is, the faster it can mutate and change its method of transmission as well as the symptoms it creates and how it can impact the body. This is how we get viruses that can move between species as they easily adapt to their hosts.
• As it is not a living thing, the life span outside of the host is dependent on the virus' dormancy tactics. Viruses have been discovered in the ice age permafrost and were still able to revive after thousands of years. Whereas others can barely survive 24 hours outside of the host.
• Super-bugs are viruses that have evolved to be immune to our antibiotics and these are probably the most efficient little bio-machines. However, this does not mean they are unbeatable.

Keeping yourself safe

DON'T PANIC!!! I cannot emphasize this enough! Panic will not solve anything. It will stress you out more, make you think irrationally and sabotage your immune system, which need I remind you is important for battling a virus.

• Stay clean, regularly wash your hands and your body, simple yet not all of us do it.
• Eat healthy, your body requires the energy and nutrition needed to build more white cells and battle the effects the virus is having on you.
• Isolation, this is important for highly contagious viruses like Covid-19, you may not be drastically affected, but you risk causing a fatal transmission to someone with a compromised immune system.
• Exercise! YOU DON'T NEED A GYM! Body weight workouts will suffice for keeping yourself functional, having a positive mindset (get those happy chemicals flowing) and boosting your immune system as well as preventing boredom.
• Cover your face when you sneeze or cough! It grinds my gears when people don't do it. Regardless of having a virus or not, just be a little more respectful to the people around you. No-one wants bits of mucus and saliva being sprayed all over them.

Not every virus is going to kill you. We've all grown up being infected by flues and colds. They should also not be something that we constantly fear as they were around long before us and will be around long after us. What is important is to remain calm, listen to the health advice given by WHO and your local governments. We have the technology and medicine to fight a lot of viruses and with the current pandemic the world is all working together to provide a cure for Covid-19.

Staying home and watching Netflix is going to help us prevent this from getting worse. Let's not be the generation that manages to mess up doing nothing!

Please go to the WHO web-page to stay up to date on the current situation and ways to prevent spreading Covid-19.