THE SARS-CoV-2 is just an unseen nano particle of extreme smallness – one-billionth in size. But see how it has terrified the whole world with utter fear and total lockdown!
Some equate this “grotesque measure” worldwide to global economic self-destruction and collective suicide – the cure worse than the disease, they argue.
Others wonder what the heck is going on when a sudden outbreak like this sends the whole world to its knees.
So, because of its purported high lethality of infections, its enormous economic, social and political impacts, fears of renewed waves of outbreaks and the much suspected potential misuse of such viruses as biological weapons by powerful States, it is in the interest of every ordinary citizen in the world to dig deep into the whole mess to understand the pathogenesis that is, the origin and development of SARS-CoV-2 and ask: What the heck is going on?
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Most important, can the world use this dire experience to work together to keep such destructive outbreaks to the minimal?
Is prevention the future we want? Is good riddance deadly to virus the answer? Is a much deeper understanding of the world of virus the prevention of such a nasty recurrence?
A planet of virus with nurturing roles?
And, by the way, some authors have written books entitled “A Planet of Virus”.
Implying there must be a nurturing role for them to be around and actually abound.
Indeed, immunologists like Ken Cadwell who investigated the role of virus in 2011 actually found the murine norovirus encourages the growth and development of healthy guts and a robust immune system.
The intestine and immune system of mice degenerated when put in a sterile environment but regained strength when exposed murine norovirus!
Then way back in 1770, scientists were able to use the Vaccinia virus to develop a vaccine against smallpox after noticing that milkmaids who had mild versions of cowpox developed immunity against smallpox!
So, we ignore and disregard the world of virus to our own peril! On the other hand, yes, virus is disease is largely true.
Therefore stand guarded, no more illusions about its devastating impact if it catches the world by surprise again.
Many of the common human diseases like common cold, influenza, chicken pox, cold sores, diarrhoea, warts, bronchitis and more severe or lethal ones like rabies, ebola, Zika, AIDS (HIV), avian flu or SARS are the work of viruses etc.
The paradox
But think about this paradox. The human body is actually inhabited by trillions of viruses which form part of the group of 100-trillion microbes called the microbiome in our bodies.
So, if our body is filled with viruses, the natural question is: How come you and I are not attacked every day by infectious disease?
The answer lies in what medical scientists and doctors mean by infection.
When do viruses start doing harm?
Here it is their defining understanding: “A virus is a sub-microscopic (nano-size) infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cell of the organism”.
Pin your finger on the phrase “replicates only inside the living cell”.
In short, until a virus like SARS-CoV-2 is able to gain entry inside the cells of our lungs, it cannot trigger an explosive viral replication that ruptures the lungs, knocks out breathing, leading to multiple organ failure and eventually death!
SARS-CoV-2 virus is a furtive infiltrator of death
So, for me, it was absolutely fascinating story of furtive infiltration after watching a video entitled ‘The Science behind the coronavirus’ which graphically shows how this new coronavirus, scientifically known as SARS-CoV-2, docks a lung cell’s receptor and gets inside, presented by billionaire Los Angeles Times owner and surgeon, Dr Patrick Soon - Shiong.
So Dr Soon-Shiong asked: “How does the SARS-CoV-2 enter your body?”
Well, it takes two to tango, meaning two things working in tandem, in this case producing a dire negative consequence.
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“The first of the two to tango is the virus SARS-CoV-2 is a RNA (Ribosnucleic acid) virus,” he noted.
Note the structure and genetic nature of the virus.
“What I mean by that is the genetic signature inside this virus has on its surface an envelopeable capsule and then the spikes form a crown and that’s why it is called coronavirus (“corona” means crown in Latin).
The second willing partner in this it takes two to tango fiasco is unfortunately the ACE2 (full name: Angiotensin-Covering Enzyme) which sits on the surface of human cells all over the body including the lungs.
SARS-CoV-2 figured out a way to enter cells: Dr Soon
Studies in China and elsewhere had confirmed that ACE2 is the main host receptor or gateway through which the SARS-CoV-2 virus gains entry into the inside of the lung cells and create the havoc.
“This receptor is in our blood vessels, it is on our kidneys, even on the heart but most importantly on the alveoli (air sac) cells of the lung,” Dr Soon-Shiong noted.
ACE2 is important because it regulates blood pressure and inflammation in the body.
Spikes act like a key, ACE2 receptors act like the door
“What happens is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has figured out a way on how to use its spikes on its surface to act like a key to interact with this receptor ACE2 and use that receptor to dock,” Dr Soon-Zhiong noted.
So the ACE2 receptor acts like the “door” to the lung cells for the virus which causes Covid-19.
Once the SARS-CoV-2 virus has successfully docked or connected to a specific receptor on its victim’s membrane, it begins to inject its genetic material from its single stranded RNA, then it hijacks the golgi apparatus, the cell’s machinery or factory to replicate its RNA to launch a harmful runaway viral replication
“This is how the virus works. It infiltrates the human cell and takes advantage of the cell itself as a factory. The RNA inside virus has a genetic coding that allows the virus to hijack the human cell.
“It takes over the golgi apparatus – the machinery or factory of the human cell, to reproduce itself, repackage it and in doing so it propagates,” Dr Soon-Shiong explains.
How an over-reaction from the immune system worsens an infection
Besides Dr Soon Shiong, I bumped into another video entitled “The coronavirus, what you need to know” which gives an excellent narrative on the “Host Effect” of the SARS-CoV-2 dirty job inside the lung cells.
As we shall see, in totality, the human race is not all that smart. Their cells and even their immune system included.
Having been infiltrated, the lung cell, ignorant of what is happening, executes the new instructions from the genetic codes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – copy and reassemble!
It fills up more and more copies of the original virus until it reaches a critical point and one final order – self-destruct!
So the infected cell sort of melt away, releasing new SARS-CoV-2 particles ready to attack more cells.
Through this runaway viral replication, the number of virus grows exponentially.
After 10 days or so, millions of cells are infected and billions or viruses swarm the lungs.
The infected victim may not show any symptom yet as it may not have caused much damage yet. But the corona is now going to release a real beast on you – your own immune system!
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This is a real paradox – everybody says a strong immune system is the best bet to protect them from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
On the other hand, it can be pretty dangerous. How does this danger play out?
As the immune cells pour into the lungs to fight the virus, corona infects some of them and creates confusion.
Cells have neither eyes nor ears so they communicate mostly via tiny information proteins called cytokines which control nearly every immune reaction.
This is the problem. Corona causes immune cells to over-react and yell bloody murder which put the immune system into a fighting frenzy and sends way more soldiers than it should, wasting resources.
Two kinds of immune cells which over-do things
Two kinds of immune cells in particular wreak havoc. The first is Neutrophils, which are great killing stuff, including our cells. As they arrive at the battle field they start pouring out enzymes that destroy as many friends and enemies.
The other important type of cells that go into frenzy are Killer T-cells which usually order infected cells to commit suicide.
But because now they are confused, they start to order healthy cells to kill themselves.
So, the more immune cells arrive the more damage they do. And the more healthy lung tissues they kill, the bronchioles and alveoli become inflamed as the immune system attacks the multiplying viruses, the inflammation causes the alveoli to fill with fluid making it difficult for the body to get the oxygen it needs.
Deoxygenation and multiple organ failure
Dr Soon-Shiong says “fibrosis occurs” and a “ground glass effect in their lungs so there is no longer any oxygenation the body tries to take over but sadly we end up with what we call SARS – severe acute respiratory syndrome which in essence is impossible for the body to get enough oxygen to the rest of the organs and we have multiple organ failure.”
In terms of Covid-19 deaths by age groups, the 60-69 and 70-79 are predominant,” Dr Soon-Shiong noted.
“But unfortunately, there are deaths in patients 40-49, 29-30 and even 10-19 so while the 60 to 79 are certainly the majority, patients with mild symptoms and the young aren’t protected yet from this fatality rate which mostly hit those with pre-existing conditions worst.”
As of April 4, the total global infection hit 1,120,256 cases, 59, 261 deaths and 229, 941 have recovered.
The driver of a global fear
So, what has caused the unprecedented fear that has gripped the world?
“SARS-CoV-2 is the second daughter of the SARS endemic which first surfaced in 2003 and went on to 2004 and 2005. But sadly, this mutation has allowed SARS-CoV-2 to become 1,000 times more infective than SARS and that is the fear compared to the SARS endemic which was limited to scope and now SARS-CoV-2 is a pandemic. Not only is the virus highly contagious but it is also deadly.”
Why has the world opted for such grotesque measures such as total lockdown which threatens to bankrupt the global economy?
As the video entitled “Corona – What you need to know” produced with the advice of a raft of infectious diseases, Dr James Gurney, Dr Marc Roser, Dr Daniel Cornforth and Prof Weitz noted:
“Since we don’t have a vaccine for corona, we have to socially engineer our behaviour to act like a vaccine!”