An epidemic, where people of a largecommunity are threatened by an infectious disease, is as bad as things can be;but an epidemic, where the disease threatenspeople on a global scale, is the worst scenario imaginable. The lateststrain of the Coronavirus, HCoV-19 or SARS-CoV 2 (severe acute respiratorysyndrome coronavirus 2) has caused a pandemic and a complimentary rise in paniclevels.

What viruses do is enter your body andstart invading body cells to making copies of itself. The cell is destroyed inthis process and these copies are released and they enter more cells, makingmore copies and attacking and destroying more cells. This goes on until thehuman immune system begins to fight back and destroys all the viruses or isunable to cope, leading to death. Specific viruses attack specific body cells,so a virus which causes coughs will attack only your respiratory system (yournose, throat, bronchial tubes, lungs etc.) while the rabies virus will attackonly your nervous system (your nerves, spinal cord, brain etc.).

What one must understand is that medicinesand vaccines do not cure infections, our immune system cures us. Specificmedicines keep specific infection levels within manageable proportions untilour immune system starts fighting back and specific vaccines train the immunesystem to fight against specific viruses.

The Human Immune System is part army, partmemory bank. Viruses have specific molecules called antigens, these antigenshelp our bodies in recognising that the virus is an alien invader. Viruses inthe blood stream are swallowed and destroyed by white blood cells (WBCs), it iswhen viruses enters body cells, to make copies of itself, that the WBCs becomeineffective. But the antigens trigger the immune system to start producingantibodies and Killer T-Cells. The antibodies lock on to the virus, renderingit powerless to invade other cells, so that WBCs can mop them up, while thekiller T-cells destroy the viruses.

Our immune systems keep a memory of everyvirus that has ever infected us. The moment they identify a known virus,through its antigen, it starts producing antibodies and killer cells. What avaccine does is introduce dead or weakened dangerous viruses so that our immunesystem may learn to produce suitable antibodies. It is when new viruses invadeour bodies that the immune system takes time to identify the intruder andmanufacture a suitable response.

The danger that a virus presents depends onvarious factors, some of which are: how it is transmitted, its longevityoutside a host, its incubation/gestation period (how long it takes before onegets sick), its target or which part of the body it attacks, which sections ofthe population are vulnerable to it and its mortality/kill rate (how manypeople infected die of the infection).

Keeping the above factors in mind, let usexamine the Coronavirus, HCoV-19/SARS-CoV 2.

(i) Transmission:- The Coronavirus can betransmitted through air, but keeping a distance of around 1.5 metres(approximately 5 feet) from an infected person, prevents transmission of thevirus.

The virus can be transmitted throughcontact with an infected person or surface, but only if you touch your mouth,nose or, possibly, eyes with the point of contact (e.g. your hands).

Viruses are just a string of moleculescovered by a layer of fat, washing your hands vigorously with soap, whilebuilding up a lather (foam), for up to 20 seconds, in warm water, dissolves thelayer of fat that protects the virus, and causes it to break down into harmlesscomponents.

(ii) Longevity:- The Coronavirus can beactive outside a host for 3 to 72 hours, depending on the surface it rests on.But you have to touch the contaminated surface and then touch your mouth, noseand eyes to get infected. So, even if you believe that youve touched aninfected person or material, avoiding touching mouth, nose and eyes and athorough hand wash removes the danger of infection.

(iii) Incubation/Gestation:- The virustakes between 1 to 14 days from when you were infected to when you startgetting sick. So if you or anyone who has been exposed to the virus does notget sick by the end of the 14th. day, youre safe.

(iv) Target:- The virus targets yourrespiratory system, mainly your lungs. This causes shortness of breath, whichmeans that your body is not receiving sufficient oxygen. Lack of oxygen cancause your internal organs to fail, resulting in death.

(v) Vulnerability:- Although the virus caninfect anyone, only elderly people and people with pre-existing medicalconditions, like diabetes, heart problems etc. are in grave danger.

(vi) Mortality/Kill Rate:- Compared to somestrains of the Ebola and Marburg Viruses (upto 90 and 80 % mortalityrespectively), the Coronavirus is much less dangerous. Out of 100 peopleinfected, only 20 need hospitalisation. Of the 20 hospitalised, about 3 to 5die, and these deaths have only occurred among the elderly and those sufferingfrom pre-existing medical conditions.

From the above points, we can see that it is not the Coronavirus, butour total unpreparedness for it, that is the cause of all the fear and panic. Respiratorsare needed to keep patients alive until the immune system finds a suitableresponse, health care professionals need protective gear to stay safe. Whenpatients are hospitalised in the hundreds and thousands, and with even the bestand largest hospitals having only a limited amount of respirators andprotective gear; the health care systems of the affected countries areoverwhelmed . Every loss of human life is a tragedy, but in terms of the actualdanger to mankind, Malaria and HIV still lead.

The lockdown by our State Government andsubsequent lockdown of India by the Central Government are good steps. Theisolation created by the lockdown will help identify individuals and pockets ofinfection so that corrective measures can be taken. But the Government ofNagaland, at least, must make immediate provisions for the poor and daily wageworkers. A system of providing them with provisions during the period of thelockdown must be implemented immediately.

In ending, I would like to inform thepolice and colony/village volunteers enforcing the lockdown that you have noauthority to beat anyone violating the lockdown. The lockdown is based on theEpidemic Diseases Act, 1897, violation of which attracts penalty under Section188 of the Indian Penal Code, which prescribes a fine ranging from Rs. 200 toRs. 1000 and imprisonment from 1 to 6 months, penalties which can only beimposed by a magistrate. Arrest them or caution them, beating them opens you tocharges of assault.

Kahuto Chishi SumiAkukau, Hevishe Village, Khaghaboto Range, DimapurKahuto107@gmail.com

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Viruses and the Human Immune System - Eastern Mirror