The pandemic has reached every corner of the earth and affected humanity as we had never imagined. The microscopic virus has impacted our life drastically. On one side we were dreaming to accomplish life on celestial bodies but on the other, we are losing war with a microorganism.
The Beginning Of Cell Biology
In the beginning, there was a cell. All life on earth evolved from single-celled organisms that lived about 3.5 billion years ago. More than 500 million years ago, these single cells began to form clusters. The cells are the fundamental unit of all life on the planet. It is the key to understanding animals and plants as well as our human bodies.
What Are Microorganisms
Microorganisms, also called microbes are very small organisms that we cannot see with a naked eye. They can be found everywhere like oceans, puddles, ponds, lakes, rivers, animals, and of course, the bats where the problem of pandemic arose or maybe was the virus extracted from bats and then distributed from a biological lab in China and then pangolin mammals distributed, who knows?
The research is still on. Some microbes are also helpful like bacteria in making curd and yeast in making bread. Microorganisms can also form spores to protect themselves from various climatic conditions like intense heat, bitter cold, heavy rains, etc. Microorganisms are classified into the following groups, bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, and virus.
What Is A Virus
In layman language, we can say that virus is the connecting link between the living and non-living organisms which exists in two states when outside a living body or living cell, they are like non-living things and do not show any features of living organisms. A virus is a microscopic organism that is smaller than bacteria. They are unable to grow and reproduce outside a living cell. Viruses in their non-living state are called virions. However, whenever they enter into a human body or plant or animals these viruses multiply themselves when they start reproducing with themselves they are considered being on the borderline of living and non-living. They are made of nucleic acids DNA or RNA deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid. The word “virus “means venom or poisonous fluid. The study of viruses is called virology. You all also must be familiar with viral diseases like chickenpox, measles, ebola, hanta, SARS 2002 -2003, etc. Does this indicate how dangerous can be a virus to humanity?
About The Pandemic
When we talk about coronavirus it must be remembered that it is not new but we can say that COVID 19 is the better form of the corona. It comes from a known family. Earlier as far back as 2003 when 13 laboratories across 10 countries were able to identify for the first time, the pathogen that caused the SARS or severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2002-2003. This was SARS -Cov strain, which killed close to 800 people and infected 8000 worldwide.
Another strain was identified in 2012, Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS which killed 800 people and affected 2500. MERS virus originated from camels whereas SARS COV originated from civet cats. SARS-COV-2 is the 7th member of the coronviridae known to infect humans. Corona is Latin for crown, named for their crown-like appearance. Three of these viruses, SARS Cov-1, MERS, and SARS -cov2, can cause severe disease; four, HKU1, NLU1, OC43, and 229E, are associated with mild respiratory symptoms.
Similarities With Other Coronaviruses
All coronaviruses have a similar structure,
A glycosylated, cell -surface protein called spike protein, or s.
The ‘S’ protein has two distinct functional domains, termed s1 and s2, both of which are necessary for a coronavirus to successfully enter a cell.
Three other structural base proteins: the envelope, membrane, and nucleocapsid.
The Difference
All strains of coronaviruses use a spike protein to bind to the human cell. the spike protein in the new virus cell is different from what the other strains in the coronavirus family for one, its spike protein has a site on it that’s activated by an enzyme called furin, which other sars-cov viruses don’t.
Furin is found in a lot of human tissues, including lungs, liver, and small intestine. Therefore we can say that SARS-CoV-2 can attach itself to multiple organs. It is also possible that possessing such an activation site has enabled the virus to spread more efficiently between humans, but scientists are still studying this.
Major Difference
This spike protein behaves using a cryo-electron microscopy process which is to say, using temperature up to -150°c on samples studied under a high powered microscope, scientists found that the spike protein of SARS -CoV-2 binds 10 times more tightly to human tissue than the spike protein of V-cov.
What Happens Inside The Human Body
One of the most crucial elements is that its spike protein contains a site which is activated by an enzyme called furin. Since furin is found in a lot of human tissue, including lungs, liver, and the small intestine, the virus can attach itself to humans tissues easily and multiply itself.
SOURCE: AFP, NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE, SCIENCE MAGAZINE
Fox News report says that the coronavirus may have been accidentally leaked by an intern working at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
Smuggled pangolins have been found to carry viruses closely related to the one sweeping the world. Scientists say the sale of the animals in wildlife markets should be strictly prohibited to minimize the risk of future outbreaks. Pangolins are the most-commonly illegally trafficked mammal, used both as food and in traditional medicine. In research published in the journal Nature, researchers say handling these animals requires “caution”. And they say further surveillance of wild pangolins is needed to understand their role in the risk of future transmission.
Bad Bats
A study by the ICMR and NIV has reveled that those pathogenic coronaviruses have been found in two species of Indian bats as well According to the study, the virus was found in the Indian Flying Fox and the Rousettus (old world fruit bats). The study collected samples from 25 bat species from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, and Puducherry among other states as well. Officials at the ICMR say that it is too early to say of these viruses can affect humans. The study is carried out by the premier medical institution in the country aims to research the presence of bat coronaviruses and to identify viruses with epidemic potential. The unique fact is that bat is the only flying mammal on planet earth. When it comes to the Chinese wet market both bats and pangolin are very famous in terms of eating various dishes in China.
Conclusion
The weapon and hope for us is a vaccine now which will take around 6 to 12 months’ time minimum as its long a procedure. Many scientists, doctors globally are still working for us day and night to cure people infected from this. In India, Many doctors used plasma therapy, AIDS, and Malaria vaccine to cure people in states like Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The only deeds we can do now is to stay at home, stay safe and increase immunity by yoga, physical exercise, and eat healthily.