You wake up in the morning and instantly you know something’s wrong.
You’re feverish, you ache all over, and you’re afraid you’re going to be sick
to your stomach.
You hope you’re not coming down with something!
After a few more gruelling days of fighting it, you finally admit that it’s time to
see the doctor - maybe he can give you a pill or something that will kill this virus.
The next day at your doctor’s office, you describe the overwhelming exhaustion you feel,
the blinding headache you’ve had for days, and the aching pain all over your body.
Flushing with embarrassment, you also tell him about the more… icky symptoms you’ve
been experiencing, like the vomiting, cramps and diarrhea that have had you practically
living in the bathroom between bouts of restless, feverish sleep.
“I’m desperate, Doc”, you say.
“Is there a pill or an antibiotic or something I can take?”
To your dismay, he shakes his head and says:
“Unfortunately, an antibiotic won’t do anything to help you.
We’ll take blood and urine samples and run a culture test to be sure, but it sounds to
me like you have a viral infection, and unfortunately, antibiotics don’t work on viruses.”
This is news to you, so your doctor patiently explains to you exactly what a virus is, and
how viral infections - like the one you apparently have - are different from bacterial ones.
Viruses and bacteria are both microbes - tiny organisms that are too small to see with the
naked eye.
Viruses are much smaller than bacteria - the largest virus is smaller than the tiniest
bacteria - and it takes a power microscope to be able to observe these tiny intruders.
Both bacteria and viruses spread through contact with infected people, animals, surfaces or
food, and both can cause symptoms like yours - digestive upset, muscle and joint pain and
respiratory distress.
But the similarities end there.
Bacteria are single-celled creatures that can reproduce on their own and can survive
in a huge variety of environments, living comfortably in extreme heat or cold, in radioactive
waste, and even in the human body.
The fossil record shows that bacteria have been thriving on earth for more than three-and-a-half
billion years.
Most bacteria are harmless to us, and many are actually helpful.
For example, certain strains of bacteria thrive in our digestive system where they help us
break down food - no wonder probiotic yogurt has been all the rage lately.
Trillions of bacterial microorganisms live in our bodies, making themselves at home in
our digestive system, on our skin and even in our eyes and nose!
In fact, according to Meghan Jardine, Associate Director of Diabetes Nutrition Education at
Physicians Committee, we might actually be “only ten percent human.
Ninety percent of our cells are nonhuman, microbial cells.”
In recent years, scientists have put this number at closter to forty percent human cells
- but that’s still pretty crazy when you think about it!
Although less than one percent of all bacteria are actually harmful to people, the ones that
do cause diseases can do some serious damage.
Bacteria give off toxic chemicals which can damage human tissue and make us sick.
The most dramatic example of a bacterial infection is the bubonic plague in Europe in the thirteen
hundreds.
As the plague spread, people throughout Europe were coming down with fevers and chills, vomiting
and diarrhea, and aches and pains.
They also had nasty black boils that oozed blood and pus - a gruesome symptom that earned
this plague the name The Black Death.
We now know that the infection was caused by a bacteria called Yersina pestis, but of
course people knew nothing about that in the fourteenth century.
By the time the plague subsided, it had killed an estimated twenty million people - a third
of the entire population of Europe at the time.
Since precise numbers are hard to come by, the death toll could have been much higher
- some experts estimate that up to sixty percent of the population was wiped out by a tiny,
single-celled bacteria.
Thankfully, we can now treat bacterial infections with antibiotics, which kill the bacteria
causing the infection, or at least slow its growth.
Antibiotics are a fairly recent discovery - the first antibiotic was used in nineteen
thirty-six, and it wasn’t until the late eighteenth century that a German doctor named
Robert Koch even discovered that bacteria caused diseases.
In the year nineteen hundred, before the invention of antibiotics, nearly thirty percent of all
deaths worldwide could be blamed on bacterial infections that can be easily treated with
antibiotics today.
Viruses are much more fragile than bacteria.
The virus’s core of genetic material is protected only by a thin protein coating.
A virus can’t survive without a host, and can only reproduce by attaching itself to
a host cell and inserting its genetic material into it.
Unlike bacteria, nearly all viruses cause diseases in humans.
Viruses are usually programmed to target specific cells before it gets to work either replicating
itself - making new viruses until the host cells burst and die - or turning normal, healthy
cells into malignant ones.
Viruses are responsible for a lot of common diseases.
Everything from the common cold and flu, to painful conditions like the chicken pox and
shingles, to serious infectious diseases like hepatitis and herpes are all caused by viruses.
The nineteen-eighteen Spanish Flu was the deadliest pandemic in history, and it was
all caused by a microscopic virus.
By the time the outbreak ended in nineteen nineteen, nearly one third of the entire global
population had been infected, and as many as one-hundred million people had died - three
percent of the world’s population.
During the outbreak, the average life expectancy in America dropped by nearly twelve years
in the course of a single year, and in 1918 more U.S. soldiers died of the flu than in
combat, which is shocking considering that America was in the middle of World War One
at the time.
You thank your doctor for educating you and correcting your misconceptions, but there’s
still something that doesn’t make sense to you.
“I don’t get it, Doc,” you say.
“I got my flu shot this year, so how did I end up still getting sick?”
“That’s a great question, actually,” he replies.
He goes on to explain why getting the flu shot doesn’t always guarantee that you won’t
get sick.
The flu shot isn’t always effective in part because there is no one single virus that’s
responsible for the flu, and because viruses are constantly mutating and changing.
Vaccines are developed for the most common and most serious strains of the flu virus,
but it’s impossible to predict which strains will hit in any given year, and it takes time
to produce a vaccine after a new strain becomes problematic.
Even if you got the right flu shot for the right strain, you can still get sick if your
body’s response to the virus isn’t fast enough or strong enough, which can happen
to older people, those with suppressed immune systems, or anyone who’s had significant
exposure to the virus.
Vaccines work by exposing your body to antigens, parts of an inactive version of the virus,
training your immune system to release antibodies and quickly and aggressively attack the virus
before it can spread.
“Wow,” you say.
“I had no idea how cool vaccines are!
Thanks for explaining them to me.
But Doc, now that I have the virus, how do I kill it!”
It turns out, there are lots of ways to kill a virus.
Antiviral drugs exist to treat conditions like herpes and hepatitis.
They work by interfering with an enzyme in the virus and preventing it from leaving one
cell to infect another, but they don't destroy the actual virus itself.
One of the most exciting developments in virus fighting technology is the use of lasers!
Researchers at Arizona State University have shown that blasting a virus with a purple
laser light for one-hundred femtoseconds - a femtosecond is one millionth of one billionth
of a second - damages the virus’s outer shell, deactivating it.
“That’s great news!
Bring on the drugs and lasers!” you say.
You can’t wait to get some relief from the constant fatigue and nausea.
Again, your doctor shakes his head.
“Unfortunately, these treatments only work for specific viruses, and the common flu virus
isn’t one of them.
There’s not much we can do to kill the flu virus except let it run its course and give
your immune system time to do its job.
The symptoms you’re experiencing - the vomiting and diarrhea, the fever and aches - these
are all your body’s way of trying to rid itself of an unwelcome intruder - in this
case, the flu virus.”
Although there’s nothing you can take to kill the virus on the spot, there’s lots
you can do to manage your symptoms.
Your doctor recommends that you get plenty of rest and give your body time to do its
job.
He says you can take cough drops or honey for your sore throat, and use a humidifier
to make breathing a little easier.
He also suggests that you drink lots of fluids to combat the dehydration caused by all of
your time in the bathroom, although he cautions you to avoid caffeine, as it can actually
make dehydration worse.
He reassures you that you should be feeling better in a few days, but if not, you’re
to come back in to see him so he can prescribe medication to treat any secondary infections
or serious symptoms.
While you’re a little bit disappointed that there isn’t a magic pill to cure you - and
that you won’t be seeing a laser today - you do feel reassured by your doctor’s words,
and you’re ready to head home to get some rest.
But, just as you turn to leave, a wave of anxiety comes over you.
“Hey Doc,” you say, hesitantly.
“All this talk of vaccines and flu outbreaks has me a little bit freaked out.
What’s to stop another flu pandemic from happening, like the Spanish Flu outbreak that
you mentioned earlier?”
“Another great question!” he says.
He explains that we know so much more about viruses and have so many more tools to fight
them than we did back in nineteen-eighteen.
Aside from vaccines and antiviral drugs, we now have technology that allows us to share
information about viruses and track outbreaks in real time.
We also have a much better understanding of how viruses spread, which means we know how
to contain them.
Viruses spread through contact with infected people, especially in situations where bodily
fluids are exchanged, like coughing, sneezing, kissing and...ahem...sex.
You can also contract a virus through contaminated food and water, and many viruses can survive
on hard surfaces for a few hours or even a few days.
Animals can carry viruses, too - livestock, insects, birds, bats and even our pets can
unwittingly spread viruses to humans.
Simple habits can help stop the spread of viruses.
Wash your hands frequently and use hand sanitizer, especially after touching germy surfaces like
doorknobs.
Disinfect surfaces, avoid shaking hands, and try not to touch your face or rub your eyes.
During outbreaks, medical officials may implement quarantine measures to limit the spread of
a virus.
Even with all of these advances, a viral outbreak is still a major concern, especially since
the world is more connected today than ever before.
The precautions I just mentioned can help limit the spread of a virus, but stopping
outbreaks before they start is a much more effective way to kill a virus.
Vaccines are the very best weapon we have against viruses.
Since Louis Pasteur debuted his rabies vaccine in eighteen eighty-five, we can thank vaccines
for all but eradicating countless diseases that had previously caused untold suffering
and devastation.
Because of vaccines, formerly common diseases like polio, smallpox, typhoid and tuberculosis
have become incredibly rare in most of the world over the course of just a few generations.
One of the most important parts of the vaccination strategy is something called herd immunity.
When a significant portion of a population is vaccinated, it makes it difficult for a
virus to travel from person to person, limiting the spread of the virus.
Herd immunity is important for protecting vulnerable people who can’t be vaccinated,
like very young children, older individuals and people with compromised immune systems.
These groups also tend to be most a risk for complications from viral infections, so even
if you’re not worried about protecting yourself from viruses, others are depending on you
being vaccinated to protect them.
“Yes”, says your doctor as he walks you out.
“Vaccines are certainly the most effective way to kill a virus.”
You thank your doctor for setting your mind at ease about the most effective way to kill
a virus.
After making a follow-up appointment to get your vaccines up to date, you head home for
some much needed rest and lots of binge watching YouTube.
So, what are your thoughts on viruses and vaccines?
Were you surprised by anything you heard in this video?
We want to know what you think about the most effective ways to kill a virus!
Be sure and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
If you thought this video was enlightening, be sure and check out our other videos, like
this interesting and educational tale titled “Craziest ER Stories”, or perhaps you’ll
like this other video instead.
We can’t promise that they’ll protect you from getting the flu, but we can promise
that you’ll be entertained!
As always, thanks for watching, and don’t forget to like, share and subscribe!
Until next time!