this is SARS Co-V - it belongs to the family of coronaviruses named for the
crown like spikes on their surfaces SARS Co V - can cause Covid 19 a
contagious viral infection that attacks primarily your throat and lungs what
actually happens in your body when you contract the corona virus what exactly
causes your body to develop pneumonia and how would a vaccine work the corona
virus must infect living cells in order to reproduce let's have a closer look
inside the virus genetic material contains the information to make more
copies of itself a protein shell provides a hard protective enclosure for
the genetic material as the virus travels between the people it infects an
outer envelope allows the virus to infect cells by merging with the cell's
outer membrane projecting from the envelope are spikes of protein molecules
both a typical influenza virus and the new corona virus use their spikes like a
key to get inside a cell in your body where it takes over the cells internal
machinery repurposing it to build the components of new viruses when an
infected person talks coughs or sneezes droplets carrying the virus may land in
your mouth or nose and then move into your lungs once inside your body the
virus comes in contact with cells in your throat nose or lungs one spike on
the virus inserts into a receptor molecule on your healthy cell membrane
like a key in a lock this action allows the virus to get inside your cell a
typical flu virus would travel inside a sac made from your cell membrane to your
cell's nucleus that houses all its genetic material
the coronavirus on the other hand doesn't need to enter the host cell
nucleus it can directly access parts of the host cell called ribosomes ribosomes
use genetic information from the virus to make viral proteins such as the
spikes on the virus's surface a packaging structure in your cell then
carries the spikes in vesicles which merge with your cells outer layer the
cell membrane all the parts needed to create a new virus gathered just beneath
your cell's membrane then a new virus begins to butt off from the cell's
membrane now with the virus spreading in your body how can you develop pneumonia
symptoms for this we'll have to look into your lungs
each lung has separate sections called lobes normally as you breathe air moves
freely through your trachea or windpipe then through large tubes called
bronchioles called bronchioles and finally into tiny sacs
called alveoli your Airways and alveoli are flexible and springy when you
breathe in each air sac inflates like a small balloon and when you exhale the
sacs deflate small blood vessels called capillaries surround your alveoli oxygen
from the air you breathe passes into your capillaries and then carbon dioxide
from your body passes out of your capillaries into your alveoli so that
your lungs can get rid of it when you exhale your Airways catch most germs in
the mucus that lines your trachea bronchi and bronchioles in a healthy
body hair like cilia lining the tubes constantly push the mucus and germs out
of your Airways where you might expel them by coughing normally cells of your
immune system attack viruses and germs that make it past your mucus and cilia
and enter your alveoli however if your immune system is weakened like in the
case of a corona virus infection the virus can overwhelm your immune cells
and your bronchioles and alveoli become inflamed as your immune system attacks
the multiplying viruses the inflammation can cause your alveoli to fill with
fluid making it difficult for your body to get the oxygen it needs you could
develop low burn pneumonia where one lobe of your lungs is affected or you
could have bronchopneumonia that affects many areas of both lungs pneumonia may
cause difficulty breathing chest pain coughing fever and chills confusion
headache muscle pain and fatigue it can also lead to more serious complications
respiratory failure occurs when your breathing becomes so difficult that you
need a machine called a ventilator to help you breathe these are the machines
that save lives and that medical device companies currently ramp up production
for whether you would develop these symptoms depends on a lot of factors
such as your a agent whether you already have an existing condition while this
all sounds scary the push to develop a corona virus vaccine is moving at high
speed studies of other corona viruses led most researchers to assume that
people who have recovered from a SARS co2 infection could be protected from
reinfection for a period of time but that assumption needs to be backed by
empirical evidence and some studies suggest otherwise there are several
different approaches for a potential vaccine against the corona virus the
basic idea is that you would get a shot that contains faint versions of the
virus the vaccine would expose your body to a version of the virus that is too
weak to cause infection but just strong enough to stimulate an immune response
within a few weeks cells in your immune system would make markers called
antibodies which would be specific for only the corona virus or specifically
its spike protein antibodies then attach to the virus and prevent it from
attaching to your cells your immune system then responds to signals from the
antibodies by consuming and destroying the clumps of viruses if you then catch
the real virus at a later stage your body would recognize it and destroy it
in other words your immune system is now collecting evidence on whether this will
be possible safe and effective is part of what's taking researchers so long to
develop a vaccine it's a race against time to develop a vaccine amid a
pandemic each step in vaccine development usually takes months if not
years an Ebola vaccine broke records by being ready in five years
the hope here is to develop one for the new coronavirus in a record-breaking 12
to 18 months while all this will take time stay home if you can to protect the
most vulnerable and don't forget to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds and
as often as possible this video was a collaboration between nucleus medical
media and the what if channel where we usually dive into hypothetical scenarios
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