COVID-19, Is it the last one?

   The disease COVID-19 is caused by the virus “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2” (SARS-CoV-2) is from the virus family coronaviridae. Viruses are hardly considered as lifeforms but even though they have the capability of wiping out humanity. The idea of something which is very tiny as few nanometers can be a huge threat for us. As the technological advancements raised in the medical industry, we were in a hope of preventing a Pandemic yet another showed up. The good and bad things of being a human is that, we are ahead of all the lifeforms on earth in an evolutionary way but it is the same thing that can be used by other lifeforms to take over. We are in a constant threat yet the positive note for us is that we are aware of ourselves. We have to win the game of evolution to survive.

                   From the dawn of humanity, we have been fighting with these creatures. Every baby ever born was attacked by some kind of bacteria and viruses. They used to die within a year or before becoming an adult, which left us with the immunes who now can live healthy for their entire life. The people who survived gave birth to healthy children who are as immune as their parents. By this method, nature filtered the unworthy lifeforms and gave a chance to the species to dominate over others. The problem came is the DNA replication in the cell. Every time a cell replicates DNA is not totally replicated into a new one which might have new characteristics compared to the original one. It had its pros and cons, the new cell might be more immune to foreign attack or less. While producing new offspring the if the parent generated a DNA that is less immune, it has the chance of going extinct, or if the generated DNA is more immune, the species would evolve into a dominant one.

                   We have fought and survived from many of the viruses and bacteria but still, they show up. Why? Well, the reason behind it the same reason which makes us immune. It is a mutation. Being very tiny organisms mutation is very common in viruses but it doesn’t mean every mutation it undergoes makes them powerful. Most of the time mutation doesn’t have any impact on the virus but rarely it becomes very powerful. Even being powerful the spread of the virus is more important. AIDS is a disease caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) transmits very low yet being more dangerous than COVID-19. The rate of spread of the virus is the key point for an outbreak of a virus. COVID-19 is not even close to the Bubonic Plague in taking lives, it almost wiped 1/3 of Europe’s population. The world is more globalized now, which makes these kinds of viruses spread more and take more lives.

                  Viruses are parasites, they depend on host cells. The working of a virus is simple as any organism, it wants to survive. The life of any organism is a chain of reactions that don’t want themselves to end. But it is against Physics, so for running their reactions without ending they found a way. It is a reproduction, by reproducing themselves they can carry out their reactions endlessly. For viruses, it is very simple compared to multicellular organisms. They exist in many shapes most commonly a sphere. They only consist of a shell and their genetic information inside it. The sell is made up of proteins and it consists of sites that attach themselves to the host cell. The reason for them being parasites is they cannot reproduce themselves, they don’t have the chemical machinery needed to produce chemicals like proteins. So, in order for them to survive they take of a cell of an organism and use its resources to reproduce the needed chemicals. They do it but attaching themselves to a host cell and inject its genetic information into the host cell. The information has everything from hijacking the cell to how to use its resources for its benefits. It is very similar to the computer virus which is a piece of code that takes over the host computer. But our immune system can handle this until the virus attacks Lymphocytes (immune system). In that case, viruses make the Lymphocytes to overreacting and kill the unaffected cell. This results in tissue loss and this can lead to death as other bacteria can take over the body and kill the person from inside.

                        What is the virus to do with exponentials? Exponentials explain the spread of the virus from a single person to thousands. It is assumed that an affected person can spread to three other people before realizing he has affected. In that case, the three who were affected will affect another three and goes on. If a person affected three people in a day then on the 5th day the number reaches 1056. That is Huge. Here comes the social distancing, if the first person only met two people and that two met only another two on the 5th day the total affected are 104. So maintaining social distancing can make a huge difference and can save lives. If there is a very fast growth, people die without getting treatment.

                        Is it the last one? Well, it can be, we are improving the technology of genetic modification. The genetic information of a virus is modified such that it competes with the non-modified virus in taking over most host cells. It can result in a decrease in the virus population. Having the power of modifying genetics, a more dangerous virus can also be created. Even the COVID-19 outbreak is suspected that the virus has leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology but there was no strong evidence. Maintaining social distance and washing hands, that’s all we can do for now.

   What are the best and worst things that can happen with genetic engineering?

                                                Comment below!