Why is the Coronavirus Spreading So Quickly?
In this video, I will show you the reasons why the coronavirus is spreading so quickly and how you can protect yourself and others from infection.
Hi, it’s Magdalena here from HealthValley. If you’re new here, make sure you click that subscribe button and hit the bell to get notified every single time I post a new video.
So let’s jump into it.
Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause disease in animals.
The viruses mutate all the time, and for the most part, these viral mutations occur in animals — and predominantly stay in animals. But sometimes the rare mutation allows transmission to humans, which happened with the new coronavirus. And because it is an entirely new strain, it is believed that there is no existing immunity in anyone it will encounter.
This is because the human immune system hasn’t seen that virus before so people are more likely to be contagious because they don’t have a natural immunity already built up from prior exposure.
That’s one of the reasons we’re seeing this new coronavirus moving so quickly through different populations.
Some level of immunity will naturally develop over time, but this means that those with compromised immune systems, such as the elderly or sick, are most at risk of becoming severely ill or dying from the coronavirus.
Another reason the coronavirus has spread so quickly around the world is that it could be most contagious before symptoms occur.
With other viral infections – such as the common cold, flu or bronchitis – those who are ill are often infectious from the moment they begin to feel unwell. The infectious period lasts until symptoms of the illness disappear.
However, it’s not a case with coronavirus as the highest levels of virus were found in the throats of patients in the earliest stages of infection and before they feel unwell. Many people must have contracted the virus but remained unaware of it. They, therefore, continued to maintain social contact and spreading the virus, while being unaware that they even have it— either because they had mild symptoms or because they had no symptoms at all.
That’s why social distancing is such an important containment measure. Check the video I’ve linked in the cards about how social distancing saves lives.
Ok, so we have already 2 reasons the coronavirus is spreading so quickly.
It’s a lack of any pre-existing immunity to the new virus in a population and it’s being most contagious before symptoms occur. But there are also some structural features of the coronavirus which allow it to attack human cells and spread so efficiently.
The name “coronavirus” comes from the Latin word “corona”, meaning “crown”, which refers to the crown-like spikes that can be seen around the virus under a microscope.
The spikes that are a key component of all coronavirus strains are significant as they attach the virus firmly to a cell membrane in your body.
But what makes this new coronavirus different from previous strains is the fact that the protein in the spikes differs from previous strains. The protein has a site which is activated by an enzyme called furin, which is present in our human cells.
Furin can be found in many of our human tissues, including the lungs, liver and small intestine. This is significant because this means that the virus can potentially attack several organs at once.
That is the reason why some symptoms in more serious cases also include liver failure, for example. SARS and the other coronaviruses didn’t cause the activation of furin.
On top of that, the human cell also contains elements that make it vulnerable to the new coronavirus.
The spike protein needs to bind to a receptor on human cells called angiotensin-converting enzyme2 (ACE2). Research has shown that ACE2 allows coronavirus to infect human cells.
Moreover, coronavirus binds to ACE2 with higher affinity than other coronaviruses, and this is part of the reason why coronavirus binds 10 times more tightly to host cells than, for instance, SARS.
So all these reasons enable the coronavirus to spread so efficiently between humans.
But there are lots of things we can do to prevent it from spreading and I’m sure that by now you are familiar with them so just a quick reminder.
The most important advice to follow is to stay at home and keep washing your hands.
The measures taken to stop the spread of the virus vary between countries around the world, so you should follow the advice of the local authorities in the country you live in. For instance, here in the UK, people can only leave their homes for 1 of 4 reasons:
– shopping for necessities, for example, food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as possible.
– to get some exercise, like a run, walk, or cycle – alone or with members of your household.
– any medical need, or to provide care, or to help a vulnerable person.
– travelling to and from work, but only where this absolutely cannot be done from home.
Even when doing these activities, you should minimise time spent outside of the home and make sure you are at least 2 metres apart from other people.
You should also:
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wash your hands with soap and water often – for at least 20 seconds – there’re many videos online how to do this properly.
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wash your hands as soon as you get home.
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cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands.
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or sneeze or cough into the crook of your arm to prevent your hands being contaminated.
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don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean
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it is also accepted that face masks can help keep people with COVID-19 from spreading the virus, and the fact that people can spread the virus before they experience symptoms is an argument for recommending masks for everyone.
You can watch my video Why Should You Wear A Face Mask? which I will link in the cards.
But above all, please stay at home. By staying home, you are saving lives.
Stay Home. Save lives. – tylko napis, nie wypowiadac
Thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.