The mystique surrounding viruses is unsurprising; given that this sub-microscopic family of particles can easily cause your early death or at least an obvious and highly uncomfortable range of symptoms. To add to the mystery many a doctor, at a loss for a diagnosis, has “blamed it on a virus.”
So what are viruses anyway?
They can be described as infinitesimal pieces of genetic material surrounded by a protein case. Generally too small to be seen under a “normal” microscope, an average sized roundish virus would be about 0.15 microns in diameter. To illustrate how small this is, the smallest black speck a person wih good eyes could see on a white background 150mm (6 inches)from the eye would be about 300 medium-sized viruses in diameter. It follows that they can easily be blown in a fine “sneeze mist” or come through the air-conditioning at the office. Not being technically “alive”, they are hard to “kill” inside or outside the body.
1. Problem number one. Viruses are very easy to “get”. They surround us, especially where there are crowds of people in confined places. You can inhale them, swallow them in your food, get them on your hands and if you rub your eyes they can get into you that way. They are carried about in your body fluids so kissing and intercourse is a good way of transferring some species from one human to another.
2. Second problem. They shut down the normal function of and eventually destroy the cells they enter. After entering your body through an orifice or cut, they get into your mucous membranes, bloodstream, tissue fluid and drift about until they find a suitable cell which they can latch on to determined by the particular molecular structure of their coat - certain viruses can latch on to certain types of cell membrane molecules. Once latched on they are either ingested by the cell which thinks they’re a tasty treat or they inject their DNA into the cell - either way the purpose being to get their bit of genetic material and other enzymes into your cell. These then override your cell’s protein construction in favour of their own viral construction and replicate themselves. This incidentally is all a highly complicated chemical process still only partly understood by researchers. After replicating many times inside the cell they burst out, normally killing it and then move on to adjacent cells so multiplying exponentially. The symptoms of a particular infection generally identify the virus responsible. They may however mutate gradually modifying some symptoms.
3. Problem number three. Anti-viral drugs are not easy to come up with. A drug to stop this process, has to either:
a) attach to and so block off the virus’s surface “bonding” sites, or the parts on their coat that stick to your cells. This is great in theory, but as these bonding sites are molecules found on the surface of the proteins your cells actually need, it will probably do the same to those proteins and so starve your cells of them also;
b) or attach to the receiving sites on your cell, which defeats the purpose for them being there, again depriving your cells of the substances they require;
c) or be absorbed into your cells and inhibit the virus’ activity - without causing mayhem in the cell and doing more damage than the virus in any case. For this reason there are few anti-viral drugs and they tend to be used only in serious cases and under medical supervision because of the side-effects they can inflict - including death in some cases which rather defeats their purpose.
On a more cheerful note, the human immune system is able to deal with most viral infections, which is why doctors tend to let your body get on with it whenever safety permits. Your immune cells sometimes ingest and destroy them, break them down into smaller particles ready to be used elsewhere or filtered out of your system, or switch them into a dormant state, where they are inactive and do no more damage. There are probably many more strategies your body uses which are yet to be understood. These activities involve complicated sequences of chemical reactions programmed by your body to deal with a particular virus. Each viral mutation evokes a new response from your immune system.
What wisdom can be garnered from this chain of events?
Viruses have no brain, no nervous system, no means to move, see or think and can have no intelligent response to an attack by your body yet in some cases they protect themselves from attack. They seem to be programmed with a survival strategy specific to their host and have multiplied for thousands of years.
Similarly you body responds automatically to an infection by analysing the cause and manufacturing an antiviral agent of some sort to deal with it. This is very specific and targeted, and while it involves more than one strategy it does not seem to include backup plans. All this happens without a thought crossing your mind, hence your body is programmed to deal with these things apart from your intellect.
It is interesting that certain habits result in infections which your body is not capable of overcoming. Some are controllable or curable with the aid of medicines, and others are incurable as in the case of AIDS. It appears that creation still has the final say, and it is logical to learn which activities are safe and which are best avoided.
4. Problem number four Stress, inadequate nutrition and some chemical substances including antibiotics weaken our immune systems. It is then that the dormant viruses within us, like most other parasites, come out of their dormant state with a vengeance. Some varieties keep mutating which prevents your immune system from getting rid of them and this continual fight can result in varying levels of ongoing fatigue. Others enclose themselves with your own cell membrane from the last destroyed cell, so fooling your antibodies into thinking they are part of you. Your other cells, also fooled then consume this particle which, like a Trojan Horse, then releases the virus to take over that cell. Still others can remain in various locations within your body without being detected by your immune cells.
All things considered, two points emerge:
1. Firstly, the human intellect is unable to outsmart the lowest form of chemical parasite, which is far less complex than a living single-celled organism. However, the human body is far more able than the human mind in this respect, and can usually bring an infection under control or destroy the cause of it.
2. Secondly, where this is not the case or the immune system is weak, some form of outside intervention is required to resolve the problem. Thankfully, there are natural (non-man-made) substances which can “fill in the gaps” where our immune systems have failed, available for our use without our having to understand the intricacies of how they work.They are safe to use by man or beast having no damaging side-effects. These substances are far more complex than the human mind can devise and their multiple attack strategy far too complicated for the human mind to comprehend, (or more imporantly for the virus’ programmimg to circumvent).
For information on what to use to assist in the depletion of viruses in your body click on the following link. viral illness