VIRUSES, VIRUSES,VIRUSES

If you are a person who has heard what a virus is but doesn’t really understand a lot about them, this article is for you. The author of this article included a very simple but detailed description about viruses, how they were discovered, how they spread, how they survive. To those who do not like reading a lot of scientific or biological jargon, do not worry also since the author, uses a light but very informative tone throughout the whole article.

This article starts off with the major dilemma of the author which is the lack of information of the people when it comes to viruses. New viruses are discovered every day with the use of micrscopy equipments like the electron microscopes (there are also other microscopes with other specifications like a compound binocular microscope) like HIV, SARS, the avian flu, but still, people still know only a little about them. According to the article, viruses exist in an uncountable variety because almost every specie of animal, plant or even bacteria has their own set of viruses. If you want to study more about bacteria, you may use a compound binocular microscope. No one can consider it particularly interesting to find out how many viruses there are exactly in a species so we won’t be able to find out the extent of these organisms. But if you want to further study viruses, you can view and observe them under an electron microscope, look at their shape and sizes, do a little molecular biology, or even classify them. We now have more than 1, 500 species of viruses, and yet they can still be broken down further into other subspecies.

The history of how virus was discovered is also included in this article. According to it, the idea virus goes back way in 1892 when Ivanovski in Russia showed that a filter that held back bacteria would pass the agent that caused mosaic disease in tobacco. This could only mean that whatever this agent was, it was definitely smaller than bacterium. Since the light microscope was the highest form of microscopy equipment available at that time, (nowadays we have other types of microscopes such as the electron microscope or the compound binocular microscope) they could not be observed or discovered, it was just that these agents were very very small. In 1911, Peyton Rous discovered that one of these agents that passed through bacteria caused cancer. At that time since viruses couldn’t be seen or observed, his work, which was one of the first experiments of cancer research, wasn’t immediately appreciated. He was finally awarded the Nobel Prize in 1966 though for his vital work on cancer research.

Then came the discovery of the electron microscope sometime during World War II, this was when the first pictures of viruses could be taken and scientists realized that their particles were indeed very small. Virus research became widely extensive. It was found out that viruses were protein shells packed full of genetic information and that they have no (or very little) cellular machinery of their own. Also we learned very quickly through chemical analysis that they contained wither RNA or DNA.

The life and death of viruses are also explained. According to the article, viruses can only exist inside cells. If you want to do additional research, you can view how cells closer by observing them under a compound binocular microscope. They cannot survive outside in the environment. There is still arguments as to whether viruses are alive or dead because once you crystallize them, they behave like crystalline proteins, thus dead chemical objects. Unlike bacteria, even though they are crystallized, are still living organisms. Bacteria can be viewed with the use of a compound binocular microscope. But, if these viruses are alive and allowed to pass into a cell they can totally hijack the cell in minutes or hours and totally trick and reprogram the cell into making more of the viruses. In a cell they multiply rapidly, but to stay alive and survive, they have to move from host to host and adapt to that host.This is one of the downsides of being a virus since we humans have what we call an immune system which automatically turns on once we get infected by a virus. When it’s activated, it starts making antibodies and Tlymphocytes which attack, destroy, and clear the virus and infected cells. Another good thing about our body specifically our immune system is that it has a wonderful memory of what it has seen before. If it has fought off a previous virus, the body will stay immune to that virus. This is like in the case of measles in which we might have been exposed to as children but once we had it, our body remembers that certain type of virus therefore not allowing us to get infected again with the same one. For some reason we better face off viruses as small children rather than as adults. Also included are some arguments as to whether we should still keep samples of some viruses which we have totally eradicated before like small pox. The question still remains if it is wise to keep this as reference probably for future use or research. Since we know that vaccination has been stopped for this type of virus since we last overcame it, there is still a threat that these viruses( samples kept in two laboratories, one in the US and one in the Soviet Union) could be used and manipulated by terrorists in the biological weapon warfare.

This article also includes a short discussion on the molecular biology of viruses. Here the nucleus of a cell is discussed, that when you unravel the chromosomes found in these cells you will be able to find RNA and DNA, how they duplicate themselves and their specific functions in molecular biology. According to this part of the article many discoveries in molecular biology depended on working with viruses, particularly bacteriophage, a virus adapted to bacteria. Bacteria can be studied and observed closer with the use of a compound binocular microscope.

Another interesting discussion in this article is how the author classified viruses as equilibrium and non- equilibrium. According to him, equilibrium viruses ( because they live in equilibrium with us)usually spread from person to person, and are not terribly lethal. But when a virus jumps from one specie to another, like from animals to humans, this is when this certain type of virus becomes lethal and non- equilibrium. It can be highly lethal but might not cause an epidemic since it’s not well adapted to the new specie’s lifestyle. Examples of equilibrium viruses are polio, smallpox, measles, mumps, herpes, most of the common cold viruses. Non- equilibrium viruses include Influenze, HIV, SARS, and Ebola viruses. Also included in this article regarding the variety and how remarkable the features of viruses can get.

To end this article, the author discusses HIV, regarding it as the world’s most serious health challenge. According to him, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) has a very wonderful but strange structure. We should not be praising HIV for its beauty though but we should be alarmed of the rising number of deaths and infections we get due to this virus. By the end of 2003 reports show 40 million cases of people getting infected with the virus . It has caused more than 3 million deaths, more than tuberculosis and malaria which have been the greatest.

Infectious killers in the world until HIV came along. Some medicines have been made to slow down to effects of the virus but still the victims still end up in death. Yes they may prolong the lives of the victims, those who were supposed to be dead 10 or more years ago are still alive today because of these medicines. But these medicines are not that simple to take since they are very complicated to take especially on the side of the victim. So what should our response be when it comes to this very deadly virus threat which has infected millions of people? First information should be spread about HIV and its effects. The education department has been a great help with this especially in spreading the news about HIV. This has helped reduce transmission from 60 to 80 per cent in places such as Uganda and Thailand. Another solution is a vaccine to be given to people even before they have been infected by it. The only problem is that this vaccine is very complex to make.

At the last part of the article, the author, David Baltimore, leaves us with a warning and a challenge that we should be alarmed and prepare ourselves with these viruses. As we know the full extent of viruses is not known and there are still more viruses to be discovered. Let this be a challenge to us especially in dealing with the threats in bioterrorism.