4) **Severity of Illness**: The virus can cause a wide range of symptoms, from mild to severe respiratory illness, and it has led to severe health complications in many cases.
5) **Mortality Rate**: While the mortality rate varies by demographic, it has resulted in millions of deaths worldwide, highlighting its dangerous nature.
6) **Vaccine Availability**: Although vaccines have been developed, the emergence of variants has raised concerns about their effectiveness and the need for booster doses.
7) **Treatment Options**: Treatment options are limited compared to other viral infections, and not all patients respond effectively to available therapies.
8) **Mutation Rate**: SARS-CoV-2 has shown a capacity for mutation, leading to new variants that can evade immune responses and potentially increase transmissibility or severity.
9) **Impact on Healthcare Systems**: The pandemic has overwhelmed healthcare systems globally, leading to increased morbidity and mortality due to resource strain.
10) **Societal Impact**: The virus has caused widespread economic disruptions, social isolation, and mental health issues, affecting communities on multiple levels.
11) **Long-term Effects**: Many survivors experience long-term health complications, known as "long COVID," which can significantly impact their quality of life.
13) ... which has been quite a challenge. On a personal note, it was also a wonderful opportunity to embrace life. If you have Instagram, you can catch a glimpse of our exciting adventure through some photos on @emmanuel.0862
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2) This research shows that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, stops infected cells from dying. Normally, when cells die, it helps stop viruses from spreading. By keeping these cells alive longer, SARS-CoV-2 allows itself to multiply and also helps other viruses ...
3) ... like influenza A, grow more easily.
When someone has both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A, the two viruses can make a person much sicker. The immune system gets overwhelmed, leading to more inflammation and damage to the lungs.
ENTROPY UNLEASHED:
How Viral Protein Interactions Drive Coronavirus Adaptation in Bats and Humans
Entropy, in a general sense, refers to the level of disorder or randomness in a system. biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
2) When we talk about protein interactions and viral behavior, entropy can be viewed as a measure of how complex and varied these interactions are.
In the context of the study about coronavirus interactions in bat and human cells, here's a simplified breakdown.
3) **Complex Interactions**: The study identifies how proteins from the coronavirus interact with host cells (both bats and humans). These interactions can be highly ordered (low entropy) or more chaotic (high entropy).
Patients care most about how COVID-19 affects their health and daily life, including for those with long COVID. Scientists focus on understanding the virus to find better treatments. Both views are important for dealing with the pandemic.
2) I'm bringing up this topic because, after talking so much about the disease, its long-term effects, treatments, and vaccines, many people have forgotten that we are dealing with the most dangerous virus humanity has ever faced.
Organelles provide the possibility for the virus to organize its RNA in PROTECTED structures, concentrate REPLICATION machinery ... nature.com/articles/s4146…
2) ...compartmentalize the replication process, and hide from immune detection.
Figure 1g - The large perinuclear clusters of viral RNA demonstrate how the viral RNA is organized into PROTECTED structures.
2) Figure 3d- The nanoscale puncta of the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (nsp12) within and around the viral RNA clusters show the concentration of REPLICATION machinery.
SARS-CoV-2: The VIRUS That MASTERFULLY "ADAPTS" to SPREAD FURTHER !
If you were SARS-CoV-2, you could choose to spread in two ways: you could release a lot of tiny particles into the air to infect many people, or you could release just a few super infectious particles ...
2) ... that are really good at making someone sick.
This study published in Nature shows that some variants of the virus are especially strong, meaning they can infect with fewer particles, making it easier for them to spread quickly! nature.com/articles/s4429…
3) Researchers found that different variants of SARS-CoV-2, like Alpha, Delta, and Omicron, have unique abilities to spread. For instance, the Delta variant was shown to be more infectious, meaning it could spread more easily and required fewer viral particles to cause illness...