VIRUS. Do You know? It has the potential to save lives.
What is a virus? What do they do and How they can be used to save lives?
What is a Virus?
It can be defined as
Virus is a tiny microscopic infectious agent with a simple formulation that can only replicate and grow in cells of living species such as animals, plants, bacteria and fungi etc.
The word virus originated from a Latin word meaning “slime liquid” or “poison”.
Viruses are made up of?
Each virion is composed of a single segment of nucleic acid, which can be either DNA or RNA. These nucleic acids are enclosed in a protein coating. Viruses, alone cannot grow or replicate; It requires living cells to replicate themselves. That's why viruses infect the host cell to make copies of themselves and in doing so it harms the host cells. Eventually, the host organism is harmed and gets infected with the virus.
Examples of Viruses
HIV, AIDS, COVID-19, Measles, smallpox and monkeypox are all well-known examples of viruses that cause human disease.
Discovery of Viruses
The two scientists were attributed to the discovery of the first virus. The first virus discovered was the tobacco mosaic virus. In 1892, Studies by Russian botanist Dmitry Iosifovich Ivanovsky found that extracts from infected leaves remained contagious after filtration through the Chamberland filter. That was very unusual because bacteria were retained by such filters. A new realm of “filterable pathogens” was discovered. Ivanovsky, most likely, was unaware of the significance of his discovery.
Later, in 1898, Dutch microbiologist Martinus W. Beijerinck inferred that the agent under study was a novel type of pathogenic organism. He was the first to call it a “Virus”. He showed that it was life, can reproduce and can pass through tiny filters. It can grow in an artificial medium but cannot be seen under a light microscope. Therefore, He referred it to as ‘contagium vivum fluidum’ rather than ‘contagium fixum’. These discoveries have become a historical landmark in the field of virology.
Viruses Can Save Lives? Myths vs Truth
Viral Vectors are a type of virus used in cancer treatment, gene modifications etc. These viruses have been altered in the lab and are no longer capable of causing disease in the host cells.
Molecular biologists often use viral vectors to transport genetic code into host cells. To boost the immune response against tumour cells, viral vectors are used to produce specific antigens in the host organism.
Vaccines
Well-known viruses used as viral vectors are adenoviruses, retroviruses, poxviruses etc. Back in 2019, COVID-19 had caused a great loss all over the globe. The COVID-19 vaccines formulated used different technologies such as
1) Genetic/m-RNA based vaccines,
2) Viral-vector(Adenovirus) based vaccines
3) Inactivated-Virus based vaccines
4) Virus-attenuated vaccines
5) Virus-protein based vaccines
These vaccines use viruses in one form or another to treat the infections caused by the viruses.
