Covid-19: A great disruptor Don’t pay heed to rumours, stay home,

and don’t forget to observe scientific precautions . This is for the

beautiful people who think the corona viral disease (covid-19)
pandemic is the wrath of God. No, it is not so. The God actually loves
you. The covid-19 is not because of your sins. Internet is full of
people who want to assign caste, region and religion to the virus. But
the covid-19 seems to belong to no caste. Region, or religion. There
is ample evidence for that, as it has affected people of all castes.,
egons and religions. It also has affected sacred places for all religions.
Maybe it is spiritual, I don’t’ know. Then what is it? It is a virus that
has been there for centuries. Other members of this virus family
have been infecting humans for centuries. Other members of this
virus family have been infecting humans for centuries. The infection
usually milder and just give rise to common cold symptoms only;.
Thanks to our immune system. The virus is cleared by local immunity
of the respiratory tract. Why Covid-19 so severe? All flu viruses
undergo mutations over time. Microbiologists will know it better
(antigenic drift and shift). These changes (mutations) are random.
This explains why we get flue many times and why flue vaccine is to
be repeated every year. Most often the change is small, not causing
much harm. Sometimes, the changes is major. This change is such
that the virus changes its properties. This change makes it more
infective and more severe. This happens every few decades. This is
why we had regular flu epidemics (Remember SARS 2002 IN China
and MERS 2012 in Saudi Arabia). If you are expert in microbiology,
you can even product next epidemic. You can visualize the virus
having keys on surface (surface protein projections). These keys
change due to mutations. Some times. In decades. The change is
such that the key on surface is exactly the key that open the lock on
our lung cells. In reference in Covid-19 surface protein (key) opens
the lung cell lock (ACE2), it enters the cell, captures it and replicates
inside making many new viruses. The cell bursts and releases millions
of new viruses. That is why when a person is infected, it releases so
many new viruses. Because we get coughing and sneezing. We
distribute it further and new people get infected. Here comes the
use of cough and sneezing etiquettes for prevention of spread of
infection. This happens in all flues. But our immune system fights
back and localises the invasion and ultimately wins the battle. Only a
few susceptible individuals get serious illness and very few dies. In
case of Covid-19, because it has acquired new properties due to
mutations, our immune system is not ready for the attack. The ability
to infect other persons of this virus is high. However, the
advancement of science is amazing. In previous centuries, people
were not knowing why they were dying in large numbers. They had
no idea what was to be dome. They attributed everything to the
wrath of God. Plague used to be the ultimate wrath of God. People
used to abandon their ones one’s for dying in agony. This was rightly
so, because there were no treatment and people know nothing
about its transmission. It was all anger of God. When plague was
discovered to be caused by a bacterium, called Yersinia pests and
was discovered to be transmitted by fleas. The future epidemics
were controlled. We have only isolated cases here and thee for many
decades now. In December, 2019, when Wuhan hospital observed a
typical pneumonia cases. They immediately identified the virus.
Within a few weeks, the virus was isolated and its properties studied.
This week, Roche company made rapid test for Covid-19 available,
which has a capacity to perform 400,000 test per week. Yesterday,
first human trial of vaccine against Covid-19 was initiated in Seattle,
USA. Do you die with corona viral disease? No, the probability is
extremely low. If you are a healthy individual and follow scientific
precautions, your chances of getting infection is very low. Even if you
get the infection. There are 90% chances that you would get a mild
disease and recover. People who suffer from other chronic diseases,
where immune system is compromised, may develop pneumonia.
Most of them will also recover by medical treatment A very few will
die. If you are a healthy individual, your chance of dying by Covid-19
is less than your chance of dying while crossing a heavy traffic road
carelessly. If you want to make this probability still less, all you have
to do is to follow scientific instructions as given by authorities. Your
authorities don’t tell you to abandon your loved ones and run away,
as was norm in the middle ages during an epidemic. They tell you to
be at home with your loved ones. Wash hands with soap and water.
No sanitizer or costly equipment is needed. They tell you not to
touch your face often. And they tell you when you get the infection,
observe cough/sneezing etiquettes and social distancing. So free
yourself from rumours. Relax at home, relish food and chill. And
don’t forget to obsdrve scientific precautions.