What, how and “scientific tools” to combat the coronavirus

Abr 01, 2020 por Gloria Fuentes

A new coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 is causing the current COVID-19 pandemic.

A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent of approximately 90–120 nm. It can only live inside the living cells of an organism.
The virus circulates through droplets in the air spread by coughing or sneezing and enters the body through the mouth, eyes or nose.

It might remain active on surfaces for hours to days, depending on the material.

coronavirus

After entering your body, the viral particles travel to the lungs, where they find a first protection barrier, the epithelial cells.

The virus hooks to the proteins on these cells and the genetic material breaches the cell membrane and hijacks the cell to make multiple copies of itself, and pack them into new viruses. These copies break out of the cell and are ready to infect neighboring cells in your body.

And this is the life of a virus such as the current coronavirus that has infected thousands and thousands of people and is the biggest threat to many humans’ lives all around the world.
Scientific knowledge on this tiny agent is accumulating. This will eventually lead to the production of a vaccine to prevent the infection with SARS-CoV-2. Meanwhile, a large number of scientific efforts are dedicated to finding therapeutic treatments for all those current infected people.

This infographic contains some information about how the virus is transmitted and how it affects our bodies from the immune response to the hijacking of our cells. Furthermore, It highlights possible lines of attack to win this battle.

COVID
Gloria Fuentes

Scientific Illustrator, Animator y colaboradora de SHIFTA.

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