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Happy New Year from BAMU! We're starting the year off with part 2 of our #BAMUCOVIDSeries this time talking about how this nasty virus affects our bodies and cause symptoms. #BAMUAcademics
First off, we hope you are all wearing masks. It may be 2021, but COVID is still here. Wearing a mask is important and it's even more important to wear it right. With the current situation in mind, especially.
The virus can be transmitted through respiratory droplets which you may inhale or which may be transferred when you touch your Mouth, Eyes, or Nose. So, uhm, avoid touching MEN. 
So what exactly happens when the virus travels in your respiratory tract? Well, it does what any foreign organism does — stimulate our immune system and cause inflammation. In short, it wreaks havoc in our body. 
At the farthest end of our respiratory tract are alveoli sacs responsible for the exchange of carbon dioxide from our body & oxygen from the environment. They contain cells called type 2 pneumocytes which have ACE2 receptors. This is where spike proteins from coronavirus attach.
Once the virus attaches to the receptor, it is swallowed up by the cell, a process called endocytosis. Inside the cell, it replicates by using the host cell's proteins & enzymes to create new parts. New proteins + new DNA = brand new coronavirus!!! Yikes!
This whole process eventually damages the cell leading to its death, and it triggers an inflammatory process. Imagine the body going into war and all the soldiers are deployed in the affected area.
So what causes the symptoms? It's NOT the virus, but our owninflammatory cells (aka the body's soldiers) that cause it. Some of these soldiers are IL-1, IL-6, and TNF alpha who are responsible for fever.
They also trigger more soldiers to go to the affected site via the blood which causes the tiny area of the alveoli to swell up, making it harder for gas exchange to occur (difficulty of breathing).
Finally, all these spoils of war found in the alveoli are all balled up in the mucus and is rid off by the body via coughing. Coughing is our body's way of trying to eliminate this nasty virus.
But of course not all endings are happy 
The virus has different effects on our bodies & our bodies may react differently to it too. Some have great immune systems that can fight off the virus while some have compromised immune systems leading to worse symptoms.
The virus has different effects on our bodies & our bodies may react differently to it too. Some have great immune systems that can fight off the virus while some have compromised immune systems leading to worse symptoms.
So our best fight against it is still prevention. Don't let it enter your body in the first place! Wear your masks & practice social distancing.
Thanks for listening! Our next topic will be on diagnostics used for COVID-19. See you!
- admin Z
#BAMUAcademics #BAMUCOVIDSeries
Thanks for listening! Our next topic will be on diagnostics used for COVID-19. See you!
- admin Z
#BAMUAcademics #BAMUCOVIDSeries
