Many of us have suffered from a virus in our lifetime. Whether or not you realize it, the common cold is also a virus—its medical name is the Rhinovirus. Although these colds seem like no big deal, they take a toll on our bodies. For about two weeks, we are encountering a sour throat, sniffles, high fevers, an aggravating cough, and body aches. If this sickness interacts with another illness, the effects on your immune system can be detrimental. Namely, when your immunity is already compromised, your risk of catching another condition increases greatly. For instance, many people who get a bad cold often find that the stress on their body ends up activating another dormant virus, such as cold sores. Because the symptoms are similar, you may feel twice as sick as before. Consequently, both issues only prolong healing, and you find yourself taking double the amount of rest time due to exacerbated symptoms. Unfortunately, you may find yourself unproductive at work, unable to exercise at the gym, and may experience difficulty with regular family responsibilities.
However, the main issue is that there are no real cures for viruses. That’s because they have to run their course. Alternatively, doctors treat bacterial infections with antibiotics. But with a virus, it will not be effective. The reason is that bacteria live outside the cell, whereas viruses attack inside the cell, and they can’t reproduce on their own. Instead, they latch onto your healthy cells and replicate. Even worse, as opposed to bacterial infections, they are surrounded by a protective protein coating. Therefore, they don’t have walls that antibiotics can attack. Their strong defense is why medications are useless as a form of treatment.
How Do Viruses Work?
Believe it or not, viruses are considered self-replicating machines. They are small but highly destructive. In fact, they contain the DNA or instructional material to help the virus spread across the body. Typically, they function by latching onto host cells. However, they use their own resources and cellular architecture to replicate more of the virus. After that, the host cell dies, leaving the virus ownership of the cell.
Why Are They So Crippling?
Viruses can be crippling depending on their type and structure. Generally, they are classified into two major categories: made up of DNA or RNA. For example, one common DNA virus is known as the herpes virus, which commonly leads to chickenpox. On the other hand, HIV, SARS, and the Coronavirus are RNA, also known as retroviruses. The difference is that DNA viruses are double-stranded, while RNA subtypes are single-stranded. More importantly, DNA viruses are stable, and RNA variations are unstable with high replication rates. In addition, some of these types have long-term effects and can lay dormant to be reactivated later as a result of immune system imbalances.
Dormant Viruses
As crazy as it may seem, viruses have different phases within our bodies. When the virus remains inactive, it is known as the lysogenic part of the viral cycle. In other words, a latent virus remains in the system because, after initial infection, particle proliferation ceases. The primary issue is that although the virus is ‘laying low,’ its genome is not entirely eradicated from our bodies. At any point in time, it can reactivate (during the lytic part of the life cycle) without the host cell being reinfected. This alternation between active and dormant can continue throughout a person’s life. Unfortunately, these infections can remain inside us indefinitely. That’s why they can provide long-lasting effects.
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