Cadet is working to combat the smallpox virus if such a possibility—an outbreak
striking
an unprotected population—occurred.
Why Viruses Are So Effective and Deadly… Time magazine warned of a potential influenza pandemic in an August 2009 issue. Inside its pages, it discussed how this or other viruses work. Viruses are minute parasites that cause everything from the common cold to influenza or even plagues such as smallpox.
Viruses are insidious and effective, gaining entry into an organism via many routes. The first line of human defense against viruses includes skin, tears and mucous. In the case of influenza, the virus typically enters via the respiratory system (most often through the nose and mouth.) Upon entry, the influenza virus launches a cellular invasion. Once a virus invades a cell, it replicates a copy of itself and proceeds to release the new viruses, who repeat the process again and again.
The body mounts a counter attack. Fortunately, the immune system possesses a memory for previous infections. In time, it creates and releases anti-viral antibodies, including “killer” T cells, which seek out and destroy an invading virus, blocking its progression. But many things may complicate or thwart our bodily defenses. If a virus makes a mistake—and doesn’t copy itself exactly—a mutation occurs. A virus that has mutated can “reassort” itself, and in so doing becomes deadlier. The mutated virus disarms the immune system, which cannot recognize it. If the virus doesn’t mutate, it means it has become “genetically” stable. (Compounds such as acyclovir or Tamiflu are specifically engineered to disarm and further weaken the power and spread of the virus.)
Researchers at the American College of Sports Medicine and Appalachian State University in North Carolina recently announced that people who exercise receive an immune boost. (However, there is also evidence that excessive or extreme exercise has the opposite effect, and actually suppresses immunity.) Judicious exercise also helps counters inflammation. and may reduce illness by up to 50 percent according to this newest study.
Graduate School Magazine
WINTER 2010
19