I’m so small that 350,000 viruses like me can fit on a grain of sand!
Viruses and humans have always lived together on Earth. It wasn’t always an easy coexistence... I have to admit that viruses have always made things DIFFICULT for humans. Pandemics cause the most havoc.
A pandemic is when a disease spreads across the world. The disease called smallpox was a pandemic. And so was the Spanish flu in 1918.
HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR US
TO
TRAVEL
SO MUCH? It’s thanks to you!
Oh yes, you heard me right. We don’t use planes, cars, or bicycles, but people!
For example, I sneak into your body through the NOSE , dodging hairs and boogers, and weeee! I get straight to the LUNGS . And I have to admit, I sometimes cause serious damage.
I generally only make people feel a little bit ill for a few days, but sometimes I can be very dangerous!
I’m so strong that I have already traveled around the whole world! Drugs are usually used to stop my relatives, but I’m new, and scientists don’t know enough about me yet.
Scientists are looking for a vaccine to stop my obstinate behavior!
What’s a vaccine? It’s a weapon that we are very afraid of, discovered many years ago by humans to reduce, or even stop, the spread of many diseases. Here’s how it works: small amounts of one of us, that is, the virus they want to defeat, are introduced into the human body with an injection. And then...
The body’s defenses , which are much higher in number, train to fight us without too many risks!
It’s not very sporting of you, if you ask me! But unfortunately for us, it works...
there is already a way to slow me down, and stop me from jumping from one person to another...
Stay at home and don’t play with your friends for a while.
It’s the only way to stop me hanging around.
That’s why you’ve skipped school for so long!
You see, I ‘m so good at hiding that some people don’t feel ill at all, and they unknowingly carry me around with them, and infect other people.
Scientists have even written some rules!
So that everyone, including you kids, can prevent me from traveling.
1 - Wash your hands often with soap and water .
2 - Don’t put your fingers in your mouth.
3 - No picking your nose!
4 - Don’t wipe your nose with your hand! Use a tissue. (Although you shouldn’t do that anyway).
To Carlo Urbani, Li Wenliang, and all the doctors who look down on us from heaven, because they have watched over us during every single epidemic.
Valeria Barattini has a master’s degree in Economics and Management of Arts and Cultural Activities from the Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, and a master’s degree in Standards for Museum Education from the Roma Tre University. Her job involves cultural didactics and planning. She has been collaborating with Fosforo since 2015, organizing events and activities in the field of scientific dissemination and informal teaching.
Mattia Crivellini After graduating from the University of Bologna with a degree in Computer Science, Mattia went on to study Cognitive Sciences at Indiana University in the United States. Since 2011, he has been the director of Fosforo, the science festival in Senigallia, and he also organizes and plans activities, conferences, and shows for the communication and dissemination of science in Italy and abroad, through the Cultural Association NEXT.
Victor Medina is a freelance illustrator who lives in Madrid, where he graduated in Design at Universidad Complutense. Victor’s style combines the use of geometry and colour with his main influences: Art Deco, the Victorian era, and the design and illustration of the 50s. His first picture book, “Puertos” won the Applied Arts Young Blood Illustration Award and a Premio Crítica Serra D’or.
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