In this interview, Dr. Joseph Minari, a molecular biologist and the Sub-Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, explains the general nature of viruses and why they are dangerous. He speaks with Associate Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF.
Nature of viruses
When we talk about viruses, they are microscopic agents that most times when outside the host cells, may be inactive. But when they come in contact with the cell, they become active. They take up the characteristics of living things, which means that they can now replicate. That is what they do. Most times, they have high rate of replication. What they do most of the times is that they colonise the host cell and use the parameters of the host cell to produce more of their own. This is because most of the time they contain the genetic makeup, which is what controls the information. The genetic content could be DNA or RNA.The difference between DNA and RNA is that the DNA needs to be transcribed to RNA and from RNA the proteins or traits will now be expressed.
Viruses have a coat and nucleic acid, which is the one that carries the information of the genetic makeup inside. Outside the host cell, they (viruses) are just there; but when they come in contact with host cell, they colonise it, go inside it and release their nucleic apparatus inside and replicate. One will go inside but before you it, within a split second, they are already in their hundreds. They will continue in that form of replication as long as they have access to a living cell that they can use to replicate. It is not just in humans; even a virus can colonise a bacteria, which is also a microorganism. So, a virus can colonise a bacteria and use that bacteria as an apparatus to reproduce itself. Ability to colonise the apparatus of the host cell and use it to reproduce themselves is one major striking attribute of viruses. That is why people need to be careful when it comes to viruses and should not take it for granted.
How viruses affect human beings
Most of the time, when they come into humans, the body has the mechanism to actually attack them. We have the anti-bodies, which are part of the immune system. This is not peculiar to only viruses; immediately they sense any foreign body, the anti-bodies will come up to mop it up. Most of the times, when the immune system is strong enough to cope with it, most likely the person may recover. But if the immune system is not strong enough or when the immune system has been compromised, there is a possibility that the rate of replication of the virus may actually outweigh the antibodies trying to mop up the virus. Some of the time, inflammation and mucus generation may be as a result of the body trying to cope or the body trying to destroy the virus or mop up the virus, which eventually causes inconveniences for human beings. If eventually, the body is unable to cope, it will continue to spread from one cell to the other until it takes over and destroys the whole cells and the cells will begin to malfunction. And if care is not taken, it may lead to death if the body is no longer able to cope.
The disease called COVID-19
It is a disease caused by SARS-COV2. That is the severe acute respiratory syndrome (coronavirus 2). The first SARS we had then was also caused by coronavirus (SARS-COV). But this novel one is called SARS-COV2, which is now known as COVID-19. As I said earlier, viruses contain genetic information. There is what we call mutation; the organism will want to select or adapt to the environment. In an attempt to adapt, there may be a shift in the genetic sequence that controls the information. By the time it does that, the kind of trait it is going to bring out will change. Initially, this coronavirus has been moving from animals to animals. But by the time it moves from animals to man, there is no too much spread, but when it tries to adapt, there is mutation and it is able to adapt to humans to infect humans and feed on the host to start spreading among humans. We still have some other strains of it among animals. If they get in contact with humans, they may not have any effect. But if there is mutation or they are able to adapt to human beings, it becomes a problem.
For COVID-19, one major thing to note about the virus is that it is an RNA virus. If it is a DNA virus, it may need to go to RNA first before it goes into protein. But because it is an RNA virus, it has skipped one step and it is easier to go into the protein. There are what we call the structural genes and the accessory genes. Of importance is that the structural gene has the tendency to mutate, which means the information can change. What this means is that the drug you are trying to use to attack the virus may not appropriately fit in. That is why they say there is resistance to some drugs; that the drug that somebody used and worked is no longer working. That is one major thing about this virus that we need to be careful about. There is why all hands have been on deck in the Western world trying to work on different vaccines to make sure that we are able to cope regardless of where the mutation goes to. Another thing to note is that it is the spike protein that the virus uses to enter the cell to cause infections. It goes into the cell through receptor-mediated endocytosis and colonise the cell. It now uses the cell apparatus to replicate. It also has M gene that produces the membrane; the membrane also tries as much as possible to resist the anti-bodies too. But if the antibody is not compromised and is good enough and there is no major underlying medical issue (the antibodies are well produced), there is the likelihood of recovery. The body will produce more antibodies to take care of the virus; it is just a matter of time. That matter of time is like, literally speaking, you are fighting a war and eventually your body overcomes. But if there is a compromise in the immune system, definitely the virus will have a free day and will just continue to reproduce.
Misconceptions about COVID-19
Because there have been adaptions and selections of this virus, work is still seriously ongoing since December last year. To a large extent, I can’t blame anybody yet because information about virus is still emerging. We are not too sure of anything. The WHO said it is not airborne but it said few weeks ago that it wanted to review its stand. Review it to what? People are confused. Yes, we know it could be found in droplets. But they said some people went for a meeting and observed social distancing but they did not use masks. And four of them were infected. People are now wondering that how come they got infected when they did not shake hands and observed social distancing. So far, it is proven that it comes out of droplets. It does not go in except through openings such as the nostrils, eyes, ears and any other openings. And the easiest way is through our hands. That is why we should be careful. If it is airborne, that will be more dangerous because it can just go in whether we touch our nose or not. To a large extent, I will still want us to go with the information provided by the WHO because in the world of science, we have to wait until there is proven information. We should try to disregard a lot of information on social media that is misleading. We should go ahead to observe social distancing, wash our hands as much as we can, let us use the sanitiser when we don’t have water and soap to wash our hands. As dangerous as the virus is, it is also fragile. Ordinary detergent will break the virus open and that would be its end. It is as fragile as that. Don’t let us take it for granted.
Let me also mention that, at a point, we were seeing this disease far away and we believed that it could not come to Africa. Now, it is in two ways. Research has shown that at a temperature higher than 25 or 26, the genome of the virus will be destabilised and if you raise the temperature a little bit, it may eve destroy the genome of the virus. That made us a little bit relaxed. But from what we are seeing, it is here now and our own temperature is still above 25/26. There is possibility that the virus is trying to adapt to our temperature. So, it is a major possibility and we should not take it for granted. Let us put all seriousness to see how we can nip it in the bud. Our lockdown should be properly observed. Yes, the temperature may not favour its spreading but we should not take it for granted because viruses can just change and escalate. Immediately it just adapts to that temperature, the strain will just continue to replicate easily. We will just be shocked. That is why it started slowly in some countries and there was a spike in the increase. Before you know, it will be running in hundreds and thousands. So far, information from the WHO is that nose mask should be for those that have been infected already or medical practitioners and all those working in the lab. It is just to prevent the droplets. Until it is otherwise stated, we should just stick to that because in science, we don’t base on speculations.
Assessing Nigeria’s response to COVID-19
Because of poor governance and when the disease came, it was imported and many people perceive that it is actually people in government that suffer the problem, it is making many people not to take it serious. People are being forced to stay at home, but people are saying when are they going to relax lockdown? Nobody is talking about the progress we have made and the number of infection is increasing on a daily basis. The fact that the number is increasing should be a concern to all of us. In Africa, the number of infection is almost doubled within two or three days. That should be a concern for us – not just the lockdown. Some people are observing the lockdown but some are not taking it serious. We may not have a very big healthcare system but we may be able to cope before the disease escalates like what we have in other countries with standard healthcare system. A lot of awareness still needs to be done because some people don’t believe there is coronavirus.
Leave a Reply