I am writing this text with the idea that a better knowledge of the nature of the danger we are facing reduces the level of uncertainty and thus also the level of fear. Science is sometimes illogical. Viruses are said not to be alive, although they reproduce successfully (=replicate), because they need living cells to do so. Toxoplasma needs a cat for its development, and no one will say that it is not alive. Viruses are small non-creatures that enter living organisms with the aim of multiplying as much as possible. Living organisms react differently to their actions. For example, a number of viruses live in our intestinal microbiome without harming us and some of them help us. Until man separated himself from contact with living nature by a series of hygienic measures, a whole series of infections took place at an age when they did not harm man. For example, a century ago, most children were infected with poliovirus, i.e. the polio virus, at an early age, and the disease took the form of diarrhea for several days, and the child was immunized. It was similar with type A jaundice. Then the drinking water began to be carefully purified, and infections with worse consequences only appeared at a later age.
New viruses that arrive have a different fate in the body and the body works differently. For example, the hepatitis C virus, known primarily from drug injection applications, needs a liver cell to reproduce. He himself will not damage it - the damage is only caused by the way the organism defends itself ineptly and thus succeeds in destroying its own tissue instead of the virus. On the other hand, the coronavirus that is running here now destroys the tissue in the alveoli directly. and thus causes a varying severity of deterioration of oxygen intake in the lungs. In addition, the coronavirus can trigger a general immune alarm, when the system overreacts and causes a picture of sepsis. The cells also send out their signals, and something like panic can also break out inside our organism. An infected person first goes through a stage when the virus replicates and when the difficulties may not be significant. It is mainly a dry cough and temperature. Then follows the phase of the immune response, which is variously stormy. It follows that all antiviral treatment should start immediately, because that's where these remedies (vitamin C, onions, garlic, ginger, anti-inflammatory drugs) can work more effectively. It is important to avoid the virus. Quarantine measures are not bullshit. It is a desperate effort to stop the spread of the virus, which the government completely underestimated. We are not powerful idiots, we are reasonable people. So let's behave sensibly. Let's not risk it. And we're not crazy either. One should spend some time with oneself. Don't take staying at home as a prison, but as those sweet moments when we got out of school and could do what we didn't have time for otherwise. Let's paint our monsters and then tear them apart! Let's get rid of stress. Remember the creativity of the generations of 1968, when the occupiers invaded; that was a lot of ideas!!! Decimate the virus with humor. MDr. Radkin Honzákpsychiatrist Author's blog: http://blog.aktualne.cz/blogy/radkin-honzak.php