The main causes for which new infections of SARS-CoV-2 or Covid-19 are because the health security recommendations are not put into practice and on the other hand because of non-compliance with disinfection regulations.
A person can begin to spread the virus to others before symptoms appear, perhaps a day before, and then continue to spread the virus for at least seven days.
All viruses are different and this new one appears to be highly adapted to spread easily in humans.
This is where the real danger of SARS-CoV-2 lies and this is why health authorities are placing so much emphasis on social distancing.
The virus can only survive if it finds a new host to infect. When a person stays at home for 14 days, they eliminate the chances of spreading the virus to someone else.
Because covid-19 is so efficiently spread
Several studies are investigating what are the biological mechanisms that the virus uses to infect human cells so easily
Some scientists are focusing on the so-called spikes, the spike-shaped proteins that protrude from their surface in a crown.
Other studies are looking at the “gateway” that the virus uses to enter cells.
“Coronaviruses have that name because of the spike proteins that protrude from their surface, and these spikes are the ones that adhere to the cell to enter it,” explains Panagis Galiatsatos, professor of pulmonary medicine and intensive care at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The main mission of the virus once it enters the body is to create copies of itself, and to do so it needs to find a way to enter the cells.
Some studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 or Covid-19 is “sneaked” by a receptor or protein called ACE2.
This protein is found in many parts of the human body: in the lungs, heart, kidneys, and intestine, and its main function are to reduce blood pressure.
“ACE2 is on the surface of the cell and when the virus recognizes it, it attaches itself to it and thus enters the cell,” Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford, UK, explains to the BBS.
“Once inside, it uses the machinery of the cell as a factory to make copies of itself and its genetic material. After it escapes from the cell, of which only a shell remains, they are ready to start infecting other cells”.
Respiratory viruses, like the common cold, tend to reproduce in the nose and throat, where they can easily be spread by coughing or sneezing.
But other viruses only reproduce in the lower respiratory tract, in the lungs, where they are less easily spread but are much more dangerous.
Differences between SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses
One of the main differences of SARS-CoV-2 with other coronaviruses is that the other viruses attached to more cell receptors and therefore reproduced faster.
This caused the symptoms of the disease to appear much faster and patients could be isolated without causing as many infections.
With the new coronavirus, symptoms do not appear immediately and people can carry the virus and spread it without showing signs of the disease.
“SARS (from 2003) was a virus that was produced in the lungs and was not transmitted so easily because symptoms appeared quickly and the patient could be isolated,” explains Professor David Heymann, an expert in infectious diseases, to the BBC.
Covid-19 is contagious with the mucous areas, by contact, that is, being a heavy virus it falls on the surface, if we have gloves and a mask, it would be useless, since if we put our hand with the glove and not we take them to the face we would be infected
Undoubtedly the most effective way to avoid the spread of Covid-19 is by complying with the protocols established by the health authorities. It is a matter of conscience, care, and respect for our life and that of others.
