Know why corona virus attacks lungs
Have you wondered why Corona Virus mainly affects lungs and not the brain/ liver/ intestine or on any other organ. The virus enters the body through eyes, nose, and mouth. No doubt doctors insist to cover the mouth and nose.
The human our body is purely made up of cells. When the virus enters our body it mainly affects the cells which are at the boundary walls of the lungs. The cells near the boundary walls of the lungs are different from the cells of different parts of the body. The cell membrane near the boundary walls of the lungs contain some sort of spike like the virus has on its membrane. The spikes which the virus contains are called as ‘Spike Protein’ and the spikes which our cell membrane have are called as ‘Ace2 Receptors’.
Imagine the kernel in a coconut. It is of good quality as long as the outer layer is firm and intact. When someone makes a deep cut and leaves the coconut for days, bacteria enter and spoils the kernel. Similarly, the virus enters the body and causes discomfort as it ruptures the air passages on the outside of the lungs. It leads to inflammation and irritation and leads to cough.
While doing its work it raises our body temperature so that at least case some of the virus may die. When our immune system is fighting with the virus then our ‘Adaptive Immune System’ comes into action and releases antibodies which stick to the spike protein of the virus.
When the virus enters and sits on the membrane of the cell near the boundary walls of lungs, it interlocks its spike with the spike of our cell membrane, this mechanism works as a key and lock mechanism, now think that our Ace2 receptor is a lock and the key is Protein spike, when the virus sits on our cell membrane it functions as a lock and key mechanism. Now it has entered into our cell successfully.
After entering into our cell membrane, the virus ruptures its membrane and releases its R N A into the nucleus of our cell and makes some lakhs of copies of the virus in a single cell. As there are some lakhs of viruses in a single cell, the cell can no further bear the amount of viruses in it and bursts.
Infection becomes severe when the virus manages to make a foray past the lining of the airways and reaches the air sacs. These air sacs are crucial for the exchange of gas in the lungs. When the free flow of oxygen is restricted, the person infected finds it difficult to breathe which leads to pneumonia and lead to death.
