I want to thank everyone for their warm, kind, generous, and encouraging posts regarding my illness. I hope your New Year will be Unbelievably Fantastic. My curiosities about things at times perplex even me. But I have l always loved to learn new things. Just like some of my classes in high school and college, there are times when a teaching moment just makes you sick and tired. I need to thank my wife Cayan, my sister in-law Carol, and her daughter in-law Kristin for identifying my illness. It was Norovirus. I have no idea where or how my mother in-law or I were infected. It was one heck of a very bad and ugly experience. But our body is amazing, and unfortunately so are viruses. I hope the manner and approach of things that I learn in the future will be easier for me to appreciate. In the meantime, heres what I learned: VIRUSSafe: “(VIRUSES) they are one of the smallest things on earth. They range from 10 - 300 nanometers (nm) in diameter (1 nanometer = 1 billionth of a meter or one millionth of a millimeter. Noro is approximately 38 nanometers in diameter). Ingestion can happen from viral particles from feaces or vomit entering the body through your mouth, nose, or perhaps by touching your eyes. Step 2 These particles then move to your stomach, but here it doesnt do anything to cause illness. Step 3 They then enter your small intestine, and here the virus begins to multiply, which may take from 12-48 hours before you show any symptoms. The lining of your small intestine has appropriate attachments for the virus. It attaches itself and releases its genome (bio genes). Those genes shut down the cells normal functions and start taking control of the cell in order to make more viruses. So your cells become a factory for the virus replicating. (A virus cannot self replicate, it requires a living cell to reproduce). Step 4 The cells then explode or lysis releasing more copies of the virus. It then keeps going to more cells and repeats the process. Step 5 While this is happening your immune system response recognizes that cells are dying and T-cells allow your body to mount an immune response against it. They go to B-cells and produce antibodies. These antibodies then travel to the small intestine and inactivate the virus. (What an amazing thing the human body is!). During this time you are ill with the effects of the virus. The importance of your dietary intake is to be noted here, as a healthy diet gives the body a stronger immune system. The time taken for the body to produce antibodys is affected by our diets. Step 6 The vomiting process is a secondary response. Its your bodys way (evolutionarily) to respond to the infection. It doesnt actually do anything to help you. There is no need to get the virus out of your body, as it’s not in your stomach anyway, It’s in your intestinal tract. The brain may allow you to not vomit if you convince it to. While this is a fine idea when infected with Norovirus, it’s not if you’ve ingested a chemical poison. (0ne reason people vomit when they see another person vomit is to eject possible viral particles this is part of evolutionary development of mankind). Step 7 The antibodies deactivate the virus. The person who had the virus then becomes immune to this particular strain, even though it is highly contagious to others. (People are contagious up to 48hrs after the symptoms have passed).” cdc.gov/norovirus/about/index.html
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 20:45:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015