HOW DANGEROUS VIRUSES ARE?

Humans are fighting viruses since before human species had even evolved into its modernized form. 

For a couple of viral diseases, vaccines and antiviral drugs have allowed us to remain infections from spreading widely, and have helped sick people recover. For one disease  smallpox  we've been able to eradicate it, ridding the earth of latest cases. But we're an extended way from winning the fight against viruses. In recent times, several viruses have shifted from animals to humans and riggeredserious outbreaks, effecting thousands of lives. 

The viral strain that drove the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreaks in West Africa kills up to 90% of the people it infects, making it the foremost lethal member of the Ebola family. But there are other viruses out there that are equally deadly, and a couple of that are even deadlier. Severe viruses, such as the novel covid-19 currently driving outbreaks around the world, still pose a big threat to human health as we don't yet have the means to combat them. Viruses can infect every living thing -- from plants and animals right right down to the tiniest bacterium. It’s because of this reason; they have the potential to be dangerous to human life.

Ebola virus 

The primary known Ebola outbreaks in humans struck simultaneously within the Republic of the Sudan and thus the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976.by coming in contact with infected persons and animals. 

Different  strains vary dramatically in their deadliness, according to Elke Muhlberger, an Ebola virus expert and professor of microbiology at Boston University, told Live Science.One strain, Ebola Reston, doesn't even make people sick. apart from the Bundibugyo strain, the death rate is up to 50%, and it's up to 71% for the Sudan strain, according to WHO. The outbreak  in West Africa began in 2014, and is the most severe and most complex outbreak of the disease so far , according to WHO.

HIV 

An estimated 32 million people have died from HIV since the disease was first recognized within the first 1980s. "The disease that takes the foremost important toll on mankind immediately is HIV," Adalja said. 

It was only possible for people to live for years with HIV because of Powerful and effective antiviral drugs. But the disease continues to devastate many low- and middle-income countries, where 95% of latest HIV infections occur. 

It has been observed that approximately 1 out of 25 adults within the WHO African region is HIV-positive, affecting  for quite two-thirds of the people living with HIV worldwide.

Dengue 

Dengue virus first appeared within the 1950s within the Philippines and Thailand, and has since spread throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the planet. Up to 40% of the world's population now lives in areas where dengue is endemic, and thus the disease with the mosquitoes that carry it is perhaps getting to spread farther because the planet warms. Vaccination for Dengue was approved in 2019 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be utilized in children 9-16 years old living in an areas where dengue is common .

Rotavirus

Vaccines are now available to protect children from rotavirus, the leading explanation for severe diarrheal illness among babies and young children.

This virus spreads rapidly, through the fecal-oral route (means that tiny particles of feces end up being consumed).Although children within the developed world rarely die from rotavirus infection, the disease could also be a killer within the developing world, where rehydration treatments aren't widely available. 

SARS-CoV 

The virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, first appeared in 2002 within the Guangdong of southern China, according to the WHO. 

This virus was found to emerge in bats, and then jumped into nocturnal mammals called civets before  infecting humans. After triggering a plague in China, SARS spread to 26 countries around the world, infecting quite 8000 people and killing quite 770 over the course of two years. The disease causes fever, chills and body aches, and sometimes progresses to pneumonia, a severe condition during which the lungs become inflamed and fill with pus. SARS has an estimated deathrate of 9.6%, and as of yet, has no approved treatment or vaccine. However, no new cases of SARS are reported since the primary 2000s, according to the CDC. 

SARS-CoV-2 

SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the same large family of viruses as SARS-CoV, mentioned as coronaviruses, and was first identified in December 2019 within the Chinese city of Wuhan. The virus likely originated in bats, like SARS-CoV, and skilled an intermediate animal before infecting people. This virus has infected thousands of people in China and many others worldwide. As well as the continued outbreak resulted into quarantine of Wuhan and other nearby cities, restrictions on visit and from affected countries and a worldwide effort to develop diagnostics, treatments and vaccines. 

The disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, called COVID-19, has an estimated deathrate of about 2.3%. folks that are older or have underlying health conditions seem to be most in peril of getting severe disease or complications.

CONCLUSION 

Unfortunately for humans, some viral infections outpace the system. Viruses can replicate more quickly than the system, which provides them a leg up in uninterrupted replication. and a couple of viruses, like HIV, work essentially by tricking the system . Viruses cause many diseases, including colds, measles, chicken pox, HPV, herpes, rabies, SARS and thus the flu. Though they're small, they pack a huge punch - which they will only sometimes be sent into exile.

AUTHOR:

Dr Rajni Hooda

 (Assistant professor)

Department of Applied Sciences

Geeta Engineering College , Panipat