TeachableMedicalNews article 03172023
Teachable moment in classrooms:
- chemical basis of life chapter – proteins can be cut by hydrolysis using proteases
- cellular basis of life chapter – transmembrane proteins can serve as receptors
- cellular basis of life chapter – RNA is translated into proteins on ribosomes
- microbiology – lifecycle of RNA viruses
The news item: Recently this news appeared online
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jul/23/bidens-health-improving-after-second-day-paxlovid-/
The article states that President Biden received Paxlovid treatment after his diagnosis of COVID infection. The article doesn’t explain anything about Paxlovid itself.
So, Why Do I Care?? At the time of writing this blog post the number of COVID infections numbered 765 million with 6.78 million deaths worldwide. There is a small number of people (less than 1% of infections) who suffer serious health consequences, and even die because of this virus. Early intervention, such as the use of oral antiviral drugs is a promising way to prevent the development of serious illness. The way Paxlovid acts may provide a template on how antiviral drugs may treat other virus-borne illnesses.
Plain English, Please!!!
First, let’s talk about why corona viruses can cause so much damage to our bodies. Corona viruses is an organism that can not multiply without a cell hosting it. In order to multiply, corona viruses hijack the RNA making and the protein-making capacities of the host cell. Viral hijacking means that the host cell can not make RNA and proteins for the host’s own use, and the host cell dies as a consequence of the infection. Therefore, the main direct damage from corona virus infection is the killing of our own cells.
Second, let’s talk about how Sars-CoV-2 hijacks cells. Once a corona virus enters a living host cell, the long RNA of the virus snatches the ribosomes of the host cell, and is transcribed into a long, viral