ABOUT CELLS, BACTERIA AND VIRUS

It is always good to learn more.  We definitely like it 😊 That is why we now for seven years just after our breakfast have read and discussed questions and answers from a special French calendar – called Almaniac. Each year’s edition has 365 questions and answers. A new one each day. And not just 2-3 lines, but two full pages. 

There are many Almaniacs to choose from each year. In 2018 we selected one called POURQUOI?  WHY.  About all sorts of interesting topics. In 2019 our choice was:  365 PROOFS ON HOW THE WORLD GETS BETTER.   And this year, 2020, we have chosen CULTURE GÈNÈRALE – Culture in general.  For French people everything is culture. So, we are dealing with lots of different topics from all aspects of life.  This is great.  And as it is all in French it also gives us the opportunity to improve our relationship to the mother tongue of Molière and Macron!

We are – as we all know – right now unfortunately living in a virus time. Therefore, it is very relevant that we the last three mornings have been dealing with cells.  Not prison cells, but real cells.  Cells that you and I are built from.  And this has also something to do with virus.

This will not be a scientific essay. So, do not fall asleep already 😊   A cell is the smallest element in all living organisms. Be careful not to confuse it with an atom, which is the smallest part of any material, also of a cell.  About the size: 1 atom is 0,1 nanometer. So it takes 10 billion atoms to make a meter.  1 cell is in average 100.000 times bigger than an atom. Or to illustrate it in another way: if an atom is an ant, the cell will be the Eiffel Tower!

All cells contain the so-called DNA. It steers the production of proteins and much more. You can say that the DNA defines, who each of us are.  Each person has her or his own DNA. That is why you can use it to find the criminals in a movie – and in real life.

There are different sorts of cells. One of the is the BACTERIA.  It consists of just one cell.  And you can say that the bacteria have a very bad reputation. They are causing serious illnesses like plague, colera, syphilis and tuberculosis. And that is, of course, bad enough.  But it is very unfair to see all bacteria in that light. Because it is only a tiny part of all bacteria, which belong to the “evil and dangerous part”. The huge majority are extremely useful. Our life depends upon them. Without them – no life. They are especially on our skin and in particular in our digestive system. There are about 500 different ones – and in number each of us have ten times more bacteria than the number of our own cells.   As we all know, you can fight bacteria with antibiotics. But it is not difficult to understand that you have to avoid using too much antibiotics, as it might also kill the friendly and useful ones.

Now, we come to our troublemaker, the VIRUS. This is not a cell. You can say that it is sort of parasite, which is 1000 times smaller than a cell. It needs to attach itself to a cell to transfer its own DNA to the cell – and thereby take over the cell.  And now it can get the cell to produce new and perhaps a different virus. Before long the whole body is infected by the virus.  This is called to become ill ☹   So they are very sneaky.  The way ahead is to let your body’s immune system fight the virus – preventing it from entering your cells. And if needed vaccine can assist the immune system – if an appropriate vaccine exists. It often doesn’t. 

One question still to be asked:  I have always been told that anything, even the most negative and dangerous ones, also serve some positive functions.  Does Virus do that??