Medical Microbiology - The Adventures of Pete the Poliovirus
Montāžas Teksta
- Daily Bus Ride
- Muahahahaha...ready or not, here I come!
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- Finally Home
- This looks like an easy victim. The immune cells barely even noticed me!
- Starting to Feel Unwell
- Hehehehehe...she's gonna feel this in the morning
- It was an average day for Lucy as she was riding the bus on the way home. She normally gets out of work earlier, but today she had some extra things to complete, so the bus was more crowded than usual. Little did she know that the man she sat next to, whom she shook hands with, had Pete the Poliovirus on them. Turns out someone didn't wash their hands after using the restroom (transmitted mainly through the fecal-oral route). Pete the Poliovirus is a single-stranded RNA virus who only targets humans. He is a Poliovirus type 1, as the WPV2 and WPV3 viruses have been eradicated from the earth.
- Doctor's Office
- Wooohoooo we almost got her
- Lucy was exhausted from her long day at work, and was excited to finally be home. She was unaware that she was bringing Pete the Poliovirus home. Pete also has a naked capsid with four structural proteins: VP1, VP2, VP3, and VP4, has a dense core, and has an icosahedral shape. Pete the Poliovirus replicates rapidly through the lytic cycle first in the cells of the pharynx and the gastrointestinal tract, and possibly the neurons or the central nervous system (which is much more rare, but can be extremely dangerous) which requires the expression of the CD155 receptor (the poliovirus receptor/PVR) for infection. In order to replicate, the virus must attach to the target cel, bind to the receptor, pass through the capsid, release its RNA into the cell, which moves toward a ribosome in order to replicate until the cel busts, releasing tons of new polioviruses into the bloodstream.
- Doctor Gets Infected
- As the sun began to set and Lucy started to wind down for bed, Lucy noticed that she wasn't feeling well. She thought it was just exhaustion from the week--it was Friday after all--so she didn't think much of it and went to bed.
- Doctor vs. Pete the Poliovirus
- Nooooooooooo!
- When Lucy awoke this morning, she felt absolutely awful. Her head was pounding and it felt like it was on fire. Her joints and muscles were aching, she had a sore throat, and her stomach was upset, causing her to feel nauseous. She decided to visit the doctor, who after testing her stool and throat, diagnosed her with poliovirus (he could've also diagnosed her with a spinal tap, but he didn't deem that invasive procedure necessary).
- The doctor explained to Lucy that she is one of the lucky patients--she is just facing minor symptoms. Some people with polio become paralyzed when infected, which can become deadly if any of the vital organs/muscles, such as the heart and breathing muscles, become paralyzed as well. The doctor recommended some NSAIDs to ease the head-and-body aches and that she get plenty of rest. The doctor tells her that vaccination is really the only way to prevent polio infection. The doctor also warns Lucy that there is a possibility of the Pete the Poliovirus lying dormant in her cells for some time, causing a latent infection in the future (usually 15-40 years after infection), which known as post-polio syndrome (PPS) and causes symptoms such as muscle weakness, fatigue, and joint pain.
- Ooooooooo...another victim I see
- Pete the Poliovirus was happily thriving in Lucy's system and had already replicated itself several times, but he felt an urge to infect another human. Pete leaped straight into the doctor's mouth after forgetting to wash his hands before eating a sandwich after diagnosing Lucy. Pete was unaware that the doctor was vaccinated. Immediately the immune system of the doctor began to attack Pete, until he existed no longer and was defeated once and for all.
- White blood cells
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