Hola MaHigh-School - April 2020

In essence, it allows the body to identify the
‘intruder’ and destroy it. On top of, it ‘stores’
the info so when the real one is identified, the
body can fight it off as it knows what it is.
Our body is quite efficient at that. It only
needs to know in advance and it can by and
large do something dramatic about it very
fast.
Example? The yearly flu jab.
A cure is something completely different. This
is where we are sick and now we need to get
rid of it.
Antibiotics are the cure for bacterial infections
(not against a virus!). TB is bacterial and
can be cured. There are antibiotics which will
work.
When we look at a cure for a virus attack, it
gets a bit difficult. A virus is not ‘living’ so the
cure must attack something specific. It will
attack one specific illness. But how?
Antivirals typically inhibit the replication of
the virus. Hardly ever do they destroy the
virus. If we want to destroy a virus, we can use
viricides. But then we might also destroy a
lot of our own body as well. Bleach, Lysol and
other things are good at destroying a virus.
But be careful here!
Virus like to ‘stick’ to a surface (your skin).
Soap makes the skin ‘slippery’ and water will
wash the virus away. Simple! But it is not a
cure-all!