Key Takeaways: Module 1: Virology, Coronaviruses, and COVID-19

What is a virus?
A virus is a microscopic organism that relies on its host (like people, plants, or animals) to make
more of itself. It contains a genetic code (DNA or RNA) that acts as a blueprint for the virus to
make more of itself. During an infection, the virus will hijack your cells and use them to
package its genetic code with proteins and other molecules into new virus particles. The new
viruses will then spread through your body and out into the environment.

Why does a virus make us feel sick?

• A virus uses resources in the human body to make more of itself, a process that can
damage organs and divert resources from normal bodily functions.
• In response, the human body activates the immune system to fight off the virus, and
this defense also can drain resources and trigger processes like inflammation and fevers
that will make you feel sick.

What happens when someone is exposed to the virus and how does someone
get rid of a virus?
The human body is constantly trying to figure out the right reactions when it gets exposed to a
virus.

• If a person has been previously infected or has been vaccinated, their immune system
will be primed to remember the reaction and will quickly make the right defenses, like
antibodies and T-cells, to fight the virus. These defenses can protect the body from the
virus or prevent it from spreading.
• If a person has never been infected with the virus or hasn’t been vaccinated, the
immune system tests all the tools it has to find the right defense. Hopefully, the immune
system eventually creates the right defenses, which will bind to the virus (antibodies)
and find and destroy all the infected cells (T-cells) to stop the disease spread.

After recovering from a virus, can the person get sick again?
The short answer is, it depends.

Sometimes the immune system can figure out the perfect defense and remember that perfect
tool for the rest of the person’s life. In this case, the person will be protected and will not get
sick again from the same virus.

Sometimes the immune system remembers the tools for only a short period of time and then
immunity wanes. That’s why there are booster shots for some diseases—to remind the immune
system and keep the right defenses activated.

How well the immune system responds to different viral infections depends on age, genetics,
previous vaccines, and prior infections or other exposures during a person’s lifetime.
Why does COVID-19 make so many people sick?
The COVID-19 outbreak combines two factors: most people don’t have immunity and the
disease is easily spread.

• It is an emerging infectious disease, which means the human population has not
previously been infected. The disease has recently emerged from the natural host
animal in the wild.
• Because most people do not have immunity to the virus, each person’s immune system
must test all its tools to try to find the right defenses to protect the body. That takes
time, allowing the virus to replicate and potentially spread.