![]() ![]() About 3 or 4 in every 10 infected patients may die. Caused by a coronavirus, this extremely infectious disease can produce fever, cough and shortness of breath. MERS: Short for Middle East respiratory syndrome. This usually involves introducing some sort of disease-causing germ to an individual. Infect: To spread a disease from one organism to another. (v.) The act of providing a home or environment for something. Humans may be a temporary host for food-poisoning germs or other infective agents. Host: (in biology and medicine) The organism (or environment) in which some other thing resides. The health effects of most germs, however, remain unknown. Others can promote the health of more complex organisms, including birds and mammals. Germ: Any one-celled microorganism, such as a bacterium or fungal species, or a virus particle. Symptoms included pneumonia, fever, headaches and trouble breathing. The family also includes viruses that cause far more serious infections, including SARS.ĬOVID-19: A name given the coronavirus that caused a massive outbreak of potentially lethal disease, beginning in December 2019. Most organisms, such as yeasts, molds, bacteria and some algae, are composed of only one cell.Ĭoronavirus: A family of viruses named for the crown-like spikes on their surface (corona means “crown” in Latin). Depending on their size, animals are made of anywhere from thousands to trillions of cells. ![]() Typically too small to see with the unaided eye, it consists of a watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall. This term is an adjective for something that has features that can be described in three dimensions - height, width and length.Ĭell: The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism. Such a tight grip may help the COVID-19 virus spread more easily from person to person, researchers now say.ģ-D: Short for three-dimensional. What’s more, it clings to its target on human cells 10 to 20 times as tightly as the SARS spike protein does to the same target. This confirmed that the new virus’s spike protein also is a shape-shifter. On February 19, 2020, researchers described the 3-D structure of the spike protein on the novel coronavirus behind the 2020 global pandemic. This allows them to get entry into those cells. ![]() Those spike proteins latch the virus onto a cell. They can change shape to interact with a protein on the surface of human cells. Their spike proteins work a bit like shape-shifting lock picks. See all our coverage of the coronavirus outbreakĮxamples of coronaviruses include those that cause Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Spike proteins play an important role in how these viruses infect their hosts. Under the microscope, those spikes can appear like a fringe or crown (and corona is Latin for crown). Spiked proteins are what give the viruses their name. That means they contain a carbohydrate (such as a sugar molecule). Members of the coronavirus family have sharp bumps that protrude from the surface of their outer envelopes. ![]()
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