A Mysterious Virus: Understanding the Science Behind Pandemics

In 2020, the threat of a global pandemic suddenly became a reality, and the world was caught off guard. We've faced disease outbreaks before, such as SARS, Zika, and Ebola, but what happens when a virus gets out of control and goes global? To answer this question, we spoke to Dr. Eric Toner, one of the world's leading experts in pandemics.

Dr. Toner explained that all epidemics tend to start slowly, with one person infecting a couple of others, who then infect a few more people, and so on. It's often only when the virus has spread too far for us to miss its early warning signs that we realize we're facing a global disaster. "We had no idea about something like SARS," Dr. Toner said. "We had no idea about MERS; we had no idea about Zika. We have to be prepared for the unexpected."

The Coronavirus pandemic is unlike anything we've ever seen before. It's spread quickly around the world, infecting thousands of people and causing widespread fear and uncertainty. But despite its rapid spread, Dr. Toner emphasized that there is one thing we can do to slow it down: self-isolation. "There is no way to completely stop this virus," he said. "It can't be contained. It can only be slowed down." By staying at home and avoiding contact with others, we can reduce the spread of the virus and protect ourselves and those around us.

So how does the Coronavirus work? The virus is covered in tiny spike proteins that attach to receptors in our lungs and create openings in the cell walls. The virus injects its genetic material into the cell and takes over, forcing the cell to make more and more copies of the virus. The result is a cell that explodes and shoots out thousands of virus particles.

The Coronavirus has also had a devastating impact on our lungs. Our lungs become inflamed, they swell with fluid, and in severe cases, they can kill people because they fail. But despite this dire prognosis, there is hope. Researchers are working on a way to transfer immunity, helping people fight the virus before they even get sick.

At the Vanderbilt vaccine center in Nashville, Tennessee, scientists are analyzing the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID-19. They're looking for antibodies, tiny proteins made by white blood cells that bind with the virus's spike proteins and effectively neutralize it. Some antibodies work better than others, and the team at Vanderbilt is working to isolate those that are most effective. If successful, this could lead to a treatment by the end of 2020 – a medication that could be given to high-risk people before they get Coronavirus.

But analysis of blood samples isn't the only way to find virus killers. Down the road from Vanderbilt at the University of Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researchers are using the world's most powerful supercomputer, Summit, to simulate the virus and test existing drugs against it. In just a few days, they found 76 potential drug compounds that might just work.

Fighting a global pandemic is not a short battle. Research takes time, but unlike a century ago, when the world was blindsided by influenza, this time we have technology on our side. Technology has revolutionized our response to this pandemic, allowing us to communicate around the world in real-time and develop new treatments and vaccines much faster than ever before.

Self-isolation, quarantine, and other low-fi ways of stopping the spread are still essential tools in our fight against the Coronavirus. But with technology on our side, we can do more. We can track the virus's spread in real-time, identify potential hotspots, and develop targeted treatments to combat it. And most importantly, we can stay informed and up-to-date with the latest news and developments.

The situation is dire, but there is hope. With the help of technology, researchers, and scientists, we can fight back against this pandemic and emerge stronger and more resilient than ever before.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enClaire Reilly: A mysteriousvirusan unexplained illness.Claire Reilly: An early outbreakthat swept across the world.In 2020, the threat of a globalpandemic suddenly became areality.And the world was completelycaught off guard.We've faced disease outbreaksbefore.SARS, Zika, Ebola.But what happens when a virusgets out of control and goesglobal?We're on a mission to show youthe cutting edge science andtechnology, that could help usfight backWhen we started working on thisseries in 2019, we set out tolearn everything we could aboutpandemics.Back then the idea of aterrifying global outbreak feltlike the stuff of sciencefiction.Our best defense has been socialdistancing.But we wanted to speak to theworld's leading expertsto find out what it would looklike in real life.And before long, one thing wasclear.It wasn't a matter of if, butwhen.Eric Toner: Another one willhappen sometime. We just don'tknow when.Unknown: Well, the Coronavirushas now spread to nearly 100countries and territories.Claire Reilly: The entirecountry has now been placedunder lockdown.The World Health Organizationofficially characterized theCOVID-19 outbreak as a globalpandemic today.When the new Coronavirus firsthit China, doctors didn't knowwhat they were looking at.China went into lockdown to tryand contain the virus but It wastoo late.Cases of COVID-19, the diseasecaused by this new Coronavirus,started appearing around theworld.The Coronavirus quickly drewcomparisons to the great flupandemic of 1918.Back then one third of the humanpopulation was infected.And over the course of two years50 to 100 million people died.I got a taste of what that darktime was like at the MutterMuseum in Philadelphia.According to historian RobertHicks, patients could go fromfeeling healthyto being dead in a matter ofhours.Robert Hicks: It is not a prettypicture, headaches, fatigue,maybe loss of appetite.In the severe cases where itbecame lethal, the skin mightstart to turn blueThe lung disintegration wouldsound like something crunching.So if you take bubble wrap andcrunch it in your hands,you're getting that poppingsensation that you might hearfrom aflu victim on the way out.Claire Reilly: While the worldhas seen epidemics before,historians and health expertsstill don't completelyunderstand why this one hits sohard.Robert Hicks: Nobody knows whythe flu pandemic was socatastrophic.There'd been flu before the wordhad been in common usage, and itmeant specific symptoms.It didn't mean just a bad cold,which is the way some peopletalk about it now,but it meant a very seriousdebilitating disease that onesoldier who got it in World WarOne said it was like beingclubbed with a big wooden malletall the time.Can it happen now?Yes, will it happen in thefuture?The experts say it's just amatter of time.Claire Reilly: But how can theworld possibly prepare for aglobal disaster if we don't knowit's coming?Back in 2019, we met with Dr.Eric toner from the JohnsHopkins Center for HealthSecurity.He's one of the world's leadingexperts in pandemics,and he knows what it takes tofight a disease on a globalscale.What takes us from a couple ofoutbreaks of people having thesniffles to a massive pandemic?Eric Toner: All epidemics tendto start slowly. It's one personinfecting a couple of otherpeoplewho infect a couple of morepeople.And so it builds very slowlyuntil we almost always missedthe beginning of an epidemic.Claire Reilly: Is there a chancethat we could be caught offguard by some sort of horriblemutant bat influenza orsomething like that?Eric Toner: Yes, and we probablywill be.That's, that's the nature ofthese things.We had no idea about somethinglike SARS. We had no idea aboutMERS we had no idea about Zika.We have no idea what's gonna popup next, but we have systems inplace that we can see it whereit pops up first.So it gives us a little bit oftime to prepare,if we don't happen to be unluckyenough to be in the city whereIt first appeared.Unknown: Coronavirus began inChina several months ago. Andsince then the virus and fear ofit have been spreading aroundthe world.Claire Reilly: So I'm here in myapartment and in the few monthsit's been since we interviewedEric Toner, things have totallychanged.The whole of San Francisco whereI am is on a city wide lockdown,meaning we can't leave ourhouses unless it's for essentialwork or travel.People working from home andeveryone is kind of scared. Soin this context, I wanted tocatch up with Eric Toner againand find out just what we'refacing. Now that we're in thisnew world order of a globalCoronavirus pandemic.Eric Toner: This is unlikeanything we've seen before. Andthere is no way to completelystop this. It can't becontained. It can only be sloweddown.Claire Reilly: When did youfirst realize that this wasgoing to be so serious?Eric Toner: Well, sometime inmid to late January, it startedto become obvious that this wassomething that was unprecedentedin our lifetimes.This is going to end up being atruly historic, historically badevent.Claire Reilly: The Coronavirusis covered in lots of tiny spikeproteins.These spikes attached toreceptors in our lungs andcreate openings in the cellwalls.The virus injects its geneticmaterial into the cell and takesover,forcing the cell to make moreand more copies of the virus.The cell explodes and shoots outthousands more virus particlesEric Toner: Our lungs becominginflamed. They swell, they fillwith fluidand in severe cases end upkilling people because theytheir lungs fail.Claire Reilly: But there ishope.Researchers are working on a wayto transfer immunity,helping people fight the virusbefore they even get sick.At the Vanderbilt vaccine centerin Nashville, Tennessee,scientists analyzing the bloodof patients who've recoveredfrom COVID-19.The researchers are looking forantibodies,tiny proteins made by whiteblood cells.When a patient is infected withCoronavirus, their white bloodcells create these antibodies tofight the virus.The antibodies bind with theviruses spike proteins,stopping them from penetratinghuman cells and effectivelyneutralizing the virus.Some antibodies work better thanothers.That's what the team atVanderbilt is looking for,the antibodies that are the bestat hunting down and neutralizingthe virus.Once they're isolated, they canbe grown in a lab,and given to other patients toboost their immunity.And the best part, it could leadto a treatment by the end of2020.A medication that could be givento high risk people before theyget Coronavirus.But analyzing blood samplesisn't the only way to find viruskillers.Down the road from Vanderbilt atthe University of Tennessee'sOak Ridge National Laboratory,a team of researchers is tryingto find existing drugs thatcould fight Coronavirus,and they're doing it with thehelp of the world's mostpowerful supercomputer.The researchers simulated thevirus on Summit, a supercomputerdeveloped for the laboratory byIBM.In the simulations they pittedthe virus against drugs that arealready available.They wanted to see if the drugmolecule could bind to the virusto stop it sticking to humancells.Using the immense computingpower of summit,they found 76 70 drug compoundsthat might just work.Fighting a global pandemic isnot a short battle.This research takes time.But unlike a century ago, whenthe world was blindsided byinfluenza,this time, we've got technologyon our side.Eric Toner: Technology hasreally revolutionized ourresponse to this,being able to communicate aroundthe world in real time.Technology is revolutionizingthe way in which we can makedrugs and vaccines to do it muchfaster than we could ever do itbefore.Claire Reilly: Many of the wayswe can fight a pandemic haven'tchanged in centuries:Self isolation, quarantine.All really low-fi ways ofstopping the spread.But in 2020 and beyond, it'sreassuring to know thattechnology can give us an edge\n"