Meet an old friend

This is the time for facts, not fear.

This is the time for science, not rumours.

This is the time for solidarity, not stigma.

–WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus

What is Coronavirus?

It is one of the viruses that cause your run-of-the-mill common cold. Most people don’t bother memorizing details because it’s generally a nuisance rather than a serious medical illness. When medical students study infectious diseases, a topic that is a lot of rote memorization, this is what they usually remember the most:

(Yes, that is how medical students study.) <Picture of a rhino holding nyquil and a corona bottle>

Rhinovirus and Coronavirus share the following commonalities:

Causes upper respiratory illness (Rhinovirus causes around 80% of colds),
Transmitted by aerosols of respiratory droplets and direct contact,
Contains a single-stranded (RNA), positive sense virus

BUT, Coronavirus, as we have all figured out by now, comes in worse forms. Unlike Rhinovirus, it is “enveloped”, or protected by a covering. And, like other dangerous viruses, HIV for instance, this can give it some extra protection against mammalian immune systems.

Remember, this is a virus. Antibiotics do not work on viruses. That’s why physicians do not prescribe antibiotics for colds. Like all other viruses, it does not have its own cell. Viruses are the ultimate catfish. They scam your cells into thinking they belong inside and begin a parasitic relationship. Coronavirus uses your cell ribosomes to start copying it’s RNA, rather than your own! Then it uses your cell’s building blocks to replicate itself.

Coronavirus is hard to grow in labs. Which means it’s hard to test and develop antivirals and vaccinations for it.

You’ve heard of Coronavirus before! It is the culprit behind MERS and SARS, and now introducing….drumroll please…. COVID-19.

The name is deliberately designed to remove references to location and animals and standardize the names of the eventual yearly mutations. Mainly, the WHO does not want to destroy the economy by constantly referencing a potential pandemic arising from China.

By the way, your common cold Coronavirus has names too, like 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1.

References to read:
https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-statement-on-ihr-emergency-committee-on-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/about/symptoms.html

Coronavirus = crown virus due to it's appearance on electron microscopy

Lovely to see you here!

Little by little we will build a library of easy to read info that will demystify the topics of the day.

Agnodice may not have been real, but her friends are, and we hope to embody what she represents.

She was legendarily the first female physician in ancient Greece. She studied under Herophilus, one of the most important anatomists in history. While working in Athens she brought medical care to women who had previously refused to see male doctors. She did have to appear to be a man because it was illegal for her to be a doctor The other doctors soon became suspicious that she was seducing all these women who wanted to be her patients, but not theirs. While on trial, she takes of her shirt and breasts proved that she was a woman, I guess. But, that’s illegal too!
Then all the women of powerful families from Athens rallied around her and made it legal for a woman to practice medicine.

Herophilus and Agnodice are controversial in their own ways- can anyone say vivisection!?- but that’s a story for another day.

What will you see here?

Education about some of the most important medical issues affecting you
How to achieve financial freedom
How to be healthy financially and medically
Find out about some of your kindred spirits from the past and their amazing stories
Lots of corny pictures