OVERVIEW OF CORONA VIRUS

What is Corona Virus?                       

                     Corona virus is a virus which is outspreading a pandemic i.e., COVID-19.Basically COVID-19 is a respiratory disease in which the lungs are affected the most. The name "CORONA" is given to the virus because of its crown like appearance and in Latin language "CORONA" means "CROWN". As the virus has spikes all over its surface which are made up of Glycoprotein which give it a crown like appearance.

The classification of virus is as follows:

• Kingdom - Virus.
• Phylum - RNA viruses.
• Order - Positive ssRNA Nidovirales.
• Family - Coronaviridae.
• Genus - Corona virus.

                       The size of virus ranges from 80-160nm and the molecular weight of its genome is 90 lakh daltons.

Symptoms of COVID-19

                        The symptoms of this disease are similar to common cold like sneezing and coughing but the main differentiating symptom of COVID-19 is difficulty in breathing and fever.

How does the virus infects?

                         The main area of infection is lungs. once the virus enters the body it finds its way to the alveoli of the lung which are very thin walled sac like structures which are functional unit of lungs and help in diffusion of respiratory gases. Every alveoli is surrounded by a network of blood capillaries through which blood is continuously flowing. As we inhale oxygen it reaches to the alveoli and from there it diffuses in the blood capillary and carbon dioxide from blood gets diffused in the alveoli which is expelled out, but when a person gets infected by the virus it causes inflammation in the wall of alveoli due to which it becomes thick and the diffusion of respiratory gases does not takes place and then accumulation of fluid takes place inside the alveoli gradually blocking it and leading to death.