Virus - translated from Latin, it means poison. This is the most mysterious creature known to man. They are a hundred times smaller than bacteria and a thousand times more dangerous. Smallpox, leprosy, "Spanish flu" - it is the viruses that are behind the devastating epidemics, which more than once put humanity on the brink of extinction. It would seem that medicine has already defeated the most terrible diseases of the past and is about to develop a universal vaccine against all infections. After all, hundreds of laboratories around the world are engaged in this. But don't jump to conclusions. The list of new viruses discovered by mankind is growing at an alarming rate.
Despite all the achievements of science, scientists still do not know the main thing - what are viruses and where do they come fromDmitry-Ivanovsky? But why are viruses so dangerous, and what do we really know about these creatures? It is not known for certain when the viruses appeared, maybe several million years ago, or maybe several billion. Meanwhile, the world learned about the existence of viruses just 100 years ago. And the discovery that turned science upside down belongs to the Russian scientist Dmitry Ivanovsky. He studied a mysterious disease that affected tobacco leaves.
The behavior of viruses is striking in its thoughtfulness; a whole program is laid in these creatures, the purpose of which is to subdue the world. Any virus is somewhat similar to a syringe. Having penetrated into the body, it injects its DNA into the cells and this program now controls their work, forcing them to produce more and more viruses. This is how the infection occurs. But what is it for the virus itself? The fact is that it cannot reproduce on its own. He definitely needs a carrier that the virus begins to control.
The properties of viruses to change the behavior of an infected object have long been known. For example, an infected silkworm caterpillar crawls to the very top of a tree. According to biologists, it is the virus that pushes her to this, which thus increases the territory of infection. To do this, he is introduced into the genes of the caterpillar and literally zombies it. And, perhaps, something similar happened to humanity at all stages of its development.
In 1964, the famous American virologist Daniel Carlton Gaiduzek proved that viruses can be the cause of many mental illnesses. And one of them is the flu virus. In the late 1980s, it was discovered that people with schizophrenia or cyclothymia had antibodies against the influenza virus in their blood in a certain percentage of cases. This is a sign that this virus has multiplied in their bodies.
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Think about why we get the flu only in the cold season? Maybe in the remaining months this virus disappears somewhere? Nothing of the kind, it is impossible to recover from this infection. We have long ago received latent, i.e. latent influenza infection and constantly carry the virus in us like a time bomb. Many scientists note one property in all viruses - to wake up with the onset of a cold snap. But why this is happening is still not clear. And there are quite a lot of such viruses sleeping for the time being in each of us.
In 2001, scientists, deciphering human DNA, found strange areas in it that seemed foreign to virus2. It turned out that these are fragments of different viruses. We seem to be woven from this material. According to experts, viruses comprise 8% of the human genome. But what are they in us for? Most viruses in human DNA are just dormant, but some work.
For a long time, scientists could not understand why a woman has lymphocytes - white blood cells that destroy all foreign cells, do not kill sperm? After all, these are also foreign bodies. It turns out that immune cells are blocked by the very viruses built into the genome. It turns out that we owe it to them for reproduction. And it looks like viruses have given us much more than we can imagine.
Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Alexander the Great, Charles Darwin, Alexander Pushkin, Dmitry Mendeleev are geniuses of the past. What is the nature of genius? Scientists have been struggling with this question for more than one century. And perhaps the answer to it is simple - viruses give outstanding mental abilities. When several hundred great geniuses of all times and peoples were examined, it turned out that more than 90% of them suffered from some specific disease. And these diseases were just associated with the fact that a certain substance was present in their organisms at the biochemical level. So maybe genius can be caught like the flu or the common cold?
But do not rush to conclusions, because this virus brings many health problems to its owner. According to scientists, most of these people suffered from gout. It turns out they didn't have an enzyme that breaks down uric acid. Uric acid acts on the brain like caffeine, which is a powerful stimulant for it. In fact, these people were on caffeine all the time and were very productive.
But viruses can not only make individuals geniuses. Scientists from Denmark have proved that monkeys have much fewer viruses embedded in the genome than humans. So, maybe this is what determined our intellectual superiority over animals and turned us into humans? Then it turns out that viruses are a tool of evolution? But then why are they killing us?
Some researchers believe that these creatures are nothing more than instruments of a higher power. This force of plague with the help of viruses controls the processes of life on Earth, controlling the population of people. Isn't it surprising that all epidemics roll over the Earth in waves? Scientists have come to a terrible discovery, these cycles are the most real deadly campaigns against humanity, the goal of which is to destroy as many people as possible.
Plague, smallpox, leprosy are a real military alliance against humanity. The 20th century brought another terrible infection to this conglomerate. In 1918 in Spain, an unknown disease suddenly struck 8 million people, almost 40% of the country's population. Blue complexion, acute pneumonia and bloody cough. Most of those infected the next day died in terrible agony, choking on their own blood.
The deadly virus is called the Spanish flu, or in another way - "Spanish flu". Within a few months, the epidemic swept the whole world. In a matter of days, entire settlements died out from Alaska to Africa. By some estimates, 100 million people died. A year and a half later, the fierce flu disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.
But what kind of virus was it? The research results baffled scientists. It turned out that the ruthless killer virus is virtually indistinguishable from modern strains of influenza. They made another sensational discovery. In their opinion, the "Spanish flu" appeared in 1900 and for 18 years imperceptibly amazed humanity. There is evidence that half of the soldiers killed during the First World War died not from gases and weapons, but from the flu. But why didn't this time bomb go off for so long? How did the virus manage to trick our immune system and who is sending this curse on us?