Viral reflections.

We have a virus in our house. Not the virus (heaven forbid)  but a virus. We've had a sneaky and unexpected case of hand, foot and mouth. My youngest has been laid low with this usually mild, childhood viral pest. I have been a little worried, because my youngest doesn't do ill. He usually either misses the memo or gets a mild version of whatever they're having. This time he has been couch bound for 3 days, his legs being too sore to walk. It might be a ruse to get out of homeschooling, - but then he has been silent for 80% of the time and unless he is a master with a permanent marker those spots are conclusive evidence- it's real. Parents know that if you could spend any amount of time (theoretically) ignoring your child, the child is either not present or, what is known as, 'proper ill'. Of course my youngest wasn't ignored, I have been a dedicated nurse type character: duly dealing out paracetamol and blankets and then dutifully removing said blankets and stroking his forehead and getting too carried away with checking the symptoms against google and eventually checking with the 111 service.

Once upon a time humans only believed what they could see, or what they believed they could see. 'Invisible' real things weren't part of their everyday thinking. We didn't have a lot of time for bacteria, even though we knew about its existence and were beginning to observe the devastation it could cause -indeed early surgeons wore their bloodied aprons as a badge of honour and Cholera was put down to 'night air'.  Then someone got puzzled by their crop of tobacco, which had a disease that spread like wildfire. The scientist of the time worked out that the disease was transferable from infected plant to healthy. But they couldn't see any bacteria in the 'tobacco gravy' they made for their experimentations. Size is everything, and a few bods knew that there were 'things' smaller than bacteria and undetectable with their current equipment (it wasn't until the late 1930s that microscopes were sophisticated enough to see a virus). The tobacco people used a microscopic sieve to 'strain' the tobacco gravy, leaving the bacteria behind like cumbersome scum. The consequential tobacco 'jus' was still infectious and a virus was discovered.

If you like, and have the time, you can google the hundreds of articles debating if viruses are alive. And for now, armed with our GCSE criteria of the living, it is safe to say that viruses can't get enough ticks to be considered alive. Our best hope of understanding is that it is a teeny pathogen that needs a host cell to replicate. This parasite is happiest kept in a cell.

Apparently, we deal with 100s and 1000s of viruses all the time and for the most part we deal with them effectively with antibodies and antigens, besides, I recently discovered not all are harmful. They can't 'live' outside a host cell for very long and that is why they are driven to put all their non-living strengths into getting their arses inside a body, plant, animal or even bacteria. They hold their simple structures in droplets of water, on objects and through the air... not indefinitely but sometimes long enough to find a host. Many are incredibly delicate outside of a host cell, and some are scarily robust;  many need kisses and warmth and affection to be spirited to and from their ideal homes and that's why us animals are so prone to help them out - we are just too darn social. Thankfully, most of us understand what many early 19th century surgeons didn't get (didn't they read the Lancet?) that viruses do not like soap. Now remember, technically we cannot kill them, but we can de-structure their arses and render them unable to to seek out a toasty host cell by swilling then down a sink with a gleeful, aha! The humble soap does this.

So despite us following all the social distancing rule my boy succumbed to a virus. I know he has behaviours that make him vulnerable - he touches things and he is a thumb sucker. My nagging will probably grow more intense on our daily exercise.  Thankfully, it was a 'mild' virus but nasty enough to render him a bit useless for a couple of days. I have, during this strange time we live in found a new found respect for  the 'unseen' and wonder if I had been growing arrogant and cavalier. Years ago, fresh out of university I had some very strict hygiene rules based on the science I knew.  As time went on, I have grown weary of the workload involved with keeping 3 children and a house hygienic, besides I would argue, a little bit of grime is good for the immune system. I think I will be spending my time screaming even louder 'Wash your 'ands!'. That's my household sorted but I cannot help but wonder are we really ready, socially for what is  required to remain as hygienic as we can? And I am thinking long term, long after we beat Covid- 19.  For example would we feel comfortable to ask guests to our homes to remove shoes and wash their hands? And more to the point, once we are all back and working in our jobs as intensely as we were pre-virus will we have the courage to 'isolate' if we suspect any one of those pesky pathogens has taken us hostage, or will we continue a culture of  'I am fine' whilst eye-balled on painkillers, thinking we are 'helping others out' but more likely just doing that clever little virus's bidding.