Norovirus: The Human Pathogen That Turns Your Digestive System Into A Two-Way Firehose of Infection Behold the humble norovirus. The humbly evil norovirus, one of the most perfect human pathogens. To be fair, viruses can’t be evil or not evil, they just want to reproduce. And how that happens to make their hosts feel is none of their concern. Noroviruses are masters of replication and infection, and they wreak havoc on the human digestive system in order to to their bidding. That’s right. You know where this is going. Carl Zimmer reports, disgustingly:  Noroviruses come roaring out of the infected cells in vast numbers. And then they come roaring out of the body. Within a day of infection, noroviruses have rewired our digestive system so that stuff comes flying out from both ends. How can a virus with just nine protein-coding genes do so much damage to a creature (us) with 20,000? Over a million people have come down with norovirus vomitorrhea in just the UK this winter.  These wee beasties replicate in the digestive system, waiting for you to “eject” them out of one end of your body. People who come in contact with the remnants of that “ejection”, even after cleaning, on planes or other crowded places, can be infected at alarming rates. Chances are it’s happened to you at some point in your life and you just called it a “stomach bug”. Such a simple biological entity, refined by centuries upon centuries of molecular evolution, to exploit the digestive system of one class of mammals, reproducing in the safe warm home of our gut, and getting a free bi-directional rocket ride to their next host. Viruses never cease to amaze. And sometimes disgust. Check out more on this virus from Carl Zimmer at Phenomena: The Loom.
Pop-upView Separately

Norovirus: The Human Pathogen That Turns Your Digestive System Into A Two-Way Firehose of Infection

Behold the humble norovirus. The humbly evil norovirus, one of the most perfect human pathogens. To be fair, viruses can’t be evil or not evil, they just want to reproduce. And how that happens to make their hosts feel is none of their concern. Noroviruses are masters of replication and infection, and they wreak havoc on the human digestive system in order to to their bidding.

That’s right. You know where this is going. Carl Zimmer reports, disgustingly:

 Noroviruses come roaring out of the infected cells in vast numbers. And then they come roaring out of the body. Within a day of infection, noroviruses have rewired our digestive system so that stuff comes flying out from both ends.

How can a virus with just nine protein-coding genes do so much damage to a creature (us) with 20,000? Over a million people have come down with norovirus vomitorrhea in just the UK this winter. 

These wee beasties replicate in the digestive system, waiting for you to “eject” them out of one end of your body. People who come in contact with the remnants of that “ejection”, even after cleaning, on planes or other crowded places, can be infected at alarming rates. Chances are it’s happened to you at some point in your life and you just called it a “stomach bug”.

Such a simple biological entity, refined by centuries upon centuries of molecular evolution, to exploit the digestive system of one class of mammals, reproducing in the safe warm home of our gut, and getting a free bi-directional rocket ride to their next host. Viruses never cease to amaze. And sometimes disgust.

Check out more on this virus from Carl Zimmer at Phenomena: The Loom.

Source: National Geographic

521 Notes/ Hide

  1. think-free reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  2. andthenitspoke reblogged this from scientificillustration
  3. picaq reblogged this from scientificillustration
  4. elacora reblogged this from we-are-star-stuff
  5. iremember2forget reblogged this from scientificillustration and added:
    Hopefully this was the only flu ill get this year it sucked enough
  6. dinosaurs-eat-your-peas reblogged this from scientificillustration and added:
    *a two-way firehose of infection*
  7. artofscience01 reblogged this from scientificillustration
  8. poodleinthesun reblogged this from scientificillustration
  9. thatweirdgirlyouknow reblogged this from scientificillustration
  10. augustlocus reblogged this from scientificillustration
  11. memories-dromen reblogged this from medicalexamination
  12. whiteboycinderella reblogged this from scientificillustration
  13. medicalexamination reblogged this from scientificillustration
  14. holycrapscience reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  15. monowheat reblogged this from scientificillustration and added:
    Darn you Norovirus *shakes fist* why must you be so well adapted?
  16. madenottaken reblogged this from scientificillustration
  17. gobluerob reblogged this from scientificillustration and added:
    Maybe it wasn’t the yogurt that sat on the counter overnight…
  18. kingscross9-75 reblogged this from scientificillustration
  19. abangpinoy reblogged this from scientificillustration
  20. oz00mstallgeese reblogged this from scientificillustration
  21. sirjosephbanksfrs reblogged this from scientificillustration and added:
    One of the most highly infective pathogens.

Recent comments

Blog comments powered by Disqus