I. Injury
This epidemic is caused by a kind of novel coronavirus, a microorganism. It first hurts our lungs, makes us cough and have a high fever, and then endangers our lives. We can't see the virus with our naked eyes. It usually lives in a specific area, where it may "live alone" with its host or coexist with some bacteria or viruses. When humans break this restriction, viruses and some bacteria may endanger human viruses. Why do they harm human health so quickly? Just like the spread of novel coronavirus this time. Within a few days, hundreds to thousands of people were injured. First of all, it is a cell-free organism, which is composed of DNA or RNA as genetic material and protein shell. This time, novel coronavirus is an RNA virus. Once it enters the host cell, it uses the material and energy in the cell to copy, transcribe and translate, and according to its own genetic information, it produces a new generation of viruses like it. Secondly, because the structure of RNA is not as tight as that of DNA, it is easy to mutate, which makes it difficult for us to control and resist its harm. These are some of our knowledge about the virus itself. Many other diseases are also caused by viruses, which make people and other creatures sick. For example, smallpox in animals, viral hepatitis, polio, influenza, foot-and-mouth disease, rabies, tobacco mosaic in plants, potato degradation, etc., have brought great losses and disasters to mankind. Common viruses are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), herpes simplex virus, human papillomavirus and influenza virus. HIV can lead to AIDS; Herpes simplex virus can cause cold sores, chickenpox and multiple sclerosis; Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the root cause of cervical cancer in adult women; Influenza virus is the virus that people are most likely to be infected with in their lives. Bacteria do a lot of harm to human beings. Some bacteria become pathogens, leading to tetanus, typhoid fever, pneumonia, syphilis, cholera, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, anthrax, plague, trachoma and so on. In human history, infectious diseases caused by bacteria have claimed countless lives. Their infection modes include contact, air transmission, food, water and microorganisms carrying bacteria.
Second, the benefits
We often deal with microorganisms in our production and life. For example, our intestines, mouth and skin are closely related to microorganisms. There will be a group of microorganisms in the intestines, which depend on our intestines to survive, and at the same time help us complete many physiological and biochemical functions, such as helping us digest food and maintaining the nutritional balance in our bodies. It and its metabolites can not only regulate our health, but also play an important role as a bridge between diet and digestion. For example, there is cellulose that our body can't absorb, but a special bacterium in the intestines of some animals can digest and absorb it. In addition, bacteria also play an important role in decomposing some organic compounds. Just like in our nature, microorganisms always decompose leaves, so that the organic matter produced by leaf decomposition can make trees grow and reproduce next year, even more lush than the previous year. This perfectly explains the poem that "falling red is not a heartless thing, but turning into spring mud will protect flowers more". Then microorganisms also play an important role in our scientific research. Just as the discovery that DNA is genetic material is verified by the experiment of phage replication and reproduction; There is also the study of viruses, and we will study their antibodies to prevent such viruses from endangering our health, such as smallpox. First of all, we will make smallpox virus into vaccine and inject it into human body, so that people will produce antibodies to smallpox vaccine, thus preventing smallpox. There is also yeast in microorganisms, which is also commonly used in our production and life. We usually use it to ferment flour to make steamed bread or bread and other pasta; In the traditional manufacturing process of vinegar, acetic acid bacteria in the air are used to turn wine into vinegar. Other foods made by bacteria include kimchi, soy sauce, vinegar and wine.
Every living thing has its advantages and disadvantages. We should weigh the pros and cons and create a happy world in harmony with microorganisms.