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What happens when you get infected?
What happens when you get infected?
A virus enters your body through healthy cells and infects them. The invader spreads throughout your body by making copies of itself.
The new coronavirus attaches itself to receptors on healthy cells, particularly those in your lungs, with its spiky surface proteins.
The viral proteins specifically enter cells via ACE2 receptors. Once inside, the coronavirus seizes control of healthy cells. Some of the healthy cells are eventually killed.
How Does Coronavirus Move Through Your Body?
How Does Coronavirus Move Through Your Body?
COVID-19 is a coronavirus-related sickness that begins with droplets from an infected person's cough, sneeze, or breath. They could be in the air or on a surface you touch before putting your hands near your eyes, nose, or mouth. This allows the virus to enter your throat's mucous membranes. Your immune system may react in 2 to 14 days with symptoms such as:
Fever
A cough
Shortness of breath or trouble breathing
Diarrhea
Fatigue
Chills, sometimes with shaking
Body aches
Headache
A sore throat
Congestion or a runny nose
Loss of taste
Loss of smell
Nausea or vomiting
The virus spreads from your upper respiratory tract to your lower respiratory tract. Your mouth, nose, throat, and lungs are all part of your airway. The ACE2 receptors in your lower airways are more numerous than those in the remainder of your respiratory tract. As a result, COVID-19 is more likely to penetrate the body than viruses such as the common cold.
It's possible that your lungs will get inflamed, making breathing difficult. This can result in pneumonia, an infection of the tiny air sacs (called alveoli) that exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide in your lungs.
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