Viruses are parasites. They need your body so they can reproduce. A virus will go inside of your cell, enter the nucleus of that cell, and place its DNA with yours. It will then be ready to take over, reproduce and release more viruses into your body. Even when you are healthy, there are several viruses that are quietly just waiting to act.
Coxsackie A
According to Warren Levinson, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology at the University of California in “Review of Medical Microbiology and Immunology,” this virus causes several infections in humans. It causes a disease called herpangina. Its symptoms include a sudden fever, headache, sore throat, and lesions in the mouth that can develop into ulcers. Coxsackie A causes hand, foot and mouth disease. In this disease, you usually have a rash on your hands and feet, and also have stomatitis (inflammation of the membranes inside your mouth). It can cause meningitis, with the symptoms of headache, drowsiness, mental confusion, nausea and vomiting. It can also cause the “common cold.”
Coxsackie B
Like coxsackie A, this coxsackie virus also causes several infections. It is responsible for pleurodynia. This disease is also called Bornholm’s disease, or the Devil’s Grip. Its symptoms include fever and severe chest pain. The pain will feel worse when you breathe deeply or move. But you will have intervals where you will not have any pain. Coxsackie B causes meningitis, as well as myocarditis and pericarditis. (Myocarditis is the inflammation of the myocardium, the muscle layer of the heart. Pericarditis refers to the inflammation of the pericardium, the membrane covering the heart.) You will usually have fever and chest pain if you have myocarditis or pericarditis. But in pericarditis, your pain will feel better when you lean forward or do not breathe deeply.
Rotavirus
Vicente Corrales-Medina, M.D., Infectious Diseases Fellow at the Baylor College of Medicine writes in “Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment,” that the rotavirus is the most common cause of gastroenteritis in children throughout the world, especially for children who are younger than two-years-old. Gastroenteritis is the inflammation of the mucous membrane that lines the stomach and the intestines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that worldwide, approximately 527,000 children die from rotavirus every year. In America, 55,000 children were hospitalized and 20 to 60 children died every year, until vaccination was implemented beginning in 2006. Since that time, the CDC estimates that there has been a 64 percent decrease in rotavirus infections. The symptoms of rotavirus include fever, vomiting and a watery diarrhea that can last for four days.
Norwalk Virus
Dr. Corrales-Medina explains in “Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment,” that the norwalk virus is responsible for gastroenteritis among older children and adults. This virus causes more than 90 percent of the gastroenteritis cases during the fall and winter. Like rotavirus, the symptoms are fever, vomiting and a watery diarrhea, but for no longer than approximately 60 hours.
Hantavirus
This virus can cause a hemorrhagic fever, or fever and hemorrhaging. But in the U.S., it causes Hantavirus Sin Nombre. The infection is usually seen in the southwestern states known as the “four corners.” These are the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The virus infects wild rodents, but can be passed to humans if you inhale the spray from rodent feces. This has happened to Native Americans when they were sweeping the floor of their houses on the reservation. It starts off with a fever, but soon develops into difficulty breathing, a rapid heart rate, low blood pressure and respiratory failure.
About this Author
Based in North Carolina, Ruth Coleman has written articles and manuals for 25 years. Her writing has appeared in community newspapers, places of employment and comprises work done in medical college, of which she is a recent graduate. Ruth Coleman holds a Bachelor of Science in biology from Salem College, and is the recipient of numerous academic awards.
