Long ago I learned that things that are terrifying can often be dispersed by walking through them. For instance, the boy across the street — a mischief-maker on whom I had a crush — told me that there was a kind of bats in our neighborhood that had headlights and used them to seek out victims. They would tangle in my hair, the pride and joy of that red-headed girl with curls and cause me to have to have my head shaved. Then he used a small flashlight to terrorize me, much to the delight of my little brothers. I really WAS terrified. But it was fake, imaginary, an invention. In the end I found out.
Though since then it has lost me friends and relatives, I remain convinced that the best way to handle a threat is to face it and walk through it. I’m doing that with this variously named “new” corona virus, which has been called SARS-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome — curse acronyms anyway), Covid-19 (Corona Virus of the year 2019) and Nouveau Corona Virus (New Crown-shaped virus). The following link is my latest set of clues.
I’m posting this for Sunday, so to give it a religious twist (for those whose holy day is Sunday) I’ll tell you a story about Alexandra David-Neal, one of the most amazing women of the Twenties. “Alexandra David-Néel was a Belgian–French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist, anarchist and writer. She is most known for her 1924 visit to Lhasa, Tibet, when it was forbidden to foreigners.” Following Tibetan holy solitaries, she lived in a cave where she was visited by others who were doing the same and who told her about dragon ghosts. One day she looked down the access path and saw a dragon coming to visit. Rather than hiding in the back of the cave, she marched out to meet it and put her hand out to touch it. Her hand went on through, as though it were made of water vapor. Maybe that’s what it really was. (She's in Wikipedia and wrote 30 books.)
So I’m putting out a hand to see about this viral tsunami. Following the article linked above and taking in a bit at a time, I’m now going to see whether I can understand “Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)” by reducing it to ordinary words. I’m getting my info from Wikipedia. I must say that my complaint about Wikipedia has been that it is “edited” (dominated) by arrogant white men from an elite culture that gets everyone else’s story wrong, but when it comes to this sort of stuff, it’s their game.
ACE2 is an enzyme. “An enzyme is a substance that acts as a catalyst in living organisms, regulating the rate at which chemical reactions proceed without itself being altered in the process.; The biological processes that occur within all living organisms are chemical reactions, and most are regulated by enzymes.” (Britannica) In the case of this virus, it attaches to the cell membranes of organs and on the linings of all the tubing systems, like blood or neural networks or the lungs, so it can travel through the body. ACE2, one of several versions of this enzyme, controls blood pressure by vasoconstriction operating in tension with a vasodilator. Many mechanisms of the body are based on homeostasis which is not about sexual orientation (homo = "same" like homogenized milk is the same throughout) but about guarding against extremes — not too much and not too little. The consequences of extremes are disease and sometimes death.
Anything vulnerable to ACE2 interference is hit by this corona virus which prefers attachment to this enzyme, then triggers symptoms on skin (rashes), in toes (covid toes) and in organs that depend on their blood supply. It can make clots and constrictions in the brain and mess with kidney function. In other words, it destroys the homeostasis of the body that keeps it alive.
Following are the two most technical paragraphs in the entry.
“Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 is a zinc containing metalloenzyme located on the surface of endothelial and other cells. ACE2 protein contains an N-terminal peptidase M2 domain and a C-terminal collectrin renal amino acid transporter domain.
“ACE2 is a single-pass type I membrane protein, with its enzymatically active domain exposed on the surface of cells in lungs and other tissues. The extracellular domain of ACE2 is cleaved from the transmembrane domain by another enzyme known as sheddase, and the resulting soluble protein is released into the blood stream and ultimately excreted into urine.”
Surprisingly, this molecule is zinc and usually is in a pouch inside the cell. (Amazing how tinkertoy-like molecules can be.) This is why some quacks say, “take zinc” for corona viruses. Endothelial cells, which we know as being skin, are the linings of the various tubings that distribute oxygen and other basic substances, some of them excreted by organs and balanced against each other.
The N and C terminals are about the end connections that form molecular chains to make peptides and proteins. ACE2 has a little piece that can be cut off (cleaved) and exist independently. “Sheddase” is the molecule that can do this. Then the piece floats around affecting other molecules until it gets into the urine and is excreted.
An additional problem with Covid-19 is that the treatments, like ventilators, dialysis and so-on, are so blunt-force that they can do as much damage as the infection. Some say that only half the people who get ventilators ultimately recover. The machines are not only expensive, but they require trained operators and constant monitoring. My health directive asks for NO ventilator or dialysis. (I’m 80. I live alone. I taped the directive to the back door in case I die alone.)
Taste and smell functions are so sensitive to this kind of trouble that they shut down early, which makes them good first indicators. The first doc the victim sees may be an otolaryngologist — ear and throat expert. (I like the fancy word because it’s so much fun to say.)
ACE2 is a “transmembrane protein” that can let these viruses into the body of the cell. Those spikes that make the corona have a protein that gets them in through ACE2 to become part of the endosomes, the actual machinery of the cell, which is far more complex that we ever imagined. I won’t try to explain them here, but Wikipedia discusses them.
Because vulnerability to Covid-19 is affected by what we call “race,” I want to mention Oz Hopkins, an imposing Black woman in Portland whom I should have used as a role model long ago. The first reporter who specialized in health issues that I knew of, she was my age. I had no idea of all the achievements noted in her obituary. She was as intrepid in her own way as Alexandra David-Neal, unafraid to walk into the eye of the storm.
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