• Question: Can you avoid getting viruses?

    Asked by anon-256927 on 12 Jun 2020.
    • Photo: Alena Pance

      Alena Pance answered on 12 Jun 2020:

      Hi Candela, it is very difficult to avoid being infected by viruses because they are very small and can be present all around us. This is why we are taking such extreme precautions at the moment to decrease direct contact between people which is how this virus spreads. One way to avoid getting them is to have a vaccine, because then our bodies would be primed to fight the viruses before they mount an infection. In fact some people are naturally more resistant to viruses and this is because their bodies recognise them and are able to fight them more effectively than other people.

    • Photo: Alex Holmes

      Alex Holmes answered on 12 Jun 2020: last edited 12 Jun 2020 11:43 am

      Hi! The short answer is yes, but it’s very tricky to do so!

      So a virus usually spreads from one source (like an ill person) to a healthy person and this could be through the air someone is breathing out, or bodily fluids like (like snot or spit), or through water, by touching surfaces with virus on and so on.

      So to an extent you could avoid viruses if you went and lived in the wilderness and never saw other people and had your own safe water supply. But this 1. probably would get a bit lonely and hard work after a while and 2. isn’t exactly doable for everyone! So, instead we take precautions to try and either eliminate or reduce the risk from the way the virus spreads.

      So we can wear masks to stop any virus that’s breathed out from spreading, keeping our distance, not touch other people’s used tissues or in hospitals they wear gloves and sterilise equipment, the council makes sure that the water systems are safe and we can wash our hands after touching surfaces a lot of other people also touch (like door handles) and not touch our faces.

      Obviously in a perfect world doing all of these things perfectly would let people avoid getting the virus, which is why the government has put these restrictions in place, but you might know people that still have to go to work and be close to people like hospital staff, or maybe you’re in the shops and you can’t wash your hands straight away after touching somethng and itch your face by accident.

      This is why there is so much interest in getting a vaccine because it means we can go back to doing these things without really thinking about it like we used to! Although I don’t know about you, but I definitely think I’ll be more aware of these things in future!

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