NAME: Venice Joy B. Celocia COURSE & YR.

: BS BIOMED 3

OFFER CODE: 6505 SCHEDULE: 2:00-4:00 p.m.

VIRUS
ASSIGNMENT NO. 6

A. Concept Map making

A.1

Instructions: Make or draw a concept map, by using arrows and boxes. Add
description and samples of each classifications. (10 points each)

1. Structure of a Virus

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 2. Classification of Viruses

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 mRNA

A.2

Instructions: Supply your own linking words or phrases in this concept map, and
provide the missing concepts in the empty boxes. (10 points)

B.
Writing Challenge

Instructions: Answer briefly in one paragraph. (15 points each)

1. On what basis do we consider viruses to be living rather than non-living?

Most scientists deem viruses as non-living because they don’t have cells,
they can’t perform homeostasis and metabolic processes typical for living cells.
However, there are also some ways in which we can consider viruses as living.

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 Living things have different levels of organization. This is also present in viruses
since they have a capsid made up of smaller subunits called capsomeres and
genes made from nucleic acids. Moreover, living things adapt to their
environment which viruses do as well. An example to this is when a virus lives in
its lysogenic phase (viral DNA incorporates itself to cell’s DNA and multiplies
whenever cell multiplies) rather than its lytic phase (virus replicates actively in
host cells) because a host sometimes does not have the energy to support the
virus to actively replicate (Are viruses dead or alive?, n.d.). Although, there are
some aspects where it can be argued that they are living, they still cannot be
referred to as “living organisms” because they are not made of organelles.

2. Name the three ways of cultivating an animal virus.

There are three ways of cultivating an animal virus namely (1) animal
inoculation, (2) cell culture, and (3) inoculation into embryonated egg. In animal
inoculation, viruses are inoculated in living laboratory animals like guinea pig,
rabbits, mice, and hamsters. Viruses are also added to cell cultures as viral
growth can be detected through its cytopathic effect on the cells cultured. It can
also be inoculated into embryonated egg since viral growth and multiplication in
the egg embryo is indicated by embryo cell damage and the death of the embryo
(Aryal, 2015).

3. State at least four characters to differentiate virus Hepatitis A from B.

Hepatitis A and B can be differentiated by looking at their mode of (1)
transmission, (2) morphology (enveloped/ non-enveloped), (3) the type of genetic
material (DNA or RNA), and (4) their incubation period. The mode of
transmission of Hepatitis A is through fecal-oral transmission while it is direct
blood-to-blood contact with an infected person in Hepatitis B. HAV is a non-
enveloped RNA virus while HBV is an enveloped DNA virus. The incubation
period of Hepatitis A is approximately 28 days (range:15-50 days), lower than
that of Hepatitis B with an average of 90 days (range: 60–150 days) after
exposure to HBV.

4. Name four primary modes of HIV infection.

The primary modes of HIV infection include (1) sexual transmission of
variety of fluids like blood, semen, and vaginal secretions. It can also be
transmitted from (2) a mother to her child during pregnancy and delivery
(perinatal transmission) and (3) receiving HIV infected blood transfusion and
blood products. Lastly, (4) transmission is through sharing of needles containing
blood infected with HIV for drug injections.

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 5. State the contribution of Edward Jenner towards virology.
Edward Jenner’s contribution to virology is in developing the concept of
vaccination. Specifically, he hypothesized that infection with cowpox could
protect a person from smallpox infection. When he tested his hypothesis, he
found out that by inoculating smallpox to a person who had recovered from
cowpox, the person gained immunity from smallpox. Through him, the world’s
first vaccine was made which completely eradicated smallpox saving countless
lives. Most importantly, this has also led to safer and more rigorous studies done
on vaccination procedures.

C. Visual Challenge

1. How would you describe the kind of capsid found on this virus? In what ways is this
virus different from other viruses? (15 points)

The virus shown in the picture is one of

the exceptional members of viruses known as Surface fibrils
the “Megavirus” or the monster virus. Its capsid
is thick, large, and icosahedral in shape and
covered with surface fibrils. We all know that
viruses are small. In fact, most viruses are in DNA core
the range of 20-200 nm. The Megavirus is
different from other viruses mainly because of
its large diameter averaging about 500 to 1,000
capsid
nm. This is 20 to 50 times larger than an
average virus and even larger than small
bacteria such as rickettsia, hence the “mega” in
its name (Talaro, 2012).

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2. Label the parts of viruses in the figures below. (15 points each)

a.

Knob
Shaft Fiber
Tail

Capsid

Hexon capsomeres

Penton Base
(vertex)

b.

Capsid Head
Nucleic acid
Neck and Collar

Sheath

Baseplate
Central tail fiber/ Spike
Tail fiber

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D. Critical Thinking

Instructions: Answer exhaustively each question or case. These questions can be

approached from a number of angles, and in most cases, they do not have a single
correct answer. (20 points each)
In answering essay questions, please be guided with the criteria
- The essay statements or idea are effectively and related to the concepts/ theories
- Appropriate and realistic examples are provided to support your idea or arguments
- Presentation of idea and arguments were presented in logical and convincing manner
- Language used to provide grammatical, concise, direct and easily understandable by
the reader.
1.

a. Examine the stained slide of brain of rabid dog or any other rabid mammal in the
nearby laboratory and look for the negri bodies.

Histopathologic evidence of rabies in the brain of rabid animals include the negri
bodies. Based on the picture of the stained slide, there are negri bodies observed in the
cell indicating that there is rabies. The negri bodies or inclusions have round or oval
shapes and are located within the cytoplasm of nerve cells.

b. If a person has been bitten by a dog, suspected to be rabid, what will be your
contribution or advice as an attending physician to him?

As an attending physician, I will first attend or check his wounds if there’s any.
Next, I will determine his history of exposure to the dog (Date of Incidence, Place of
incidence, Nature of Incidence, Time of Incidence). I will also ask whether he knew the
dog or not and the whereabouts of the suspected rabid dog. If the dog was familiar to
him but was aggressive and acting weirdly that time, then it is suspected that it carried
rabies. Additionally, it is important to know the vaccination status and whereabouts of
the dog. If found, the dog can be tested to check if it indeed had rabies. However, a
rabid dog would most likely go to hiding since they are very sensitive to light, touch, and
sound. So, if the patient tells me that the dog is nowhere to be found, then I will inform
the patient that he needs to get rabies vaccine shots as soon as possible to prevent the

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rabies virus from infecting him. With regards to the vaccine, I will also ask if he has
history of previous rabies vaccination. If he has not been vaccinated against rabies in
the past, he will need 4 doses of rabies vaccine over 2 weeks (given on days 0, 3, 7,
and 14). Another medication called rabies immunoglobulin will also be given on the day
he received the first dose of rabies vaccine or soon afterwards. But if he has received
rabies vaccination in the past, he will be given 2 doses of rabies vaccine after an
exposure (CDC, 2022).

2.

a. If you were involved in developing an antiviral drug, what would be some important
considerations? (Can a drug “kill” a virus?)

If I were to help develop an antiviral drug, I believe it is would be important to

consider the viral life cycle in the host. These stages may include virus adsorption,
virus–cell fusion, viral DNA or RNA synthesis and viral enzymes which is often targeted
by the antiviral drugs (De Clercq, 2002). The challenge here is that since viruses make
use of host machinery to replicate, the antiviral drugs used block virus replication by
also targeting the function of host cells, bringing damage to the host cell as well. It is
important to consider the drugs mechanism of action and its relative toxicity so that it
will not impose more harm to the host cells.
Not any type of drug can kill a virus. For example, antibiotics cannot kill and work
on viruses because they only aim at targeting the bacteria in bacterial infections. In the
case of antiviral drugs, the answer would be yes and no. Yes, because there are
effective antiviral drugs like Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and Zanamivir (Relenza) used against
the flu virus (Antiviral medication, n.d). However, it is important to note that there are
rare cases of side effects to this since the targeted virus resides in the host cell,
imposing harm to the host cell too. This explains why it is still difficult to develop antiviral
therapies. In cases like chronic HIV, hepatitis, and herpes, the antivirals can’t get rid or
kill the virus which stays in the body. What they do instead is to make the virus latent
(inactive) in order to ease the symptoms (Antivirals: Various Toxicities, n.d.).

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b. How could multiplication be blocked?

Viral multiplication can be blocked by targeting any stages of the viral life cycle.
The stages of viral life cycle include attachment to host cells, viral entry, uncoating,
replication of viral genome, protein synthesis, processing, assembly, and release of new
viruses. Antiviral medicines block or inhibit the receptors so that the viruses cannot bind
to the host cell surface, thus preventing its entry to the cell. A drug can also bind to viral
spike proteins responsible for fusion so that the viral envelope will not fuse to the cell
(Alila Medical Media, 2020). An example to this is the Enfuvirtide drug which was the
first approved viral entry inhibitor (Said and Abdelwahab, 2013). It works by inhibiting
fusion of HIV to the cell.  Since it cannot enter the host cell, it will not be able to unload
its genome inside the host cell and therefore cannot multiply. There are also inhibitors
for stages like virus uncoating, genome release, viral replication. These are just some of
the many ways that viral multiplication can be blocked by antiviral drugs.

3.

Today in the recent pandemic due to COVID-19. Many quests arise in the making of the
vaccine.

a. How much does a vaccine reduce the risk of COVID-19 and its complications?
According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the COVID-19
vaccine would prevent disease or decrease its complications in at least 50% of
people who are vaccinated (Goodman et al., 2020). In another vaccine study by
the Centers for Control and Disease Prevention (CDC) on 2021, they found out
that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines authorized by the Food and Drug
Administration (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) reduce the risk of infection by
91% for fully vaccinated people. However, this does not mean that fully
vaccinated people cannot acquire the disease. In fact, they can still acquire
COVID-19 but they are only likely to have milder, shorter illness. They also have
a lesser likelihood to pass the virus to others (CDC, 2022). This happens
because vaccines help the body to begin producing antibodies which help the
body to fight off the coronavirus. Overall, this adds up to the growing evidence of
their effectiveness.

b. How to test the safety of the vaccine?

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 To test the safety of a potential new vaccine, such as in COVID-19
vaccines, it must undergo research-driven multitude of stages. The development
cycle of a vaccine consists these stages: Exploratory stage, Pre-clinical stage,
Clinical development, Regulatory review and approval, Manufacturing, and
Quality control respectively. In ensuring its safety and effectiveness, it will be
tested to people in the clinical development stage or “clinical trials,” composed of
three phases. Some vaccines like the COVID-19 ones, even after approval,
licensing and distribution, underwent a Phase 4 formal which requires continuous
monitoring of the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine (Vaccine testing and
approval process, 2022; How are vaccines tested?, 2021). While it is apparent
that COVID-19 vaccine development was sped up, this does not mean that it is
unsafe. The COVID-19 vaccine development did not skip any of the stages
mentioned above making it a safe vaccine.

c. Will the vaccine be effective to all range of patients? Why?

Yes. Vaccines will be effective to all range of patients because they are
tested extensively before providing it to the people. According to CDC (2022),
COVID-19 vaccines were evaluated in tens of thousands of participants in clinical
trials. This means that COVID-19 studies take into consideration the
effectiveness of vaccines in different ages, in pregnant women,
immunocompromised, in those with history of allergies, etc. According to
GoodRX Health (n.d.), the approved COVID-19 vaccines do not contain a live
virus. Therefore, it cannot infect anyone, immunocompromised or not with the
coronavirus.

d. Will all vaccines be the same? Why?

No. Although all COVID-19 vaccines have the same goal in providing
immunity to our body, they are not the same when it comes to the way they
stimulate immune response (creation of S proteins). The main types of COVID-
19 vaccines available and being studied include: mRNA vaccines, vector
vaccines, and protein subunit vaccines. In mRNA vaccines like Moderna COVID-
19 vaccine, it uses genetically engineered mRNA which gives instructions to cells
on how to create the S protein found on the surface of the COVID-19 virus. In
vector vaccines like Janssen/Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, the genetic
material from the COVID-19 virus is placed in a modified version of a different
virus (viral vector). On the other hand, protein subunit vaccines like the
Novavax COVID-19 vaccine include only the parts of a virus (harmless S protein)
that best stimulate the body’s immune system (Mayo Clinic, 2022). When these S
proteins are produced, they will then stimulate an immune response to create

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 antibodies that will attack the virus. In this way, the immune system will be
trained on how to fight off when the actual virus enters the body.

References:

Alila Medical Media [@Alilamedicalmedia]. (2020, May 18). Antiviral drugs mechanisms

of action, animation. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=IOXEAAHmzT4

Antiviral medication (flu treatment and prevention) : important information. (n.d.).

Nhs.uk. https://www.nhsborders.scot.nhs.uk/media/209209/Antiviral-medication-
June-2014.pdf

Antivirals: Various toxicities: 9 case reports. (2014). Reactions Weekly, 1526(1), 26–26.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40278-014-4673-1

Are viruses dead or alive? (n.d.). Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/test-

prep/mcat/cells/viruses/a/are-viruses-dead-or-alive

CDC. (2022, November 29). Safety of COVID-19 vaccines. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/safety-of-
vaccines.html

CDC. (2022, September 9). COVID-19 study shows mRNA vaccines reduce risk of
infection by 91 percent for fully vaccinated people. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0607-mrna-reduce-
risks.html

De Clercq, E. (2002). Strategies in the design of antiviral drugs. Nature Reviews. Drug

Discovery, 1(1), 13–25. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd703

Mayo Clinic. (2022, August 25). Different types of COVID-19 vaccines: How they work.
Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-
depth/different-types-of-covid-19-vaccines/art-20506465

Goodman, J. L., Grabenstein, J. D., & Braun, M. M. (2020). Answering key questions
about COVID-19 vaccines. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical
Association, 324(20), 2027–2028. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.20590

GoodRx Health. (n.d.). Is the COVID-19 Vaccine Safe for Immunocompromised

People? Goodrx.com. https://www.goodrx.com/conditions/covid-19/is-the-covid-
19-vaccine-safe-for-immunocompromised-people

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How are vaccines tested?. (2021, April 28). NIH News in Health.
https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2021/05/how-are-vaccines-tested

Said, Z. & Aldelwahab, K. (2013). Antiviral Replication Agents. In G. Rosas-Acosta

(Ed.), Viral Replication. InTech.

Rabies vaccine information statement. (2022, June 2). Cdc.gov.

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/rabies.html

Talaro, K., et al. Foundations in Microbiology, 2012. McGraw-Hill, 2013.

Vaccine testing and approval process. (2022, May 27). Cdc.gov.

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/basics/test-approve.htm

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