Editing 2406: Viral Vector Immunity
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete|Created by a SENTIENT WOODEN HORSE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
− | The comic attempts to explain a virus vector vaccine and one way it can fail, using the story of the {{w|Trojan Horse}} as an analogy | + | The comic attempts to explain a virus vector vaccine, and one way it can fail, using the story of the {{w|Trojan Horse}} as an analogy. |
− | A vaccine is a way to familiarize a host's immune system with a pathogen without actually causing the host to fall ill. There are many types of vaccines that have been developed, all of which are ways to present a significant segment of a | + | A vaccine is a way to familiarize a host's immune system with a pathogen without actually causing the host to fall ill. There are many types of vaccines that have been developed, all of which are ways to present a significant segment of a molecular structure to the host body, so that the immune system recognizes the pathogen and mounts an immune response faster when a real infection happens. |
− | A | + | A viral vector vaccine uses a modified virus, different from the pathogen being immunized against, as a carrier to deliver a molecular payload into the host body. This modified virus is called the vector because it is the method of delivery of the molecular piece of the pathogen. If the recipient has a strong immune response to the vector itself, the immunization may be less effective. |
− | + | For example, a modified (to be harmless) cold virus can be used to deliver an (harmless) outer segment of another virus into the body. The ability of the vector virus to sneak into the host body and inject itself into the cell's reproductive system is used to trick the body into producing numerous copies of the recognizable piece of the other virus. That way the immune system recognizes the molecular segment of the other virus without actually being infected with that virus, which tends to significantly decrease recognition time after a real infection, leading to a less severe infection speeding up recovery. | |
− | + | The comic represents this idea with the Trojan horse being the (in this case) harmless vector virus, carrying, contrary to the traditional story, a beneficial payload into the cell. | |
− | + | In the comic the warriors recognize the shape of the delivery vehicle (the Trojan horse) as being similar to an animal that trampled one of their own earlier and therefore refuse it entry. An amusing point here is that they are not as such surprised at the arrival of a wooden vehicle at their doorstep, rather that its shape resembling an animal they have found threatening before, which is similar to how simple in its judgements the immune system can be. | |
− | + | The title text is a further riff on this theme, playing on an advertising campaign for freeze dried coffee. In the advertisements a narrator would claim to have secretly replaced fresh brewed coffee with that made from freeze dried to see if subjects could tell the difference. The contents of the coffee cup being the payload and the narrator the virus vector. | |
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− | The title text is a further riff on this theme, playing on an advertising campaign for freeze dried coffee. In the advertisements a narrator would claim to have secretly replaced fresh brewed coffee with that made from freeze dried to see if subjects could tell the difference | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
[[Category:COVID-19]] | [[Category:COVID-19]] | ||
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