1) How does the response to an epidemic differ from the response to a pandemic? Is it harder to respond?
2) I understand the difference between HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 in the general sense with how health providers must respond to protecting themselves. Yet, when responding to an illness like COVID-19 How does compare to responding to an illness like HIV/AIDS?
3) Do cytokines have complete control over white blood cells?
All great and interesting questions. I will try my best.
1. No, responses to epidemics and pandemics differ only in scope. Epidemics are localized but pandemics entail entire countries. Therefore, a centralized response is a bit easier to contain as long as it remains localized. Pandemics involve so many more parameters and so many different responses with so many different conditions in each country that there is no one response.
2. HIV/AIDS is a very different virus/disease than SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19. HIV infection due to direct fluid transmission is very different than a respiratory virus. Fluid transfers are very localized; respiratory transfer can affect anyone in the general area. HIV is actually a very fragile virus; transmission takes a direct transfer of body fluids. Ebola is the same way. SARS-CoV-2 is in the air and we all breath. So the rate of transmission is much higher for SARS-CoV-2 than HIV.
3. Really good question. Cytokines are proteins that cells use to tell other cells that they are infected. Every cell infected with a virus can release cytokines and the release of those initial cytokines instructs other cells of the immune system to release different cytokines like a domino effect. White blood cells release the same and also different cytokines. Our lives depend on cytokines to stop pathogens from taking over and killing us. We could not live without cytokines coming from innate and adaptive immunity. In fact, the cytokines released in our innate response to infection control adaptive immunity. We will talk further about this. Cytokines are initiated when we become infected. then amplify and direct how our body is able to destroy an infection. Cytokines also regulate the response of our immune system: initiating, and then amplifying and then controlling our response to infection. Cytokines can save us or, if over-produced and not regulated, can destroy us. Sort of "yin-yang"; we can't live without them but they can destroy us.
