The novel coronavirus and humans: who can dominate who?

Life may have first arisen on Earth billions of years ago in the form of viruses, which have had a significant influence on the evolution of all living creatures, including human beings. Some scientists believe that up to 8% of the human genome is derived from viruses, which are simple, primitive organisms with a variety of different shapes and sizes.[ Countless undiscovered viruses can exist within the human body and co-evolve with human beings.[ Some are pathogenic, but most do not harm humans. The human body is such a complex organism system that it can host bacteria, fungi, and viruses; humans can also engage in high-level thinking and create civilizations. In contrast, viruses are such simple organisms that they consist solely of genetic material (DNA or RNA) and a protective protein capsid, and as such are often overlooked. Both viruses and humans evolve to adapt to changes in their environment. Sometimes they are in conflict with each other, while sometimes they coexist peacefully. However, new conflicts between viruses and humans always arise, which begs the question of who will win: humans or viruses?

Several viral pandemics have affected humans over the course of history, such as the influenza pandemic of 1918, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, bird flu in 2013, Ebola in 2014, and the novel coronavirus in 2019. Humans have never succumbed to these viruses, but have risen to the challenge of combatting them,[ including the novel coronavirus. The novel coronavirus is less lethal than smallpox and Ebola but is extremely infectious. Moreover, it has a single-stranded RNA genome, which makes it particularly likely to acquire mutations during a large-scale epidemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has done considerable damage to the human world. Prof. He, a renowned and brilliant geneticist, has made the following comments regarding what should we learn from the past year of the pandemic:

The year 2020 was a bleak and tragic period for all of mankind, that saw the beginning of a battle for life or death between humans and the invisible novel coronavirus. We must ask ourselves: will the novel coronavirus or humans be the winner? Only by understanding whether humans or viruses truly dominate the earth can we understand the root cause of the current pandemic. After analyzing this issue, I have come to the following conclusions:

During this time of great upheaval, unlike anything that has been seen in a century, the novel coronavirus has declared war against mankind.

This is a silent war.

This is a war between light (mankind) and dark (the novel coronavirus).

In this war, mankind lacks targets and constantly takes empty shots into the air and/or at open ground.

This is a war in which mankind is passive, irrational, and beaten.

This is a war in which the probability of human exterminating the coronavirus is almost zero since the virus can mutate at unexpected frequency.

This is an endless war.

This is a life-or-death fight.

This is a two-front war between two camps.

In this war, it is difficult to determine the distribution of the novel coronavirus, both per unit volume and geographically.

In this war, measures such as mask-wearing, hand-washing, and social distancing are “defensive” and do not constitute an attack, making it difficult for humans to actively and conclusively bring an end to the war.

The novel coronavirus may be promoting human cannibalism by inspiring hate and killing. From this perspective, might it be a good idea to invite the novel coronavirus to claim the world in one fell swoop?

More than a year has passed since the war began, but humans still have not come up with a blueprint or timeline for victory.

There is almost no mutually beneficial relationship between the novel coronavirus and human beings; rather, there is hate. Therefore, the opportunities for reconciliation are considerably limited.

On one side of this war are extremely “smart” human beings, while on the other side is a pathogen that is blind, deaf, and dumb, is invisible to the naked eye, does not have a brain or consciousness, or even blood, and can barely be described as alive. So why is it the humans who seem so clumsy and blind?

Why are humans still confused about whether the life cycle of the novel coronavirus is 7 days, 14 days, 3.5 days, or some other duration? Is it because it is difficult to measure the viral life cycle, and therefore we have to rely on speculation?

Humans still do not understand the basic nature of the novel coronavirus, such as how it survives. Is it possible that viruses are actually immortal?

Although the Chinese National Holiday in 2020 was very lively, it did not give rise to any new cases of COVID-19 in China. No one knows why China is safe and sound: is it because we have conquered the virus, or because our people are lucky? Or are there differences in susceptibility among different ethnicities?

From a molecular point of view, who is instructing these viruses to capture human nucleic acids and use the host endoplasmic reticulum to assemble them into copies of the viral genome? Why do all novel coronavirus assemble into fine circular structures, and how do they become evenly distributed in “nail-like” structures?

Is the encounter between humans and the novel coronavirus a random collision, or is it the result of an exchange of consciousness? Who is directing the novel coronavirus to escape from host cells, and, after it emerges, who directs its activities?

Human beings do not yet know where the novel coronavirus propagates most prolifically.

The vaccine is not totally effective: there have been cases in which patients who previously had pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus were re-infected. What does this imply, and how can re-infection be prevented?

Individuals continue to die from the novel coronavirus, even though the vaccine has been introduced. Is there a way to deal with variants?

Although humanity has made progress in the campaign against the novel coronavirus, it seems that our current knowledge is limited to direct experience, whereas an understanding of the mechanism or principle driving the infectivity of the virus is still lacking. Judging from the current situation, the novel coronavirus has turned human society upside down, creating chaotic conditions.

So far, these questions seem to have no clear answers. We believe that the participation of more geneticists could help change the outcome of this war.

Acknowledgments

None.

Author contributions

LC wrote the English version of the manuscript. LH prepared the Chinese comments and reviewed the manuscript. Both authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Financial support

None.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Editor note: LH is an Editorial Board member of Journal of Bio-X Research. The article was subject to the journal's standard procedures, with peer review handled independently of this Editorial Board member and their research groups.