The purpose of this website is to visualize medical content and thereby promote understanding of the current situation. It is hoped that the form of presentation will help to reduce emotions such as fear, rejection or aggression and to find a more sensuous access to the topic.

Everyone is waiting for a safe vaccine. Full of expectation, a snake winds its way around a syringe as if it were the rod of Asclepius. Will a new drug render harmless the virus at the centre of the picture, which has trapped the entire globe in a pandemic? On the left a biomedical doctor relies on antibodies hovering over him like a speech bubble. Stethoscope, ECG and computer-assisted sequencing are his instruments. On the right is a traditional doctor. He tries to classify the new disease into classical interpretations of humoural theory, symbolised by the tree of physiology and pathology in Tibetan medicine above him. A Chinese doctor would perhaps recommend liquorice root, red sage or mandarin orange peel to recover from a mild course of disease. Everywhere the virus can infect us, but for all the difference in access and medical training, masks and protective clothing are mandatory for all.

Tree of transmission

The picture shows transmission chains over time up to the onset of symptoms or positive test results, marked by a red dot. One colour unit corresponds to one day. Starting from a single case, three cases appear in this tree after three days, one of which causes seven more cases. As a result, 36 cases became known after only three weeks.

Immune response to a virus is a cooperation of specific and non-specific defence mechanisms. Both corpuscular factors (consisting of whole cells) and humoral factors (non-cellular compounds present in body fluids) are involved. As soon as the antigen to be fought – virus or bacterium – meets the B-lymphocyte presented in light blue in the centre of the picture, this corpuscular blood component with its purple cell nucleus produces prototypes of an immunoglobulin. These symmetrical Y-shaped molecules are the basis of the specific humoral defence. They consist of two long (yellow) and two short (red) peptide chains and serve as prototype components for various immunoglobulins. The pentameric immunoglobulins are used for the initial immunisation. However, these large five-part early antibodies, also known as IgM, quickly decrease in concentration. The dimeric immunoglobulins, also known as IgA or secretory antibodies which are mainly found in secretions, are also only temporarily active. The monomeric immunoglobulins are first delayed, but are then produced in high concentrations. These so-called IgG become decisive in the defence against a possible later secondary infection. Two immune complex reactions are shown in the lower right half of the picture. The two somewhat smaller viruses are kept in check by a bipartite IgA. The slightly larger virus is neutralised by two simple IgG. The defence reaction shown so far corresponds to the situation approximately two or three weeks after infection. The pale green macrophage positioned in the upper left corner of the picture is actually unspecifically disposed as a phagocyte. It is attracted by chemotactic factors and supports the immune defence by incorporating the virus, then digesting it and excreting it as a harmless residual body. This process is called exocytosis, indicated on the right edge of the phagocyte.