Today is Virus Appreciation Day.\u00a0 Yes, this is a real thing.<\/p>\n
We usually think of viruses as bad things.\u00a0 Stomach viruses, respiratory viruses, even HIV come to mind.\u00a0 And of course no one wants to get any of those.<\/p>\n
But did you know there are viruses as well as bacteria in your gut?\u00a0 They work together in harmony to help you digest your food and support your immune system.<\/p>\n
Viruses are also party responsible for the science of vaccines.\u00a0 In 1796 Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids almost never contracted smallpox.\u00a0 However, they were quite frequently infected with cowpox.\u00a0 The two diseases are closely enough related that infection with cowpox provided protection against the much more dangerous smallpox.\u00a0 This discovery led to thousands of lives being saved, and in 1980 the World Health Organization certified that smallpox has been eradicated.<\/p>\n
So, take a moment today to consider the lowly, misunderstood virus.\u00a0 They aren’t all bad!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today is Virus Appreciation Day.\u00a0 Yes, this is a real thing. We usually think of viruses as bad things.\u00a0 Stomach viruses, respiratory viruses, even HIV come to mind.\u00a0 And of course no one wants to get any of those. But did you know there are viruses as well as bacteria in your gut?\u00a0 They work together in harmony to help… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bright-shiny-objects"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t