 Fig.1 A diagram showing a section of a virus "Oh! Don't worry. It's only a viral attack." A GP would have diagnosed a sickness. All readers must be quite familiar with the term 'Viruses' but do you know what they are? Some of the knowledgeable would say "Yes we know" Then you are probably wrong. Nobody seems to know 'What they are'. According to the modern classification of living things, viruses are not included. They lack some of the basic qualities of the living and are unable to carry out some basic physiological functions.. Viruses are defined as microscopic particles (30 t0 300nm; 1nm = 10-9 ) containing DNA or RNA. within a cover of protein. A bacteria is 100 times bigger than this. They cannot be Viral Diseases.
The latest is the Ebola virus.  Fig.2 The diagram shows a phage attacking E-coli. Viruses gain entry into living cells and use up the cell contents to make its own type of living matter. Then they multiply and escape to infect more living cells of the host. Some viruses readily attack bacteria. They are known as bacteriophages. In case of a bacterial infection, your doctor can prescribe anti biotics. What can he give for a viral attack? He’ll say “ Viruses are not biotic; anti-biotics wont do.” In the 18th Century Mary Montague , an English lady observed in Constantinople, local women blowing small pox crusts into the nostrils of their children. This process came to be known as ‘inoculation’. Edward Jenner observed Miss Sarah Nelmes , a milk maid who had previously caught cow-pox was immune to small-pox. Even today the only way to fight viruses is to build up immunity. When a person gets a viral attack the body makes anti-bodies which can counteract the invader. This is why we normally don’t get the same infection twice. Comparing Microbes
Bacteriophages are also a group viruses that attack bacteria. click: bacteriophages |
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