Description: the Blog site of ERdoc.com
A virus is not a living organism in the traditional sense of the word. To use the term ‘live” regarding viruses is inexact but probably the best word to use. A virus is an entity because of what it does rather than a description of its molecular integrity. Apart from their detrimental effect on humans and other living organisms, they don’t do anything. Viruses cannot “live” (maintain their molecular integrity) independently for very long, cannot reproduce, and have no energy requirements. In the traditional
Viruses are bits of genetic material. They are surrounded by protein. That’s it. When they “infect” us, they enter our bodies, get into our cells, and “use” our cellular machinery to create duplicates of themselves. They duplicate themselves in large numbers; some exit our bodies and disintegrate once exposed to UV light and air. Except for the few that enter the next body, and so on.
Our body responds to the virus by developing a fever. The elevation in body temperature is an outmoded and relatively ineffective attempt at making an inhospitable environment for the little buggars. We also mount in “immune response. In this response, we create antibodies to the proteins that coat the virus. Not the genetic material. That would be impossible. Your body would end up attacking your genetic material. Thank goodness that doesn’t happen. Once your body has an idea of the existence of this prote