Virus (Virus)

Viruses, or viral particles, are small particles that can infect living cells and cause various diseases in humans and animals. The size of the virus is so small that it is not visible to the naked eye and can only be detected using an electron microscope.

Viruses have a complex structure consisting of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) and a protein shell. Some viruses also have an additional lipid envelope that protects them from destruction and helps them penetrate cells.

Despite their tiny structure, viruses can cause serious illnesses such as colds, flu, measles and others. Various methods are used to combat viral infections, including antiviral drugs and vaccines.

Vaccines are one of the most effective ways to prevent viral infections. Vaccines contain weakened or killed versions of viruses that stimulate the immune system to fight real infections.

In general, viruses pose a serious threat to human and animal health, so it is important to take measures to protect against them and prevent viral diseases.

Viruses are among the smallest and most dangerous microorganisms on Earth. They are made up of a protein coat and a nucleic acid that can replicate itself and infect other cells. Although viruses are deadly, they also play an important role in the lives of humans and other organisms.

Viruses were first described in 1892 by French microbiologist Charles Nicolas Behring and German physiologist and biologist Paul Ehrlich during studies of infected fleas. In modern literature, the term “virus” is most often used by biologists, although according to medical concepts, a virus is usually considered an infectious particle of foreign origin that causes a special painful condition in the body. According to Ilya Gelfand, viruses are a completely special class of microorganisms. In other words, viruses are unique living objects. Relatively speaking, they have no habitat. Initially, they are non-life structures. They can be: - bionts, - fungi, - bacteria, - animals, - plant organisms. All of the above objects have in common that they are easily destroyed. Nevertheless, their macromolecules after partial destruction can remain in a chaotic form. Thus, they pass from a nonliving state to a living one, but only under the influence of specific intracellular catalysts, known as enzymes. Viruses are the smallest in the world. The largest ones are classified as herpes viruses, and all because they measure twenty by twelve micrometers. Viruses are also structurally simple, which allows them to multiply in a short time. In the course of the development of medical genetics, scientists were able to solve a number of mysteries not only of bacteria, but of relatively large viruses, for example, the causative agents of viral hepatitis C, shingles, etc. We studied them down to the gene. When studying the DNA of viruses previously unknown to science, scientists began to observe many other viruses with their own genomes in their composition. This diversity has led to the emergence of a separate large class of viruses—metaviruses. The term metainfection is understood as a process and phenomenon, at the moment of which the patient begins to feel unwell. At the same time, changes begin to occur in the body, during which the patient quickly weakens and even dies. Metainfections were classified as infectious diseases and began to be subdivided in accordance with the characteristics of their influence. The original word that appeared to designate these diseases - viral epidemiology - subsequently ceased to fully correspond to the ongoing action of viruses. Experts began to call such pathogens opportunistic viruses: their influence is acute and dangerous because people develop immunodeficiency.