Contagious

Authors Note: This is a writing piece for the Science question “What are viruses? How do they affect organisms? And how they are helpful and/or harmful to humans.”

First of all, the definition of a “Virus is an infective agent that typically consists of a nucleic acid molecule in a protein coat, is too small to be seen by light microscopy, and is able to multiply only within the living cells of a host” (Virus). As you can see from this definition that the Virus needs a host to stay alive, which then at one point ends up being you in the prossise. In addition what you can learn from this definition the Virus is so small you cannot see Virus’s with the naked eye. So how people know about cells and Virus’s is the microscope. That is what the definition and how they discovered a Virus.

Second, how does the Virus affect other organisms? “Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria. Virus’s can replicate only inside the living cells of organism” (Viruses and bacteria). How they replicate is a host and the viruses produce multiple copies of themselves in a cell. That is how a Virus affects other organisms like animals, plants and bacteria.


Third of all, how are Viruses harmful? There are many ways how viruses are harmful. There are various examples that “They can affect other organisms such as animals, plants and bacteria by infecting them. As well how that affects us if other animals get infected is that we cannot eat them or we will also become infected” (Unknown). Lastly another way that they are harmful is that the organisms will become I’ll then advenally die.


Lastly even though viruses can be very harmful they can also be helpful. Ways that they are helpful are “they can help cure certain diseases” (Unknown). How the Viruses do that is the Viruses can be used like a vector to transfer normal functional gene. Then it is used to replace the (non-functional) gene. It can be used for genetic diseases. That is even how viruses can be helpful.


Overall learning about virus’s on what they are and how they affect other organisms and how there harmful and yet there also helpful. Virus’s for the most part are harmful but they still can be helpful. That is the answers on what the Science questions where.