FUN FACTS ABOUT VIRUSES

Many of you will be unaware that viruses are NOT actually living organisms. What? Yes. In fact they are actually a very big puzzle to biologists. Here is the standard list of characteristics that define a living organism;

Cellular organization

Reproduction

Metabolism

Homeostasis

Heredity

Response to stimuli

Growth and development

Adaptation through evolution

By this set of 8 rules, a bacterium passes the test of being a living organism. However a virus meets NONE of these criteria and so is as much "alive" as a rock. In fact a virus is as completely inert as a "message in a bottle" (which biologists often compare a virus to) and it does absolutely nothing on its' own, other than exist.

A virus is just a chemical coating housing a DNA, or sometimes just an RNA, strand. So why do we refer to "killing" a virus when a virus is something that is not even alive?

What we have been told about viruses has little basis in science