What's the difference between viruses, germs, and bacteria?

jimmyrussell23

A virus is a submicroscopic parasitic particle that infects cells in biological organisms. The study of viruses is virology. Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites that lack the cellular machinery for self-reproduction. Viruses infect eukaryotes and prokaryotes such as bacteria; viruses infecting prokaryotes are also known as bacteriophages or phages. Typically viruses carry a small amount of genetic material, either in the form of DNA or RNA, but not both, surrounded by some form of protective coat consisting of proteins, lipids, glycoproteins or a combination. The viral genome codes for the proteins that constitute this protective coat, as well as for those proteins required for viral reproduction that are not provided by the host cell. Apr 19 06, 2:00 AM

jimmyrussell23

Germ is an informal term for a pathogen, particularly bacteria (as in germ warfare). One of the first people to postulate that some diseases were caused by the presence of some kind of very small 'seed' (the original meaning of 'germ') that germinated or multiplied in the body to produce the disease was Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor, practising in an obstetrics ward in the 1840s. He noticed that the death rate of the impoverished women attended by the nurse midwives was many times less than that of the wealthier women attended by the doctors. His observations led him to conclude that it was a matter of cleanliness. Apr 19 06, 2:01 AM

jimmyrussell23

Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are a major group of living organisms. The term "bacteria" has variously applied to all prokaryotes or to a major group of them, otherwise called the eubacteria, depending on ideas about their relationships. Here, bacteria is used specifically to refer to the eubacteria. Another major group of bacteria (used in the broadest, non-taxonomic sense) are the Archaea. The study of bacteria is known as bacteriology, a subfield of microbiology. Bacteria are the most abundant of all organisms. They are ubiquitous in soil, water, and as symbionts of other organisms. Many pathogens, disease-causing organisms, are bacteria. Most are minute, usually only 0.5-5.0 ìm in their longest dimension, although giant bacteria like Thiomargarita namibiensis and Epulopiscium fishelsoni may grow past 0.5 mm in size. They generally have cell walls, like plant and fungal cells, but with a very different composition (peptidoglycans). Many move around using flagella, which are different in structure from the flagella of other groups. Apr 19 06, 2:02 AM