6.1 Viruses

Viruses are generally ultramicroscopic, typically from 20 nm to 900 nm in length. Some large viruses have been found.
Virions are acellular and consist of a nucleic acid, DNA or RNA, but not both, surrounded by a protein capsid. There may also be a phospholipid membrane surrounding the capsid.
Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites.
Viruses are known to infect various types of cells found in plants, animals, fungi, protists, bacteria, and archaea. Viruses typically have limited host ranges and infect specific cell types.
Viruses may have helical, polyhedral, or complex shapes.
Classification of viruses is based on morphology, type of nucleic acid, host range, cell specificity, and enzymes carried within the virion.
Like other diseases, viral diseases are classified using ICD codes.

6.2 The Viral Life Cycle

Many viruses target specific hosts or tissues. Some may have more than one host.
Many viruses follow several stages to infect host cells. These stages include attachment, penetration, uncoating, biosynthesis, maturation, and release.
Bacteriophages have a lytic or lysogenic cycle. The lytic cycle leads to the death of the host, whereas the lysogenic cycle leads to integration of phage into the host genome.
Bacteriophages inject DNA into the host cell, whereas animal viruses enter by endocytosis or membrane fusion.
Animal viruses can undergo latency, similar to lysogeny for a bacteriophage.
The majority of plant viruses are positive-strand ssRNA and can undergo latency, chronic, or lytic infection, as observed for animal viruses.
The growth curve of bacteriophage populations is a one-step multiplication curve and not a sigmoidal curve, as compared to the bacterial growth curve.
Bacteriophages transfer genetic information between hosts using either generalized or specialized transduction.

Viral cultivation requires the presence of some form of host cell (whole organism, embryo, or cell culture).
Viruses can be isolated from samples by filtration.
Viral filtrate is a rich source of released virions.
Bacteriophages are detected by presence of clear plaques on bacterial lawn.
Animal and plant viruses are detected by cytopathic effects, molecular techniques (PCR, RT-PCR), enzyme immunoassays, and serological assays (hemagglutination assay, hemagglutination inhibition assay).

Other acellular agents such as viroids, virusoids, and prions also cause diseases. Viroids consist of small, naked ssRNAs that cause diseases in plants. Virusoids are ssRNAs that require other helper viruses to establish an infection. Prions are proteinaceous infectious particles that cause transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.
Prions are extremely resistant to chemicals, heat, and radiation.
There are no treatments for prion infection.