Question: Hello. What does it take for a cell to be infected.

Natasha Myhill answered on 14 Nov 2017:

Hi. A cell can be infected by either bacteria or a virus. A bacteria is a cell that can have a good relationship with the body and help us, or they can be associated with disease. Some bacteria can puncture the walls of cells or infect them with their toxins. Viruses are weird ones – they aren’t made of cells but they do have the ability to infect cells. They are much smaller than bacteria and can actually live inside of cells and replicate, or hijack the cell’s machinery to make the cell make more virus. Viruses cause diseases like the flu, HIV and Hepatitis.