• Question: What is the difference between bacteria and virus?

    Asked by to Daren on 18 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Daren Fearon

      Daren Fearon answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      Good question – many people don’t appreciate the difference and this has led to inappropriate use of antibiotics!

      Bacteria are single cell organisms that can reproduce themselves by splitting in two! They can exists in all kinds of bizarre places like in our guts, in the soil, deep under sea and in volcanic springs!

      Viruses are small infectious agents that can’t reproduce themselves but need to insert themselves into cells and then they make the cells reproduce the viral DNA. Viruses can infect all types of cells including people and bacteria.

      Antibiotics only work for treating bacterial infections, not viruses. So if you have a cold, which is a virus, antibiotics wouldn’t help.

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