Question: How do you defeat a virus without catching it, do you wear special clothing?

Eva Weiss answered on 9 Nov 2015:

I’m not sure what you mean by ‘defeat a virus’. If you work with viruses in the lab, then yes, you were protective clothing to not infect yourself. The level of protection depends on the virus. There are generally 4 levels of safety used for bacteria/viruses/parasites. The level depends on a) how easy it is to catch it and b) how bad it is to get the disease. For example, HIV causes AIDS so a bad disease but is relatively hard to catch in a laboratory setting so working with blood from people with HIV is safety level 3. Ebola on the other hand can be caught easily and is deadly, so it is level 4. Viruses that generally don’t harm humans are level 1. At level 4 you have to wear what we like to call a ‘space suit’ with air supply because you cannot risk to come in any contact with the virus, not even breath the same air. At level 3 you were a lab coat, gloves and safety goggles and work in a special room that has its air filtered to not spread anything to the rest of the building. At level 2 you still wear a lab coat and gloves but can work in a normal room under a ‘hood’, which is a work bench with protective glass and air flow .
If you work in health care and take care of sick patients, you would wear gloves and face masks.