top of page
How do viruses infect the host?
Essentially, as viruses lack various chemicals to self-reproduce, viruses negate this disability by invading a host cell in order to infect it and reprogram the host to mass-produce the very virus. Such process is known as the "Viral Replication", which is a looping cycle that repeats itself.
Firstly, the virus attaches itself to the membrane of the host cell and begins its penetration through the membrane.
Secondly, the capsid of the virus breaks off and the genetic material (DNA or RNA depending on the virus) enters the host's nucleus.
Next, the genetic information re-programs the cell's functions to reproduce the very virus. This process vary depending on the nucleic acid.
If the genetic core was DNA, then the already established double helix would link up with the DNA within the nucleus and reprogram it to mass-produce the virus, infecting the cell.
If the genetic core was RNA, the single stranded genetic material would use special enzymes in order to force itself in and stick onto the DNA in the nucleus and infecting the cell.
With the nucleus infected, after the genetic data from the virus links up with the nucleus in the cell, it commands the nucleus to mass-reproduce the virus.
The mass-produced viruses then burst out of the cell, ultimately killing it and resets the viral replication cycle, infecting hosts and reproducing.
bottom of page