Is it true that virus are dead when not in contact with living tissue and come alive when they do so?

Question

Please give all the relevant details and the characteristic features of virus. Also explain what implications it would have on AIDS.

Kindly do not copy and paste stuff from wikipedia or other websites. I do know how to surf the net.

I would be very glad if researchers would answer my qusetion. I wolud also like to know what happens if someone pricks you with an infected needle.

Answer 1

This is a rather tricky question, as viruses aren't considered alive at all - they do not meet the 7 criteria to be described as biological life. They are only "active" when inside a cell, where they can do their damage. The implications for HIV are that outside of the body it "dies" rather quickly - becomes unable to infect a cell - it must be transmitted via bodily fluids. HIV is actually described as a "wimpy" virus because it falls apart quickly outside of the body.

Answer 2

Whether a virus is dead or alive remains debatable. The important thing is what do they do. A virus is similar to a small piece of DNA (or RNA). By itself it can't do very much and outside a human body tends to degrade. If injected into a human body it can enter a cell and take over the "machinery" to replicate and spread itself to other cells; often bursting the host cell. It would be similar to an aircraft starter motor getting under the hood of your car and using your engine to make so many identical starter motors that your car bursts and all the other cars in the parking lot are similarly "infected."

Answer 3

Its not good to say that viruses are dead,infact they are pieces of proteins with a genetic material in the centre..They come "alive" when they come in contact with a living tissue because they use the protein machinery to manufacture viral proteins..Infact viruses lack these protein machinery.
One of the implications that viruses have on AIDS is that they keep changing their protein coat every time thus leaving the immune system to produce new antibodies against the new protein coat each time and by this time infections occur

Answer 4

Yes it is true...
viruses are even not considered as organisms in the phylogenetic tree of organisms because a virus is not a cell; rather, it is a particle containing RNA and protein...

Viruses are not able to live alone at all.. they need a host upon which they can depend for their nutrition...

The smaller the virus, the more dangerous it is...
HIV virus which causes AIDS is a good example of that...

AIDS can be transmitted by fluids, through sexual intercourse, oral sex, and any other activity that involves fluid interactions...

Answer 5

Viruses technically aren't even living things. They're not classified as organisms because they do not grow and reproduce in the ways stated for life. They aren't composed of cells and do not metabolize.

That being said, a virus is basically just a particle. It affects cells just by injecting their DNA, not by any conscious thing. That's just what it does. Wen they touch cells they simply inject their RNA. And you don't need to be a researcher to be knowledgable.

Answer 6

Not dead but, dormant like a hibernating animal for the winter. The link below should give you a better understanding of the characteristics of a virus.

library.thinkquest.org/23054/basics/index.html

Answer 7

It is infact true. When viruses are not in contact with any other living thing, they die. THey are not considered living, but they survive only in living things. You are taught this in basics for yuor biology in high school!

Answer 8

Gingercat nailed it. Give her 10 pts men.
Where'd Miranda's answer come from, whoa!

Answer 9

It is not that they are dead it is that they are inactive.Dont you know that virus comes between the living and non living.A virus (Latin, poison) is a microscopic particle that can infect the cells of a biological organism. At the most basic level viruses consist of genetic material contained within a protective protein shell called a capsid, which distinguishes them from other virus-like particles such as prions and viroids. The study of viruses is known as virology, and those who study viruses are called virologists.

Viruses are similar to obligate intracellular parasites as they lack the means for self-reproduction outside a host cell, but unlike parasites, which are living organisms, viruses are not truly alive. They infect a wide variety of organisms, both eukaryotes (such as animals and plants) and prokaryotes (such as bacteria). A virus that infects bacteria is known as a bacteriophage, which is used mainly in its shortened form phage.

It has been argued extensively whether viruses are living organisms. They are considered non-living by the majority of virologists as they do not meet all the criteria of the generally accepted definition of life. Among other factors, viruses do not possess a cell membrane or metabolise on their own. A definitive answer is still elusive due to the fact that some organisms considered to be living exhibit characteristics of both living and non-living particles, as viruses do. For those that consider viruses living, viruses are an exception to the cell theory proposed by Theodore Schwann, as viruses are not made up of cells.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus <---------site (enter to get more details)
Human immunodeficiency virus (commonly known as HIV, and formerly known as HTLV-III and lymphadenopathy-associated virus[1][2]) is a retrovirus that is the cause of the disease known as AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), a syndrome where the immune system begins to fail, leading to many life-threatening opportunistic infections.

HIV primarily infects vital components of the human immune system such as CD4+ T cells, macrophages and dendritic cells. It also directly and indirectly destroys CD4+ T cells. As CD4+ T cells are required for the proper functioning of the immune system, when enough CD4+ T cells have been destroyed by HIV, the immune system functions poorly, leading to AIDS. HIV also directly attacks organs such as the kidneys, heart and brain, leading to acute renal failure, cardiomyopathy, dementia and encephalopathy. Many of the problems faced by people infected with HIV result from failure of the immune system to protect from opportunistic infections and cancers.

HIV is transmitted through direct contact of a mucous membrane with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid or breast milk. This transmission can come in the form of: penetrative (anal or vaginal) sex; oral sex; blood transfusion; contaminated needles; exchange between mother and infant during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding; or other exposure to one of the above bodily fluids.

Infection in humans is now pandemic. As of January 2006, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized on December 1, 1981, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in recorded history. In 2005 alone, AIDS claimed an estimated 2.4—3.3 million lives, of which more than 570,000 were children.[3] A third of these deaths are occurring in sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth by destroying human capital.[4] Current estimates state that HIV is set to infect 90 million people in Africa, resulting in a minimum estimate of 18 million orphans.[5] Antiretroviral treatment reduces both the mortality and the morbidity of HIV infection, but routine access to antiretroviral medication is not available in all countries.[6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV go to this site for details on HIV.
I hope that helps.Good Luck!

Answer 10

No its not true