What's the difference between bacteria and virus?

Answer 1

BACTERIA is -- microscopic life form: a single-celled, often parasitic microorganism without distinct nuclei or organized cell structures. Various species are responsible for decay, fermentation, nitrogen fixation, and many plant and animal diseases while VIRUS is submicroscopic entity: a minute particle that lives as a parasite in plants, animals, and bacteria and consists of a nucleic acid core within a protein sheath.
Viruses can only replicate within living cells and are not considered to be independent living organisms.

Answer 2

Viruses are tiny geometric structures that can only reproduce inside a living cell. They range in size from 20 to 250 nanometers (one nanometer is one billionth of a meter). Outside of a living cell, a virus is dormant, but once inside, it takes over the resources of the host cell and begins the production of more virus particles. Viruses are more similar to mechanized bits of information, or robots, than to animal life.

Bacteria are one-celled living organisms. The average bacterium is 1,000 nanometers long. (If a bacterium were my size, a typical virus particle would look like a tiny mouse-robot. If an average virus were my size, a bacterium would be the size of a dinosaur over ten stories tall. Bacteria and viruses are not peers!) All bacteria are surrounded by a cell wall. They can reproduce independently, and inhabit virtually every environment on earth, including soil, water, hot springs, ice packs, and the bodies of plants and animals.

Most bacteria are harmless to humans. In fact, many are quite beneficial. The bacteria in the environment are essential for the breakdown of organic waste and the recycling of elements in the biosphere. Bacteria that normally live in humans can prevent infections and produce substances we need, such as vitamin K. Bacteria in the stomachs of cows and sheep are what enable them to digest grass. Bacteria are also essential to the production of yogurt, cheese, and pickles. Some bacteria cause infections in humans. In fact, they are a devastating cause of human disease.

Answer 3

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Bacteria have all the equipment necessary to reproduce themselves succesfully. Viruses are extremely simple organisms, and do not have all the equipment necessary to replicate themselves. A few years ago many scientists would not have considered them to be "living" or even "organisms" because of this one deficiency. (Nowadays it is up for discussion, as we continue to try to define what makes an object "living.)

Viruses are very very tiny, much tinier than any bacteria, and are hard to see without the aid of an electron scanning microscope. They consist of a protein coat, sometimes with proteinaceous (made of protein) appendages, with limited genetic material inside. It is not always DNA; sometimes it's just RNA.

Bacteria are single-celled organisms. They have a single wall and unbound genetic material (i.e. they are "prokayotic", without a nucleus to keep their DNA separate from the rest of their cellular material).

FYI, this makes it really easy for bacteria to take up stray DNA (from other bacteria, from viruses). This is a scary thing, as far as humans are concerned. It means that bacteria can change their characteristics in very short periods of time, making it hard for us to form specific antibodies against them.

Pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria may be susceptible to antibiotics. However, because bacteria multiply very quickly, and can pick up or exchange DNA with other bacteria, they can change very quickly and be immune to the presence of some antibiotics. That is why it is VERY important to never take antibiotics unless absolutely necessary and to take strictly as directed.

Viruses are immune to the effects of antibiotics. That is why people who have the flu or a cold (both, viruses) should not ask for antibiotics to help them heal. Vaccines are the only help for viral infections and usually are just preventative.

Virus controls the host cell and reproduce that's make its copies at the cost of the host cell.

Answer 4

Bacteria have all the equipment necessary to reproduce themselves succesfully. Viruses are extremely simple organisms, and do not have all the equipment necessary to replicate themselves. A few years ago many scientists would not have considered them to be "living" or even "organisms" because of this one deficiency. (Nowadays it is up for discussion, as we continue to try to define what makes an object "living.)

Viruses are very very tiny, much tinier than any bacteria, and are hard to see without the aid of an electron scanning microscope. They consist of a protein coat, sometimes with proteinaceous (made of protein) appendages, with limited genetic material inside. It is not always DNA; sometimes it's just RNA.

Bacteria are single-celled organisms. They have a single wall and unbound genetic material (i.e. they are "prokayotic", without a nucleus to keep their DNA separate from the rest of their cellular material).

FYI, this makes it really easy for bacteria to take up stray DNA (from other bacteria, from viruses). This is a scary thing, as far as humans are concerned. It means that bacteria can change their characteristics in very short periods of time, making it hard for us to form specific antibodies against them.

Pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria may be susceptible to antibiotics. However, because bacteria multiply very quickly, and can pick up or exchange DNA with other bacteria, they can change very quickly and be immune to the presence of some antibiotics. That is why it is VERY important to never take antibiotics unless absolutely necessary and to take strictly as directed.

Viruses are immune to the effects of antibiotics. That is why people who have the flu or a cold (both, viruses) should not ask for antibiotics to help them heal. Vaccines are the only help for viral infections and usually are just preventative.

Answer 5

Bacteria are "alive" and can reproduce on thier own. A virus can not reproduce on it's own and needs a host cell from another organism to "build" it. A virus lands on a cell and injects it's own dna into the host cell. The host cell then begins to build copies of the virus. The virus by itself can not reproduce.

Answer 6

Bacteria are tiny, one-celled living organisms that can only be seen with a microscope. They live and breed in warm, moist environments in the body and elsewhere, growing quickly and causing infection. Bacterial infections can usually be treated with an antibiotic. Viruses are smaller than bacteria and cannot be seen with a microscope. They grow inside the body and produce toxins (poisons) that can cause rashes, aches and fevers. Viruses cannot be killed with antibiotics..

Answer 7

Amount of bacteria is like ''O'' Big
Amount of virus is like '' . '' small
Bacteria is a kind of life form I mean its alive. Virus is a look like a parasite that needs a cell to become active.

Answer 8

bacterial cells r bigger than virus. virus is more virulent than bacteria. bacteria divides by binnary fission where as in virus
the RNA is split into no. of small molecules and each willform into virus. Bacteria has only DNAand in virus mostly RNA.

Answer 9

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/virusbacteria.htm
gives a good explanation about difference between bacteria and virus.

Answer 10

I've read all your other answers and they're all true, but i thought i'd throw my 2 cents in anyway: there is also such thing as "good" bacteria and "bad" bacteria, there is no "good" virus.