Book contents
- Understanding Coronavirus
- Series page
- Understanding Coronavirus
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface to the Revised and Updated Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 How Is the Coronavirus Spreading?
- 3 What Is a Coronavirus?
- 4 How Is the Coronavirus Changing?
- 5 How Did the COVID-19 Outbreak Start and Evolve?
- 6 How Does the COVID-19 Outbreak Compare to the SARS Outbreak in 2003?
- 7 How Does the COVID-19 Outbreak Compare to Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza?
- 8 How Can We Treat the Virus and Prevent Infections?
- Conclusions
- Summary of Common Misunderstandings
- Suggested Further Reading
- Figure and Quotation Credits
- Index
3 - What Is a Coronavirus?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 September 2021
- Understanding Coronavirus
- Series page
- Understanding Coronavirus
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface to the Revised and Updated Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 How Is the Coronavirus Spreading?
- 3 What Is a Coronavirus?
- 4 How Is the Coronavirus Changing?
- 5 How Did the COVID-19 Outbreak Start and Evolve?
- 6 How Does the COVID-19 Outbreak Compare to the SARS Outbreak in 2003?
- 7 How Does the COVID-19 Outbreak Compare to Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza?
- 8 How Can We Treat the Virus and Prevent Infections?
- Conclusions
- Summary of Common Misunderstandings
- Suggested Further Reading
- Figure and Quotation Credits
- Index
Summary
Viruses are amazing creatures. They are the most common, the most diverse, and the fastest-evolving biological entities on Earth. They infect every form of life known, “hijacking” the complex machinery of cells and forcing them into submission. Being much smaller and less complex than cells, they have a unique, tiny kit of “tools” able to regulate the essential elements of cells and to “fool” their defense mechanisms. It should be noted that viruses do not exhibit any of the life properties we usually attribute to cells (such as metabolism, development, or sensitivity) other than reproduction. What viruses practically “do” is to enter cells, their “hosts,” and use the cellular machinery to produce new virus particles. It is not surprising that many important discoveries in biology during the last 100 years have been made from, and through, viruses. Viruses have provided fundamental clues to the principles of molecular biology, such as how cells replicate and handle their information and the mechanisms that cause cancers, among many others.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Understanding Coronavirus , pp. 22 - 33Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021