• Question: What is the diffrence between and bacteria and a viruses?

    Asked by to Nick, Iain, Chris on 17 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Nick Goldman

      Nick Goldman answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      Bacteria are small living things: a single-cell ‘creature’. They can perform all the actions they need to live and reproduce. Some of them are good for you (e.g. in your stomach), and some are bad for you.

      Viruses are not really alive. They are just a bit of DNA inside a coating of protein, and when they infect a host cell they ‘hi-jack’ the processes of life to make more copies of themselves, and then kill the cell when they spread. Viruses aren’t good for you; many of them are definitely bad for you. Viruses are generally smaller than bacteria.

    • Photo: Iain Moal

      Iain Moal answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      I agree completely with Nick’s explanation. Bacteria cells are smaller than human cells, but bigger than viruses. Bacteria are complex, and can live and reproduce on their own, such as in a petri dish. Viruses, on the other hand, are much simpler and cannot reproduce without infecting a host.

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