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Should Viruses Be Considered Living Things?

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There has been a lot of controversy about whether viruses should be considered living organisms or not. Eventually, they were classified as non-living organisms. A lot of people still wonder why they are not classified as living things when things such as plants are. Plants meet the criteria and have the characteristics needed to be classified as living things. Certain characteristics that viruses have or do not have are what leads them to be seen and classified as non-living things. These characteristics keep them from meeting the criteria needed to be considered living things. They also do not possess some of the characteristics that are needed to be classified as living. Some of these characteristics include their lack of ability to metabolize and their lack of ability to self-reproduce. They also do not possess a cell membrane; this is something that all living things are required to have. Viruses are not able to metabolize on their own, which is something all living things are able to do. When something Metabolizes, it collects energy from itself and uses it. …show more content…

This virus is an RNA virus. This virus is mostly seen in animals but can also infect humans. The transmission of rabies is done through the saliva of an infected animal and through the saliva of an infected human. This virus was first discovered in 1931 when a Government Bacteriologist found unusual habits with the Negri bodies in the brain of a bat. Once infected with rabies, it travels quickly throughout the brain. After infecting the brain, it then spreads throughout the organs. This virus causes disorientation and extremely violent behavior. A way to tell if something has rabies, is to look for foaming of the mouth. Dying from the virus can take as short as two days or as long as five years from the time of initial infection. The time it takes to kill the host depends on how the disease was received. Most mammals will die within weeks of receiving the

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Viruses are capsules with genetic material inside. They are very tiny, much smaller than bacteria. Viruses cause familiar infectious diseases such as the common cold, flu and warts. They also cause severe illnesses such as HIV/AIDS,

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This field is analogous to epidemiology. It is geared more toward viruses specifically whereas epidemiology focus on diseases in general. It “is the study of viruses and virus-like agents, including (but not limited to) their taxonomy, disease-producing properties, cultivation and genetics” (Meštrović,2015). Medical professionals like Max Theiler go through a process to determine what kind of virus is being analyzed. They classify components of the virus so it was indistinguishable contagion.

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The argument that all viruses are deadly is incorrect. In the Hot Zone, Preston explained how Ebola and Marburg caused an epidemic that killed over hundreds of people and animals. In the novel, Preston also mentions smallpox and malaria. Being diseases, there are cures for all of them which overtime will eventually prove to be not deadly. Although hundreds of lives were lost against the virus, there came a cure later on.

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Sparapani said that dogs with rabies are rare within the state of Wisconsin. Most likely, it is the result of an aggressive dog species that was left unattended by its

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When we consider if a virus is a living object we need to get the rules on living things, look at the characteristics of the virus, and compare the characteristics to the rules. A few of the virus characteristics are listed here. Viruses have at least two parts, an outer capsid and an inner core of DNA or RNA. They are non-cellular meaning they are not made of cells.

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Viruses have evolved powerful countermeasures to evade host innate immunity which produces immediate, but non-specific, immune response during infection. Among viruses possessing RNA genomes, the order of negative-single-strand viruses (Mononegavirales) encompasses many human and animal pathogens that cause severe disease, including measles virus, mumps virus and rabies virus. Rabies is an untreatable disease of humans, which has a case-fatality rate of almost 100% in non-vaccinated individuals. The etiological agents of rabies are viruses of the globally distributed Lyssavirus genus, the best characterized of which is rabies virus (RABV), which infects diverse mammalian species, being transmitted to humans most commonly by bites from infected

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This source is a non-profit organization, educational web where scientists provide answers to commonly asked science questions. One question asked was "Are Viruses Alive?", and was answered by Catherine Mansfield. Catherine is a Research Associate at Imperial College London, where she studies in heart failure, stem cell therapy, biophysics, and cardiac physiology, and has received her masters and PhD there. The author is credible because she has done extensive research in her major that revolves around characteristics of life. Her explanation includes both arguments of whether or not viruses are alive, or not alive.

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Rabies is a virus that is transmitted through the saliva of infected animals, usually through a bite. This virus is deadly to all that are infected with it, and there is no known cure to rabies. Considering how rabies cannot be cured and the infected will attempt to pass the virus to others, an ethical question has arisen in humans regarding whether or not rabid animals should be put down. In my own opinion, I feel that rabid animals should be put down as they will die a slow as the nervous system malfunctions. Rabies is a very controversial topic as some people feel that all life is sacred and should be preserved, while others feel that animals with rabies should be put down so the virus will not spread.

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