Abstract
The viruses are too small to be seen with a light microscope. Their small size allows them to pass through filters used to retain bacteria in contaminated fluids. Hence, they were first described as filterable agents. Like other microorganisms (e.g. bacteria, fungi and parasites), viruses are the infectious agents associated with disease in humans. Unlike other infectious agents (Fig. 48.1), viruses are obligate intracellular parasites; that is, they require living host cells to multiply. In addition, viruses replicate by assembling the individual components rather than binary fission.
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Parija, S.C. (2023). Introduction to Viruses. In: Textbook of Microbiology and Immunology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3315-8_48
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3315-8_48
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