Question about Viruses

[tb-av]

So can some of you doctors, scientist, researchers, etc. help me out here.

I have been doing a lot of reading lately as I suppose many people have but it ends up being either the same basic stuff or too science heavy.

I have always thought that a virus would morph, mutate, whatever layman's term might apply.

I've read articles where Iceland has found versions of the current virus... I don't even want to use the name because one name is a virus and one is disease. I'm sure you know what I mean.

I have always thought that a virus by nature was pretty much morphing or mutating for reasons unknown. That we adapt to some, some mutate and get worse or mutate and get less harmful. Various versions of a head cold so to speak.

When I look at this https://nextstrain.org/ncov I can't honestly say I understand it, but it looks like the far right dots are showing the various mutations of a single entity ( virus or disease )

Now I am being told that a virus never weakens. It is a static entity. It's not even alive. ???

Can someone explain to me in laymans terms what I am missing here?

As a secondary question. I have been told that hand sanitizer is not a good defense against a virus but is against a bacteria. So I feel like my confusion is related to that comment as well.

If a virus is not alive, exists in a static state, what does the hand sanitizer do?

I guess the short story is, what is a virus and what is it's typical existence? The analogy I was given was polio will always be polio, smallpox always smallpox and they will not weaken. Which makes sense too.

Is there any way to explain this in layman's terms? I have come to realize I have no idea what a virus is.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I think the biggest thing to realize is that mutations are random in nature and the effect that they have on how the DNA is expressed isn't in response to some 'pressure'. Sure, load up on UV and some chemicals and you'll get more mutations. Natural selection determines if the mutation is beneficial or not. Simply.

A virus isn't 'alive' in that is so stripped down, biologically, that it can't reproduce with out a host cell to replicate.

[Ready.Fire.Aim]

A virus is RNA or DNA with an outer shell made of protein called a capsid.
Some have an outer membrane around the capsid.

The capsid protects the DNA & RNA. It also allows it to interact with ( infect) other cells such as plants, animals or bacteria.

Hand sanitizers, UV rays in sunshine, etc will break down the outer membrane and capsid and thus damaging the RNA.

[Averageman]

Can this live in air filters, remain dormant and reactivate when it becomes moist?

[Cold/Bore]

Can this live in air filters, remain dormant and reactivate when it becomes moist?

It depends on the virus type and strain. An airborne virus, such as influenza or covid19 can remain viable outside of the body for a couple of hours or days or perhaps more. Contrast that with the HIV virus that causes AIDS, and it is not viable outside the body for any significant amount of time. This is why it is primarily a sexually transmitted disease.

[Cold/Bore]

I found this interview with Michael Osterholm, an American infectious disease epidemiologist, regents professor, and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, quite informative and useful with regards to understanding our current predicament with Covid19. https://youtu.be/E3URhJx0NSw

[SomeOtherGuy]

I guess the short story is, what is a virus and what is it's typical existence? The analogy I was given was polio will always be polio, smallpox always smallpox and they will not weaken. Which makes sense too.

Is there any way to explain this in layman's terms? I have come to realize I have no idea what a virus is.

This should answer all your basic questions:

https://infogalactic.com/info/Virus

I use this or its predecessor Wikipedia whenever I encounter something I just don't know much about. (Wikipedia is bigger but has been taken over by leftist-statist slanted views in the last few years; Infogalactic is a right-wing alternative but can also be biased.)

[MegademiC]

1: are viruses living vs non-living? Depends on who you ask. I fall on the non-living side like “colddeadhands” because they cannot reproduce. They enslave other cells to make more of them. Some scientists to consider them to be alive, and we categorize them like living things (phylum, order, genus, species, etc).
2: most solvents destroy/de-activate most viruses by breaking down the shell and protein receptors that interact with cells
3: this current virus is SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease COVID-19. (Think HIV=virus, which causes the disease AIDS)
I cant speak to evolution of them, out of my lane.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I cant speak to evolution of them, out of my lane.

I hope not, you talking monkey!

[tb-av]

Thanks everyone.... @SomeOtherGuy still digesting your link. Need to finish reading and probably a re-read or two.


I've still got a mental block going on with mutations. Is a mutation a disease mutation? Or a virus mutation? I still can't get past a virus is set thing, then it attaches to a cell, that new life can then mutate? If that's the case then I suppose the host has to shed that new mutant. If that is the case then would the original and new mutant be the same level of dangerous? If things are random it seems like a mutant could be anything from no problem at all to way worse than original and anything in between.