Abstract
Infection is caused by pathogens outside of our bodies or by usual inhabitants within our bodies. It can be defined as the phenomenon that pathogens such as microbes, viruses, etc. enter organisms and grow there. Bacteria can grow by themselves under certain conditions. From this viewpoint, we can understand that bacteria are able to grow inside our bodies. On the other hand, viruses can’t grow by themselves. They need host cells to grow. Therefore, viruses are not organisms but just tiny particles conveying nucleic acids. We should keep the differences in mind to combat COVID-19 and other viruses with researchers in various disciplines. In this chapter, we describe what infection is and how viruses differ from bacteria.
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Kanematsu, H., Barry, D. (2022). Infection. In: Barry, D., Kanematsu, H. (eds) Studies to Combat COVID-19 using Science and Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1356-3_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1356-3_2
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