Dear Uncle Max, can you tell me the difference between bacteria and viruses? If you talk about flu bacteria and flu viruses again. (Alexander Krüger from Werdau asks for clarification.)
Infectious diseases can be caused by a wide variety of pathogens. These are parasites, fungi and also bacteria or viruses. The Federal Center for Health Education explains very informatively about all pathogens on its website infektionsschutz.de.
According to this, viruses only consist of one or more molecules and are sometimes surrounded by a protein coat. The molecules, which are the smallest units of a chemical compound made up of atoms, contain the genetic material (DNA or RNA) with the information required for their reproduction. Unlike bacteria, viruses do not consist of their own cells, nor do they have their own metabolism. You have no energy production of your own and no possibility of protein synthesis. Therefore, strictly speaking, they are not living beings.
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Viruses are tiny, only around 20 to 300 nanometers in size. That is why you cannot see them under a normal light microscope, you need an electron microscope. Viruses come in many different forms. Some look almost like tadpoles with a long tail, others are round or rod-shaped. They can cause harmless illnesses like a cold or cold sores. Most of the gastrointestinal infections in this country are also caused by viruses. Serious infections such as HIV / AIDS, liver inflammation (hepatitis) or the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) are also triggered by viruses. Viruses need host cells in order to multiply. As soon as the pathogens enter our body, they start to multiply. The host cell dies and thousands of viruses are released that immediately start looking for new host cells such as blood cells or muscle cells. Viruses also cause many of the so-called classic childhood diseases such as chickenpox, measles or rubella. Incidentally, it is still unclear how viruses originated or where they come from.
Bacteria, on the other hand, are considered the oldest inhabitants on earth. They can multiply under many different conditions and, like viruses, can survive for a very long time, for weeks or even months, in the environment or in the body itself. Bacteria are many times larger than viruses. They are about 0.1 to 700 micrometers in size and show all kinds of different shapes under the microscope, from spherical structures to branched threads or rods to cylindrical structures. Bacteria are single-celled organisms that are self-sufficient. In their cell they produce what they need to live. They have their own genetic makeup and metabolism. Bacteria are found everywhere, for example in the air, in water or in food. Bacteria multiply through cell division. Usually the bacterium constricts its cell in the middle and divides into two. So it clones.
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Well-known bacteria are, for example, salmonella and staphylococci. Salmonella causes salmonellosis, a typical food disease. Staphylococci, on the other hand, can cause abscesses or sepsis. But diseases such as tuberculosis, whooping cough, scarlet fever or urinary tract infections are also caused by bacteria. Some infections, such as diarrhea or pneumonia, can be caused by both viruses and bacteria. The use of the words flu viruses and flu bacteria is therefore not wrong, even if, without a doctor’s diagnosis, you usually do not know whether you “owe” your cold to bacteria or viruses. (MQU)
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