About Virus and best virus protection:

A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky‘s 1892 article describing a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco plants and the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898, more than 9,000 virus species have been described in detail of the millions of types of viruses in the environment. Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most numerous type of biological entity. The study of viruses is known as virology, a subspeciality of microbiology.

When infected, a host cell is forced to rapidly produce thousands of copies of the original virus. When not inside an infected cell or in the process of infecting a cell, viruses exist in the form of independent particles, or virions, consisting of (i) the genetic material, i.e., long molecules of DNA or RNA that encode the structure of the proteins by which the virus acts; (ii) a protein coat, the capsid, which surrounds and protects the genetic material; and in some cases (iii) an outside envelope of lipids.

The shapes of these virus particles range from simple helical and icosahedral forms to more complex structures. Most virus species have virions too small to be seen with an optical microscope, as they are one-hundreth the size of most bacteria.

The origins of viruses in the evolutionary history of life are unclear: some may have evolved from plasmids—pieces of DNA that can move between cells—while others may have evolved from bacteria. In evolution, viruses are an important means of horizontal gene transfer, which increases genetic diversity in a way analogous to sexual reproduction. 

Viruses are considered by some biologists to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce, and evolve through natural selection, although they lack the key characteristics, such as cell structure, that are generally considered necessary criteria for defining life. Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as “organisms at the edge of life”, and as self-replicators.

Viruses spread in many ways. One transmission pathway is through disease-bearing organisms known as vectors: for example, viruses are often transmitted from plant to plant by insects that feed on plant sap, such as aphids; and viruses in animals can be carried by blood-sucking insects. Influenza viruses spread in the air by coughing and sneezing. Norovirus and rotavirus, common causes of viral gastroenteritis, are transmitted by the faecal–oral route, passed by hand-to-mouth contact or in food or water.

The infectious dose of norovirus required to produce infection in humans is less than 100 particles. HIV is one of several viruses transmitted through sexual contact and by exposure to infected blood. The variety of host cells that a virus can infect is called its “host range“. This can be narrow, meaning a virus is capable of infecting few species, or broad, meaning it is capable of infecting many.

Viral infections in animals provoke an immune response that usually eliminates the infecting virus. Immune responses can also be produced by vaccines, which confer an artificially acquired immunity to the specific viral infection. Some viruses, including those that cause AIDS, HPV infection, and viral hepatitis, evade these immune responses and result in chronic infections. Several classes of antiviral drugs have been developed.

Etymology

The word is from the Latin neuter vīrus referring to poison and other noxious liquids, from the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit viṣa, Avestan vīša, and ancient Greek ἰός (all meaning ‘poison’), first attested in English in 1398 in John Trevisa’s translation of Bartholomeus Anglicus’s De Proprietatibus Rerum. Virulent, from Latin virulentus (‘poisonous’), dates to c. 1400. A meaning of ‘agent that causes infectious disease’ is first recorded in 1728, long before the discovery of viruses by Dmitri Ivanovsky in 1892.

The English plural is viruses (sometimes also vira), whereas the Latin word is a mass noun, which has no classically attested plural (vīra is used in Neo-Latin). The adjective viral dates to 1948. The term virion (plural virions), which dates from 1959, is also used to refer to a single viral particle that is released from the cell and is capable of infecting other cells of the same type.

History

Louis Pasteur was unable to find a causative agent for rabies and speculated about a pathogen too small to be detected by microscopes. In 1884, the French microbiologist Charles Chamberland invented the Chamberland filter (or Pasteur-Chamberland filter) with pores small enough to remove all bacteria from a solution passed through it. In 1892, the Russian biologist Dmitri Ivanovsky used this filter to study what is now known as the tobacco mosaic virus: crushed leaf extracts from infected tobacco plants remained infectious even after filtration to remove bacteria.

Ivanovsky suggested the infection might be caused by a toxin produced by bacteria, but he did not pursue the idea. At the time it was thought that all infectious agents could be retained by filters and grown on a nutrient medium—this was part of the germ theory of disease. In 1898, the Dutch microbiologist Martinus Beijerinck repeated the experiments and became convinced that the filtered solution contained a new form of infectious agent. 

He observed that the agent multiplied only in cells that were dividing, but as his experiments did not show that it was made of particles, he called it a contagium vivum fluidum (soluble living germ) and reintroduced the word virus. Beijerinck maintained that viruses were liquid in nature, a theory later discredited by Wendell Stanley, who proved they were particulate.^[25] In the same year, Friedrich Loeffler and Paul Frosch passed the first animal virus, aphthovirus (the agent of foot-and-mouth disease), through a similar filter.^[27]

In the early 20th century, the English bacteriologist Frederick Twort discovered a group of viruses that infect bacteria, now called bacteriophages (or commonly ‘phages’), and the French-Canadian microbiologist Félix d’Herelle described viruses that, when added to bacteria on an agar plate, would produce areas of dead bacteria. He accurately diluted a suspension of these viruses and discovered that the highest dilutions (lowest virus concentrations), rather than killing all the bacteria, formed discrete areas of dead organisms.

Counting these areas and multiplying by the dilution factor allowed him to calculate the number of viruses in the original suspension. Phages were heralded as a potential treatment for diseases such as typhoid and cholera, but their promise was forgotten with the development of penicillin. The development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics has renewed interest in the therapeutic use of bacteriophages.

By the end of the 19th century, viruses were defined in terms of their infectivity, their ability to pass filters, and their requirement for living hosts. Viruses had been grown only in plants and animals. In 1906 Ross Granville Harrison invented a method for growing tissue in lymph, and in 1913 E. Steinhardt, C. Israeli, and R.A. Lambert used this method to grow vaccinia virus in fragments of guinea pig corneal tissue. In 1928, H. B. Maitland and M. C. Maitland grew vaccinia virus in suspensions of minced hens’ kidneys. Their method was not widely adopted until the 1950s when poliovirus was grown on a large scale for vaccine production.

Another breakthrough came in 1931 when the American pathologist Ernest William Goodpasture and Alice Miles Woodruff grew influenza and several other viruses in fertilised chicken eggs. In 1949, John Franklin Enders, Thomas Weller, and Frederick Robbins grew poliovirus in cultured cells from aborted human embryonic tissue, the first virus to be grown without using solid animal tissue or eggs. This work enabled Hilary Koprowski, and then Jonas Salk, to make an effective polio vaccine.

The first images of viruses were obtained upon the invention of electron microscopy in 1931 by the German engineers Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll. In 1935, American biochemist and virologist Wendell Meredith Stanley examined the tobacco mosaic virus and found it was mostly made of protein. A short time later, this virus was separated into protein and RNA parts. The tobacco mosaic virus was the first to be crystallised and its structure could, therefore, be elucidated in detail.

The first X-ray diffraction pictures of the crystallised virus were obtained by Bernal and Fankuchen in 1941. Based on her X-ray crystallographic pictures, Rosalind Franklin discovered the full structure of the virus in 1955. In the same year, Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat and Robley Williams showed that purified tobacco mosaic virus RNA and its protein coat can assemble by themselves to form functional viruses, suggesting that this simple mechanism was probably the means through which viruses were created within their host cells.

The second half of the 20th century was the golden age of virus discovery, and most of the documented species of animal, plant, and bacterial viruses were discovered during these years. In 1957 equine arterivirus and the cause of Bovine virus diarrhoea (a pestivirus) were discovered. In 1963 the hepatitis B virus was discovered by Baruch Blumberg, and in 1965 Howard Temin described the first retrovirus. 

Reverse transcriptase, the enzyme that retroviruses use to make DNA copies of their RNA, was first described in 1970 by Temin and David Baltimore independently. In 1983 Luc Montagnier‘s team at the Pasteur Institute in France, first isolated the retrovirus now called HIV. In 1989 Michael Houghton‘s team at Chiron Corporation discovered hepatitis C

Origins

Viruses are found wherever there is life and have probably existed since living cells first evolved. The origin of viruses is unclear because they do not form fossils, so molecular techniques are used to investigate how they arose. In addition, viral genetic material occasionally integrates into the germline of the host organisms, by which they can be passed on vertically to the offspring of the host for many generations. This provides an invaluable source of information for paleovirologists to trace back ancient viruses that have existed up to millions of years ago. There are three main hypotheses that aim to explain the origins of viruses:

Regressive hypothesis

Viruses may have once been small cells that parasitised larger cells. Over time, genes not required by their parasitism were lost. The bacteria rickettsia and chlamydia are living cells that, like viruses, can reproduce only inside host cells. They lend support to this hypothesis, as their dependence on parasitism is likely to have caused the loss of genes that enabled them to survive outside a cell. This is also called the ‘degeneracy hypothesis’, or ‘reduction hypothesis’.

Cellular origin hypothesis

Some viruses may have evolved from bits of DNA or RNA that “escaped” from the genes of a larger organism. The escaped DNA could have come from plasmids (pieces of naked DNA that can move between cells) or transposons (molecules of DNA that replicate and move around to different positions within the genes of the cell). Once called “jumping genes”, transposons are examples of mobile genetic elements and could be the origin of some viruses. They were discovered in maize by Barbara McClintock in 1950. This is sometimes called the ‘vagrancy hypothesis’, or the ‘escape hypothesis’.

Health is the greatest blessing! (best virus protection)

People usually realize this when they have been exposed to a disease or virus. (best virus protection)

And how do viruses spread?

Through germs and bacteria, so the point is:

Unless we protect ourselves from them, it is not possible to get rid of infections and epidemics. And we will tell you one of the best HOW ways. (best virus protection)

It’s wearing gloves to avoid germs. It applies to general everyday use and especially when any epidemic outbursts. (best virus protection)

This blog will explain the tasks during which you need to wear gloves, what kind of gloves you should wear for each task, and how this practice keeps you away from viruses. (best virus protection)

The simple science behind gloves for virus protection

Bacteria need a medium to be transferred from a contaminated surface to human skin. When there is an “obstacle” between two surfaces, the chances of transfer are minimal. (best virus protection)

Gloves provide this ‘barrier’.

But there is a very important consideration here.

While wearing gloves can keep your body free of germs, they can also be a source of getting them.

How? (best virus protection)

Germs will remain on the surface of the gloves and if your body parts, such as the face, come into contact with the gloves, the germs will be passed on to you. (best virus protection)

For this reason, it is extremely important to use gloves only during certain tasks and to get rid of them (either throw them away or wash them) immediately after completion, being careful not to let your hands touch other body parts during the task. (best virus protection)

Here’s how it can be helpful to wear certain gloves during everyday tasks. (best virus protection)

Types of gloves for virus protection

1. Dishwashing gloves

Even if governments declare quarantine to confine families to their homes, they will continue to eat from plates and bowls, right? (best virus protection)

When your family members sneeze or cough while eating, many germs can find their way onto the surface of cutlery. To prevent your hands from coming into contact with infected tableware, you should clean the table and wash the dishes by wearing dish gloves. (best virus protection)

Besides keeping you from catching germs, these gloves have other benefits. It prevents skin dryness and cold caused by continuous washing, provides a better grip on the dishes and can be stored comfortably. (best virus protection)

2. Pet gloves

Your pets may have viruses or germs in their bodies. If you wash or groom them with bare hands, there is a chance that these germs can be passed on to you, so always wear pet grooming gloves. (best virus protection)

These gloves can better capture all the loose hairs and debris in the fur from your hands and also provide a nice, soothing massage. You can also comb your pet’s fur with these gloves. (best virus protection)

3. Garden gloves

What if someone sneezes or spits on mud or grass in the garden and you unknowingly touch it while you are doing gardening? (best virus protection)

Your body would now be carrying the microbes contained in that fluid, and they could easily find their way inside your body through your nose and mouth. (best virus protection)

And it causes viral infections and diseases. Garden gloves are an effective measure to avoid this situation. They also protect your hand against thorns and help dig and form seed paths. (best virus protection)

But be sure to wash them after use. (best virus protection)

Cleaning and peeling gloves

Such gloves can prevent you from being a carrier of the virus in various situations. (best virus protection)

When peeling vegetables such as turnips and potatoes (best virus protection)

When rubbing the mop, rug or carpet (best virus protection)

While getting rid of dried mud splashes on shoes (best virus protection)

When peeling tuna or salmon flakes (best virus protection)

Along with being one of the best kitchen gadgets, it acts as a barrier against virus-carrying surfaces (potatoes, turnips, carpets, shoes, fish) and therefore keeps you away from catching them. (best virus protection)

5. Disposable Nitrile gloves

Since these gloves are primarily used in the health sector, you can consider them as doctor or nurse gloves. Healthcare personnel wear them to avoid cross-contamination between infected patients and themselves. (best virus protection)

Anyone treating the patient at home or in the hospital should always wear disposable gloves. In the event of a sudden viral explosion, not only doctors, but also others can wear it.

But still, people should not touch themselves with these gloves, otherwise it will take away the point of wearing them in the first place.

Yes, you can disinfect and reuse.

Concluding lines

So, did you learn today about an effective method of preventing infection?

We are sure you did. Protect yourself and your loved ones from germs with this uncommon preventative method.

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