• Question: Hi!How do viruses occur and how do we tackle them?

    Asked by anon-242681 to Zahra, Peter, Elliott, Danica, Ane on 20 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Danica Pinto

      Danica Pinto answered on 20 Mar 2020:

      Hi xmas393ear,

      this is a very good question that I had not thought about before. Scientists are still scratching their heads about the origin of viruses.
      Some viruses are tackled by our body’s immune system while some need vaccines to fight them.

    • Photo: Zahra Rattray

      Zahra Rattray answered on 20 Mar 2020:

      This is a really tough question because viruses are so tiny that they don’t leave fossils behind for us to study them! They are also amazing at invading cells and using the cells to replicate their genetic material. Scientists are still trying to learn about their origins, but one working hypothesis is that they started off as genetic material and became independent.

      We can tackle viruses and their transmission by designing new vaccines against them, or drugs that prevent them from entering cells or interfering with the machinery needed for them to replicate their genetic information.

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