VIROLOGY
TEN FACTS ABOUT VIRUSES 1. Some parasitic wasps lay eggs in caterpillars, where they mature into adult wasps. The wasp eggs contain a virus, encoded in the wasp genome, which prevents the caterpillar from rejecting the eggs. 2. There are a million virus particles per milliliter of seawater for a global total of 10 30 virions! Lined up end to end, they would stretch 200 million light years into space . 3. The genetic information of viruses can be DNA or RNA; single or double-stranded; one molecule or in pieces. 4. The name virus was coined from the Latin word, slimy liquid or poison. 5. Walter Reed discovered the first human virus, the yellow fever virus, in 1901. 6. Viruses are not alive as they are inanimate complex organic matter. They lack any form of energy, or carbon metabolism, and cannot replicate or evolve. Viruses are reproduced and evolve only within cells. 7. Over 10 16 human immunodeficiency virus genomes are produced daily on the entire planet. As a conseq...