introduction to viruses

Question 1

what are charcteristics of a virus

Answer 1

small (20-400nm) non cellular

Question 2

what are the three structures of a virus

Answer 2

Icosahedral: 20 faces, each an equilateral triangle
Helical: protein binds around DNA/RNA in a helical fashion
Complex: neither icosahedral or helical

Question 3

what is virology

Answer 3

study of viruses

Question 4

whats a virion

Answer 4

extracellular form of a virus

Question 5

what ca virus families be classified according to

Answer 5

virion shape
prescence
genome structure
mode of replication

Question 6

what are the three ways of detection methods

Answer 6

whole organism, part of a organism and immune respse to a pathogen

Question 7

how would you detect a whole organism

Answer 7

microscopy and culture

Question 8

how would you detect a part of an organism

Answer 8

antigen detection, DNA/RNA detection

Question 9

how would you detect immunne response

Answer 9

antibodies ad antigen detection

Question 10

what can immune response be used to determine

Answer 10

acute/ recent infection and prior infection

Question 11

are antiviral agents virustatic or virucidal

Answer 11

virustatic

Question 12

what are antivirals used for

Answer 12

Prophyaxis (to prevent infection)
Pre-emptive therapy (when evidence of infection/replication detected, but before symptoms are apparent)
Overt disease
Suppressive therapy (to keep viral replication below the rate that causes tissue damage in an asymptomatic infected patient)