Can viruses reproduce?
The question is simple enough, but it’s a hard one to answer. Fact is that viruses can not reproduce themselves without “help”. Help comes in the shape of a host cell where a virus latches onto with its “tails”. It then injects its genetic material into the host cell. Other viruses have the capacity to simply dissolve the cell wall, and “sink” into it.. Once the DNA of the virus is inside the cell, it takes control of it and forces it, using its resources, to produce more of the same virus DNA and parts of the virus. When most of the cell is used up to produce more virus material, it becomes is so weakened that it bursts like a soap bubble, releasing the new replicated viruses which immediately seek out new host cells to invade and destroy. This is essentially how viruses spread through the body. Luckily, in most cases viruses just attack one particular kind of cell.
