Why are diseases caused by viruses so dangerous?
Viruses are dangerous for a couple of reasons: There are no great antiviral medications out on the market. There are a few, but they don’t kill the viruses like antibiotics kill bacteria. Many times the antiviral medication has too many side effects and the patient won’t tolerate taking the drug. Viruses mutate easily, so if an antiviral agent worked on the virus, the virus can mutate so that same drug won’t work on it in the future. Sometimes the virus mutates so rapidly the vaccine created for that virus has minimal effect on the virus because it has mutated. Viruses can lay in your body without causing any problems, and then cause an infection because your bodies immune system weakens (Shingles). Viruses are easily spread. You can transmit a virus just by sneezing, or shaking someone’s hand. And because they are spread so easily, it can be transmitted across the world pretty easily. “New” disease causing (virulent) viruses are being born, humans have not developed immunity to them a
