Franklin Veaux :
There is none , because viruses are n’t alive .
A virus straddles the fuzzy boundary between life and dead . That ’s why biologists and doctors lecture about " inactivated " or " attenuated " viruses , not " dead " viruses .
It ’s helpful to intend of a computer virus as a simple machine . In fact , in a lot of ways , it ’s a machine that ’s unproblematic than your car . What ’s the difference between a support and a utter auto ? None , because cars are n’t alive .
Cars can be function or not work . you’re able to , for object lesson , pull the spark plug wire , or drain the gas tank , or satisfy the intake manifold paper with Silly Putty , and a act upon car will become a not - sour gondola , even though they face pretty much the same .
Inactivated virus are a bit like not - working cars : some part of the machinery has been change or damage to make it not work .
you may demobilise viruses by heating them so the protein pelage is damaged , or the genetic material is destroyed . you could hit them with radiation to destroy the genetic material . you’re able to break the virus into part .
Your eubstance ’s immune system does not recognise the entire virus . It look for and tell apart certain parts of the virus , called " antigen " or " antigen subunits . " As long as just that part is intact , it does n’t matter how severely damaged the repose of the virus is .
By fashion of comparison , if you start the hood of a car , melt the locomotive engine into scoria , and then conclude the strong-armer , people walking down the street will still accredit it as a car . They ’ll see it and say " yep , that ’s a car , " even though the engine is entirely demolish . you may take the wheels off and people will still say " yep , that thing I ’m looking at is a car . "
Your body will look at the KO’d shell of a computer virus and say " yep , that ’s a virus , " even if the hereditary material is completely destroy ( or entirely remove altogether ) . you could take parts of the virus off and your torso will still say " yep , that thing I ’m looking at is a virus . "
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