Virology is most commonly known as the study of viruses and diseases studied through the field of biology/biochemistry. To adequately understand the topic of virology, one must know what certain terms are in relation to virology. First off, the word virus is used to define infectious microscopic agents that use living organisms to multiply and reproduce in. Viruses entering the body of an organism inflicts infection on said body and it directly uses the healthy cells in an organism to reproduce. To get a better understanding of what viruses are and where they come from, a significant piece of knowledge is that they are non-living and they cannot do much until they enter the body of a living organism. The word “virus” can include, but is not limited to, the influenza, mononucleosis (mono), and most recently popularized, COVID-19. In the case of the coronavirus, the proteins of the virus have pointy surfaces that fasten onto the receptors of healthy bodily cells. The previously mentioned viruses also operate in a similar manner to that of COVID-19’s, in which they all attack nutritious cells and then reproduce and spread off of that.
It is vital for science to be heavily knowledgeable on virology because it impacts the immune system. The immune system is arguably one of the most impactful important human systems as its effects extend far beyond the system itself but rather the entirety of an organism's body. To elaborate more on that, an immune system that is strong can fight off diseases that would otherwise render other systems weak. The immune system does this all while protecting the healthy tissue of the body, so this demonstrates how essential a good immune system is. When viruses enter the immune system, it holds a greater impact on the entire body instead of only the immune system.
Virology has its own field of specialists and they are virologists, they study the nature of viruses and aid the development of antiviral drugs. Virologists work somewhat closely with the pharmaceutical industry as they each hold specific on their respective subjects that provide evolutionary advances in antiviral drug treatment. A virologist has the job of identifying and preventing infectious diseases from occurring and/or spreading more than they already had. Furthermore, within virology there are numerous sub-topics that concern individual types of diseases and viruses which exemplify the necessity for virology in this world.
References
Baron, S. (2013). Introduction to Virology. Nih.gov; University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8098/
Graham, B. (2023, April 4). Virus. National Human Genome Research Institute. https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Virus
https://www.facebook.com/WebMD. (2020, June 30). Virologists: What Do They Do? WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/virologists-what-they-dohttps://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/virologists-what-they-do
Pfizer. (2019). How the Immune System Protects You From Infection | Pfizer. Pfizer.com. https://www.pfizer.com/news/articles/how_the_immune_system_protects_you_from_infection
Virology Journal. (2020, January 23). Virology Journal. https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/
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