Virology is the study of viruses. It deals with the scientific description and classification of viruses. Virology also deals with the infection, progression, and control of viral diseases in humans, animals, plants, and fungi.
What is virology?
Virology is the study of viruses. It deals with the scientific description and classification of viruses. Virology belongs to the higher-level field of microbiology. In addition, it is also assigned to medicine, especially in its practical fields of application. While microbiology deals with very small life forms, researchers disagree as to whether viruses are living organisms in the strict sense: The tiny parasites require a host to reproduce and have no metabolism of their own; thus, they do not meet the classic criteria for living being status. Viruses consist of a protein envelope that encloses their genetic information in the form of RNA or DNA. Viruses attack host cells by attaching themselves to their cell membrane (in the case of animals) or to their cell wall (in the case of plants and fungi) and introducing their own genetic material into the cell. In this way, the virus affects the host cell and can modify host metabolism. Viruses differ in terms of their exact structure, their approach to infection and the consequences they have for the individual host cell or the entire infected organism. Virology is also concerned with the development of methods and techniques to enable and improve the study and investigation of viruses. These include methods of cultivation, that is, the controlled propagation or preservation of living material. These fundamental skills and knowledge are of great importance in research and in the fields of application of virology: it is through them that the preservation of samples or the identification of a particular pathogen becomes possible.
Treatments and therapies
In its clinical application, virology deals with all diseases that can be caused by viruses. They can infect humans and animals as well as plants and fungi. However, not every virus can infect every living thing equally: Despite their superficial simplicity, viruses are highly specialized parasites. Without prior mutation and subsequent changes to the genetic material, viruses cannot change their host at will. Many diseases from which humans suffer are a consequence of viral infections. During infection, the virus enters the organism and seeks a suitable host cell. The virus causes the host cell to take over the foreign genetic information and carry out the instructions chemically stored in it. As a result, the host cell’s metabolism changes and it begins to produce new viruses. As soon as the immune system recognizes the virus as a foreign body, it begins to fight it. This typically results in the symptoms of the respective disease. Since the viruses must first multiply in the organism, some time elapses between the actual infection and the outbreak of the disease. The duration of this incubation period differs depending on the type of viral attacker. Only if the organism recognizes the viruses as invaders in time can the body fight them early enough and prevent an outbreak of the disease. The immune system bases its recognition of viruses on so-called antigens: Molecules on the outside. To avoid detection, however, some viruses camouflage themselves, for example by using a mucus-like coating. Vaccinations help the immune system to defend itself against harmful viruses. When a vaccine is administered, the body produces antibodies that fit like puzzle pieces to the very surface molecules by which the organism can recognize the viruses. As a result, the immune system immediately identifies invading viruses and fights them effectively before the disease can break out. Some well-known viral diseases that once affected large portions of the human population are now considered eradicated due to vaccination. These include smallpox, which was caused by the variola virus. Today, widespread and well-known viruses are, for example, the influenza virus or the HI virus.
Diagnosis and examination methods
Characteristic symptoms of the particular viral infection allow reliable diagnosis of the disease in many cases. However, certain circumstances necessitate the precise identification of a pathogen. In such cases, virologic testing identifies the virus in the blood of the affected person, for example. Knowledge of the cause of the disease is essential for successful treatment. In addition to their prominent role as pathogens, however, viruses are also of great importance in the future therapy of diseases. In applications that have so far only been experimental, medicine is taking advantage of the ability of viruses to transport substances directly into cells, for example. Consequently, applications are conceivable in which viral phages transport drugs and release them specifically where the organism needs them. Some viruses are specialized in transporting their genetic material into the nucleus of a cell and integrating it into the already existing gene sequence. Researchers see them as an opportunity for targeted gene therapy. In such a treatment, inserted genes could, for example, replace missing gene sequences and eliminate the resulting malfunctions. In this way, the treatment of diseases whose origins lie in genetic defects and which are still considered incurable is within reach. Virology could thus make a significant contribution to novel therapies.
