Virology is called for virus analysis. A virus, in turn, is an organism made up of nucleic acids and proteins that reproduces inside certain living cells.
It can be said that virology is part of microbiology: the specialization focused on the study of microbes (organisms that can only be seen under a microscope). Virology is also understood as a branch of biology linked to taxonomy. Virology, in short, is responsible for the study of the classification, structure and development of viruses. Among the topics that it analyzes are the diseases caused by viruses, their interactions with the host, their cultivation and the mechanisms of isolation.
Virology researchers study how each virus causes an infection. When a virus infects an organism, it invades it causing a specific immune response, in addition to causing various types of damage to the host. Experts investigate this process and the way viruses replicate (that is, reproduce in the body). In addition to focusing on viral pathogens, virology also studies the clinical signs that show the presence of a virus in an organism and proposes methods to diagnose infection. Simultaneously, this specialty in microbiology conducts studies on vaccines and treatments against viruses. Let’s look at these points of interest for virology and others in more detail below: * Viral replication cycle: the virus reproduction cycle generally consists of three phases, which are the attachment and entry into the cell, the eclipse and the multiplication and liberation. It is important to point out that viruses are not made up of cells (they are acellular microorganisms) and are not capable of replicating on their own, but must enter a cell and carry out the process there; * Viral pathogens: any microscopic infectious agent capable of causing disease or harm to another organism. Viral pathogens can reproduce within the cells they infect, and this allows them to expand their attack exponentially in a short period of time. As fungi, protozoa and bacteria of microscopic dimensions do not require a host to live or reproduce, it can be said that pathogens are viruses, which is why their study is of such interest for virology; * Viral immunology: it goes without saying that if viruses were not capable of causing so much damage to our body, science would not treat their study in such an exhaustive way. Knowing the characteristics of each one of them is only part of it, since that is where the investigations of our immune system start, to know how to combat them. This important branch of biomedical sciences and biology also studies the functioning of the immune system when the body is healthy;
* Vaccines: in relation to the previous points, virology also focuses on the development of vaccines, that is, biological preparations capable of conferring active acquired immunity to a person or animal against a certain disease. Generally, the vaccine includes in its composition an agent similar to the one that causes the disorder it fights. Upon contact with the immune system, the vaccine prompts it to view the agent as a threat and then proceeds to destroy and record it in order to act faster next time. For all this, it can be inferred that virology is part of the orbit of medicine, which is the science that, among other issues, is dedicated to studying how to preserve and restore people’s health.
