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Article: Virology, Viral Classification, Types of Viruses
- Article from:
- World of Microbiology and Immunology
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Virology, viral classification, types of viruses
Virology is the discipline of microbiology that is concerned with the study of
viruses
. Viruses are essentially nonliving repositories of nucleic acid that require the presence of a living prokaryotic or eukaryotic cell for the replication of the nucleic acid.
Scientists who make virology their field of study are known as virologists. Not all virologists study the same things, as viruses can exist in a variety of hosts. Viruses can infect animals (including humans), plants,
fungi
, birds, aquatic organisms,
protozoa
,
bacteria
, and insects. Some viruses are able to infect several of these hosts, while other viruses are exclusive to ...