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Article: Not all viruses are to be feared
- Article from:
- Winnipeg Free Press
- Article date:
- March 17, 2007
CopyrightCopyright F.P. Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership Mar 17, 2007. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Every living organism on Earth is assaulted by hundreds of viruses constantly
By Kevin M. Coombs
MENTION the word virus and most people immediately think: HIV, influenza, SARS, West Nile or hepatitis.
Each of these viruses belongs to separate families. There are nearly 100 different family types, with more than 5,000 different known viruses. We interact with billions of viruses every day.
Most viruses are incredibly small. The average virus is about 100 nanometres in diameter. One billion nanometres equals one metre. Thus, it would take about 10 million viruses to fill up the period at the end of this sentence.
Despite this small size, it has been calculated that if we collected all the ...