EWW VIRUS! GET AWAY FROM ME! AHHHHHH!

    EW EW EW EW! GET AWAY!!!!!!!! I DON'T WANNA GET SICK! AHHHHHH! (breaths heavily) Oh my gosh! The virus was chasing me trying to get me sick! (Don't worry, it was only just a dreeeam!) Oh ok well since I said it, let me go ahead and tell you about it. So a virus is this little tiny thing that basically gets you sick. It has this crown-type-thing on the top. The crown thingy is made up of protein and has DNA or RNA inside.

See, that's something you could have nightmares on? Right, or is it just me...

   That was the simple stuff. Now let's get down to the harder stuff. We are going to learn how viruses reproduce. The main thing you need to know is that it's not alive. OK so a virus enters your body and slips past the white blood cells and a bunch of other things. Then, it finds a cell. It has these key things on them and the cell has these lock things on them. If the key matches the lock, the virus releases its DNA or RNA. The virus then starts using the cell's genetic material to make copies of itself. After that, the cell has so many baby viruses inside it, it explodes! KABOOM! And soon, the viruses are on their way to find a cell to take over and make copies of themselves. And that's basically their life cycle, too. Ooh bonus! Here's a pic.



that's the life cycle but also how it reproduces

















   So now you know what a virus is. My job's done. Just kidding! I need to give you examples! There are a lot of different kinds of viruses. Some kinds are chicken pox and the common cold. Some of the more serious kinds are AIDS, influenza, measles, polio, tuberculoses, small pox, and even some kinds of cancer. Yeah, viruses are not fun. 

poor girl 

    Wait, there is something that can help you not get bad viruses. Or at least, if you do get it, you wont get sick. Before you get confused, I'll tell you what I mean. This thing is called a vaccine. Have you even had to go to the doctor and had to get shots? Ugh I know I have. Anyways, you usually wonder, "Why do I need to get this? How does this help me? WHY ME?!" Well, I'm here to answer your questions. First, we need to know what a vaccine IS. A vaccine is this little bit of virus that gets injected into your body, via needle. (lucky us) Alrighty, now since we know what it is, we can talk about it. Vaccines are really important. The little bit of virus enters you body, and your body tries to fight it. Oh yeah, that little virus, its not real. As in it wont actually hurt you. Well your body thinks its real so it fights it. And then, it will remember how to defeat that kind of virus. So, if you get the real thing, your body will know how to beat it. And everyone gets vaccines.

the orange stuff is the vaccines

    Alrighty then! That's my blog on viruses! Hope you enjoyed! So here is a cool little video I found. CLICK HERE! Science Fun:)