Wikijunior:Biology/Viruses

Viruses

A virus called a rotavirus, which can cause diarrhea.

Viruses are much smaller than other living things like bacteria, so small that it would take around one hundred viruses laid end to end just to make the length of a bacterium! Viruses are not really alive. They fall in the line between living things and non-living things. They do not do all of the things that living things do. They can only make more copies of themselves when they are inside living cells.

Viruses often kill cells, and also make you ill. Lots of diseases are caused by viruses, the most famous ones are the viruses that cause the flu, colds, and Covid-19.