Bacterial and viral infections have a lot of similarities and differences. The similarities aren’t discussed in the following lines, but the most obvious similarity is their ability to infect and weaken a human being. However, the negative effects are more displayed by viruses as almost 90 percent of bacterium help the body to work normally. The major differences between these infections include:
- For beginners, the pathogens which cause the infection are bacteria (for bacterial infection) and virus for viral.
- Their physical nature also varies as bacteria are single celled organisms with proper genetic coding i.e. DNA and RNA. Viruses are considered as non living and include just a DNA/RNA strand covered by single protein shell. This results in difference between their sizes.
- The bacterium is asexual which signifies that they use their individual self to reproduce their templates. They use mitosis process to split themselves and rebuild those parts to create identical bacteria. On the other hand, viruses can reproduce when they are living in a host. They can remain inactive for a large period of time and then attack a host with appendages. When they are inside a host, they replace the genetic coding of the host with theirs and create large number of copies.
- The bacterial and viral infections also differ in their working method and treatment. Bacterial infections happen because of invasion of bacterium into the digestive or respiratory system. There are certain defensive boundaries which try to stop them, but several bacteria might manage to get in and infect the body. This usually occurs if the body’s defence system has weakened due to psychological or physical changes. If the defence weakens, then antibiotics might have to be consumed (for example penicillin) to fight the infection. In comparison, viral infections involve a virus infecting a body by changing its genetic coding. The coding is used to make more templates of the virus. The treatment of infection includes consumption of antivirus. The best way to fight these infections is to prevent them. a popular method involves injecting a serum (weakened viral strain) so that the body can recognize its signature for future reference.
