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A 2010 review study by Puren et al. [2] categorizes viral load testing into three types: (1) nucleic acid amplification based tests (NATs or NAATs) commercially available in the United States with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, or on the market in the European Economic Area (EEA) with the CE marking; (2) "Home–brew" or in-house NATs; (3) non-nucleic acid-based test.
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of and the nomenclature for viruses. [1] [2] [3] The ICTV develops a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses, and thus has the means to appropriately describe, name, and classify every virus taxon.
Since 1997, United States law has declared a list of bio-agents designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or the U.S. Department of Agriculture that have the "potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety" to be officially defined as "select agents" and possession or transportation of them are tightly controlled as such. [5]
Biological weapons (often termed "bio-weapons", "biological threat agents", or "bio-agents") are living organisms or replicating entities (i.e. viruses, which are not universally considered "alive"). Entomological (insect) warfare is a subtype of biological warfare. Biological warfare is subject to a forceful normative prohibition.
Many viruses, bacteria, protozoa, fungi, helminths (parasitic worms), and prions are identified as a confirmed or potential pathogen. In the United States, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program, begun in 1995, identified over a hundred patients with life-threatening illnesses that were considered to be of an infectious cause but ...
Cells are the basic unit of structure in all living organisms and also the basic unit of reproduction. Cell theory has traditionally been accepted as the governing theory of all life , [ 1 ] but some biologists consider non-cellular entities such as viruses living organisms [ 2 ] and thus disagree with the universal application of cell theory ...
Viral evolution is a subfield of evolutionary biology and virology that is specifically concerned with the evolution of viruses. [1] [2] Viruses have short generation times, and many—in particular RNA viruses—have relatively high mutation rates (on the order of one point mutation or more per genome per round of replication).
Viruses enter host cells using a variety of mechanisms, including the endocytic and non-endocytic routes. [4] They can also fuse at the plasma membrane and can spread within the host via fusion or cell-cell fusion. [5] Viruses attach to proteins on the host cell surface known as cellular receptors or attachment factors to aid entry. [6]