Viruses can not replicate outside of a living cell. Said another way, a virus needs to be in a living host in order to reproduce because it lacks the necessary cellular structures to do so. Interestingly, some microbiologists question whether a virus is a living organism because they are non-cellular.

Viruses are simply fragments of nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA surrounded by a sheath of protein. They are the perfect parasite in that in order to replicate, the virus totally controls the central processing unit of the cell, instructing it to begin synthesizing the proteins needed to replicate itself.

Once replication is completed, the host cell releases an enzyme that creates an exit point in the cell wall so that the virus can be released into the host’s system for the process to begin all over again.

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