Virus Gets a Taste of Its Own Medicine

jerry submitted, created time 3 months 3 weeks (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

Little more than protein capsules chock-full of genetic material, viruses barely rank among the living. Yet like people, at least one virus can catch a virus--the viral equivalent of coming down with the flu. This "flu" virus impairs the host virus's ability to grow and reproduce, a research team studying the largest known viruses reports.

Viruses are tiny biological hijackers that cause diseases that include the common cold, the flu, chickenpox, and AIDS. They infect animals, plants, and microorganisms and use their host's cellular machinery to make copies of themselves

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