Question

Viruses can survive only inside the cells of the host organism so then how are they transmitted from one person to another by air or water. Will they not die in this process

Answer 1

Viruses are small infectious agents that replicate only inside the living cells of other organisms. They can infect all types of life forms. ​When not inside a living cell or in the process of infecting a cell, viruses exist in the form of independent particles known as virions which consist of two or three parts: the genetic material made from either DNA or RNA, a protein coat called the capsid, which surrounds and in some cases an envelope of lipids that surrounds the protein coat when they are outside a cell. As soon as the virus enters a living cell, it gets activated and either leads to the lysis or breakdown of the cell releasing its own virus particles or it integrates with the DNA of the host cell and uses the host machinery to produce its own virus particles.