Bacteria and viruses are microbes.
Though there are some similarities, they are quite different from each other.
Some microbes are actually beneficial to living organisms, including human beings.
A large number of bacteria co-exists, in a mutually beneficial way with human beings.
Bacteria in the gut, helps break down food, and even synthesise some vitamins.
Some not all, types of bacteria and viruses can cause illnesses.
These illness can be caused in plants, animals and human beings.
Bacteria cells are much larger than viruses.
Bacteria cells are complete living organisms.
They can live independently, and reproduce.
Bacterial cells reproduce by dividing.
One cell becomes two, two become four, and so on.
Some types of bacteria reproduce quite rapidly.
Viruses cannot exists by themselves.
They are somewhere in between, living and non-living organisms.
Viruses need a host cell to survive.
The host cell can be in plants, animals, or human beings.
Viruses can be passed on from one person to another.
But they need to get into a host cell, to exists.
Once they enter a host cell they are capable of reproducing.
Viruses are actually strings of DNA, coated with some protein.
Once they enter a cell, they take over the manufacturing facility in the cell,
and replicate themselves.
Once the virus infects the host cell, it becomes a virus producing factory.
The new viruses that are produced infect other cells.
They in-turn produce viruses which infect more cells.
In this way, the virus can spread rapidly in the body.
Illness caused by viruses are usually short term.
The infection typically last for two to ten days.
Bacterial infections could last longer.
Usually the bodies natural immune system, will get rid of the viral infection by itself, in a few days.
Only in some cases medication is required.
Viruses can be only treated with anti viral drugs.
Bacterial infections are treated with antibiotics.
Antibiotics use various mechanisms to kill or neutralise bacterial cells.
An example of a virus which infects human beings is the rhino virus.
It infects the upper respiratory tract, which causes the common cold.
Influenza is another type of virus, causes an infection, commonly called as flu.
Bacteria can cause many types of infections.
E.coli is a type of bacteria, which causes food poisoning.
Different types of antibiotics are used to treat different types of bacterial infections.