Virus or bug?!

[anneoctober]

What's the difference between the two? No, Johno, it's not a joke but I'm sure you could come up wi a punchline . Everybody can get a bug and once you've "steamed" yoursel wi some menthol concoction, taken the paracetamol, coughed your lungs up and grappled wi the nightnurse , ye finally give up and go to the doc - only till be told it's a "virus" . Great a prescription mebbe - eh, NO, apparently ye canna treat a virus :eek: But it may relieve yur symptoms if ye try steaming wi a menthol..............[disgust]

[karia]

What's the difference between the two? No, Johno, it's not a joke but I'm sure you could come up wi a punchline . Everybody can get a bug and once you've "steamed" yoursel wi some menthol concoction, taken the paracetamol, coughed your lungs up and grappled wi the nightnurse , ye finally give up and go to the doc - only till be told it's a "virus" . Great a prescription mebbe - eh, NO, apparently ye canna treat a virus But it may relieve yur symptoms if ye try steaming wi a menthol..............

Hi anne,

You sound really miserable!

Antibiotics are worse than useless in this case..so that's a good thing as you will be all the more 'responsive' when you get something like Pneumonia!:eek:

Have you tried a wee 'tot' of spirits in yer lemsip?

Metaphorically 'tucking you in'.....wi big plumphhy pillows and no alarm clock!;)

Sleep tight, wake bright!

kariaxx

[Thumper]

Aww Anne you poor wee soul!Virus related illnesses are the worst because they can't be treated with antibiotics...although sometimes I think the Doc blames things on a virus just because they can say they can't do anything...maybe not tho so tuck yourself up in a nice cosy bed and go to lala land and hopefully you will be a bit better in the morning!Night night Hun,sweet dreams x

[johno]

Feel sorry for you Anne, hope your better very soon, cant tell you what,s best to take as i myself seem to be pretty much bullit proof and thats not much help to you. Look after yourself & get better real soon.
:~( :confused

[George Brims]

Well it's all a matter of terminology. "Bug" could be either a virus or a bacterium. Bacteria respond to antibiotics but viruses don't. If you have a cold you have been attacked by a virus, one of the family of rhinoviruses, and there's nothing to do but live with it, or treat the symptoms. However when you're all choked up with the cold you can then get a bacterial infection of the sinuses or the upper respiratory tract, which can be treated with antibiotics. If your snot or phlegm is coming out very green or yellow that's probably the case. People go off to the doctor and get treated with antibiotics, which clears up the miserable sinus thing or cough, and by the time that's fixed their body has cleared itself of the cold on its own, but they think the antibiotics did it (doc too busy to explain things properly). So next time they get a cold off they go to the doctor (I know people who do this every time!) and demand more antibiotics. The long-suffering doctor dishes them out (it's cold season and the waiting room is full of more of the same!) and off they go happy. What's worst is that when the person fails to complete the course of antibiotics, stopping taking them as soon as they feel better, they encourage the increase in drug resistance among bacteria, because bacteria with a slight resistance survive to fight another day.

One consolation for you annoctober is that as we get older we catch the common cold less and less because we have already had most of the strains circulating. Small consolation for everything else falling to bits...

[Anne x]

everything a virus these days with Gps !!! thats how I dont go to Dr 's local pharmacy the best
mind You could be a computer Virus like the org the day !!! so slow

[grumpyhippo]

Everybody can get a bug and once you've "steamed" yoursel wi some menthol concoction, taken the paracetamol, coughed your lungs up and grappled wi the nightnurse , ye finally give up and go to the doc - only till be told it's a "virus" .But it may relieve yur symptoms if ye try steaming wi a menthol..............
Menthols good!!! Try finding someone to to rub 'Vick' on your chest ..............you'll both feel the better for it.:lol::lol:

[Lolabelle]

Well it's all a matter of terminology. "Bug" could be either a virus or a bacterium. Bacteria respond to antibiotics but viruses don't. If you have a cold you have been attacked by a virus, one of the family of rhinoviruses, and there's nothing to do but live with it, or treat the symptoms. However when you're all choked up with the cold you can then get a bacterial infection of the sinuses or the upper respiratory tract, which can be treated with antibiotics. If your snot or phlegm is coming out very green or yellow that's probably the case. People go off to the doctor and get treated with antibiotics, which clears up the miserable sinus thing or cough, and by the time that's fixed their body has cleared itself of the cold on its own, but they think the antibiotics did it (doc too busy to explain things properly). So next time they get a cold off they go to the doctor (I know people who do this every time!) and demand more antibiotics. The long-suffering doctor dishes them out (it's cold season and the waiting room is full of more of the same!) and off they go happy. What's worst is that when the person fails to complete the course of antibiotics, stopping taking them as soon as they feel better, they encourage the increase in drug resistance among bacteria, because bacteria with a slight resistance survive to fight another day.

One consolation for you annoctober is that as we get older we catch the common cold less and less because we have already had most of the strains circulating. Small consolation for everything else falling to bits...

Wow, thanks for that George Brims, I had never really understood what the difference was and why sometimes they gave out antibiotics and sometimes not. But now it makes perfect sense! :D Are you a doctor?? ;)

[Jeemag_USA]

A Virus


A virus (from the Latin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin) noun virus, meaning toxin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxin) or poison (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison)) is a sub-microscopic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microscopic) particle (ranging in size from about 15–600 n (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nano)m (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre)) that can infect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infectious_diseases) the cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28biology%29) of a biological (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological) organism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organism). Viruses can replicate themselves only by infecting a host cell. They therefore cannot reproduce on their own. At the most basic level, viruses consist of genetic material (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_material) contained within a protective protein (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein) coat called a capsid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsid). They infect a wide variety of organisms: both eukaryotes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eukaryote) (animals, plants, protists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protist), and fungi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungi)) and prokaryotes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prokaryote) (bacteria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteria) and archaea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaea)). A virus that infects bacteria is known as a bacteriophage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage), often shortened to phage. The study of viruses is known as virology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virology) and people who study viruses are known as virologists. Viruses cause several serious human diseases, such as AIDS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS), influenza (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza) and rabies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies). Therapy is difficult for viral diseases as antibiotics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic) have no effect on viruses and few antiviral drugs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiviral_drug) are known. The best way to prevent viral diseases is with a vaccine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine), which produces immunity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunity_%28medical%29).

A Bug


Informally, a pathogen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogen) such as virus or bacteria that causes illness

Isn't Wikipedia fantastic :P

Its sounds like they are the same but I am not sure if they are, the list of viruses is huge compared to the liste of bugs/pathogens that cause diseases. One example I guess from the Virus list is Influenza and one example from list of bugs or pathogens is Escherichia coli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escherichia_coli) which causes Urinary tract infection. But at the same time, Bacteria, Viruses, Protozoa, Fungi etc are all pathogens, so in effect a virus is a bug.

Now my heid is sore!!! [lol]

[Ricco]

Now, when I first read this my immediate thought was:

A bug is an error in the programming code of a piece of software, whilst a virus is a small, invasive and nasty piece of programming that has found its way onto your computer.

Sad, or what? :eek:

[Thumper]

LOL Ricco I have to admit that was my 1st thought as well until I read the post...way too much time on the computer me thinks ;) x

[nanoo]

So sorry to hear your not feeling so well anneoctober. I hope you make a speedy recovery and get back to normal as soon as possible. Chin up girl we're all rooting for you. ;)

[anneoctober]

Many thanks to all the Orgers who replied to my post - I 'm saddened to think that I wont be able to get the menthol rub grumpyhippo as george brims says my bits are falling off due to my age ![lol]
Once more you 've all rallied round to help, and Jeemag, wi an explanation like that and to soothe your sore heid, hev a toddy ! For medicinal purposes only........:eek:

[George Brims]

Now, when I first read this my immediate thought was:

A bug is an error in the programming code of a piece of software, whilst a virus is a small, invasive and nasty piece of programming that has found its way onto your computer.

Sad, or what? :eek:
Me too, it wasn't until I read the actual post I realised it was the other kind. I've been programming since 1971 so I have an excuse.

[George Brims]

Are you a doctor??
No I'm more of a lab rat.

[JAWS]

If I remember correctly a bacteria, once it gets into your body, will multiply, quite separately from the body, on it's own and at an ever increasing rate unless the bodies own defences stop it happening. If that fails then antibiotics, when administered and if the bacteria hasn't formed a resistance, will act like a poison to the bacteria and go round killing it much as a fly spray kills flies.

A virus actually imitates the shape of a part of certain cells in the body, becomes a part of them, and then tells other cells to become the same. If the body hasn't met that particular virus before it has no idea how to deal with it and the virus runs riot until the body learns how to fight it. Once that happens the body then goes round killing off the individual cells which have been changed. Medical science has not developed to a stage where it can deal with individual cells one at a time.
I suppose a good description would be that the body only reads languages it has already learned. A new virus, in effect, is in a completely new language and until the body learns how to read it it has no idea what the virus is telling cells exactly to do.

The difference is like dealing with a wasps in a room, you can kill them with a fly spray. if they are left, the wasps will quite happily multiply and multiply on their own.
If a wasp has already stung you then what the sting has injected into you has become part of your body and spraying where you've been stung with fly spray will do absolutely nothing to stop the pain. the sting won't multiply on it's own but it can tell the body to do nasty things to you and give you problems.

Hope that helps explain it, anneoctober, because I'm completely confused by the explanation! :eek:

[johno]

Hey Anne i did,nt know just how geared up the orger,s were on medical questions & remedies.Hope it has it has all been of benefit to to you. did you find a cure. :eek:
All i have to offer is my best wishes & hope that you are better now . ps, Hope your hardware & software got sorted. he he ;)