Viral infection

A virus is a biological agent that reproduces inside the cells of living hosts. When infected by a virus a host cell is forced to produce thousands of identical copies of the original virus at an extraordinary rate. Viral infections can cause disease in humans animals and even plants. However they are usually eliminated by the immune system conferring lifetime immunity to the host for that virus. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses but antiviral drugs have been developed to treat life-threatening infections. Vaccines that produce life long immunity can prevent some viral infections.