Viruses are a Vital Part of the Complex System that Humans Inhabit

Viruses have been considered to be non-living in the past. New evidence however suggests that they actually could be living, thus, qualifying viruses as a species. A commonality shared by many is that viruses do not have all five characteristics of life, because they cannot reproduce without a host. New research; however, allows for scientists to consider viruses to be alive, as parasites need a host to be alive (similar to viruses) and yet are considered living.

Viruses are composed of essentially a group of proteins, in many cases like a shell with a strand of RNA inside of them (Milliken).

These simple virions are the cause of death for many people. It is for that reason that it is important to understand the nature of the virus. The virus must have a host cell to be considered living. For that reason, viruses aren’t typically categorized as living species; whereas, a parasite such as a tapeworm is. A tapeworm is a small parasitic insect that is consumed by someone and lives in the digestive tract growing and possibly reproducing.

The tapeworm cannot survive without a host for an extended period. Viruses follow a similar ideology (Forterre). Without the ability of a virus to inject its RNA into a host cell the virus wouldn’t be able to reproduce. Therefore, to logically arrive at a similar train of thought; since a parasite and virus need similar environmental conditions in which to survive; since the parasite is considered living then so must the virus.

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This allows for scientists to be able to conclude, by considering viruses to be a living entity.

Since viruses are showing signs of maturity and replication; it can be argued that they should be considered living. The virus reproduces (in the case of a bacteriophage) by attaching to the host cell; injecting the cell with its RNA, and then detaching. It is at this point that the cell begins to replicate the RNA sequence and builds more viruses. When the viruses have matured they burst out of the cell (almost always killing the cell) and go on to infect other cells to repeat the same process. A recent theory that is slowly being adopted by scientists is Reductive Evolution. Reductive Evolution is essentially the simplification of an organism over a long period to help the organism survive (Forterre). This has been related to the virus as it has such a simple structure. It can be theorized that the virus has been simplified over time as a way to survive. This also plays a role in the ideology of viruses to be considering living.

It can be argued by opposing views that a virus isn’t considered living because of its innate ability to not be able to reproduce by itself. Not being able to produce offspring without a host violates one of the five characteristics of life (one of which is to be able to create viable offspring). This ideology, however, is getting disproved more and more as scientists use methods such as Reductive Evolution (Milliken) to help explain its structure. In the past few hundred years, scientists have learned more about the viruses and thus are learning more about how to better fight off these unwanted parasites.

The determination of whether or not a virus is considered living is a vital component of how understanding how viruses work and then how to better develop solutions to eradicate them (Milliken). Everyone, for the most part, receives a flu shot. A flu shot on average varies in effectiveness from year to year. In 2017 the flu vaccine was only effective in some people due in part to a miscalculation of the prevalent flu strains for that year. The point of all of this is, that it is imperative to define the problem before an accurate solution can be found to solve it. By defining a virus as living, scientists and immunologists can better come up with a more effective vaccine to ward off these unwarranted infections.

Research has already started for attempting to utilize the new theories around viruses and creating specially tailored vaccines. There was a trial conducted using Ebola patients. The patients had undergone RNA lipid ‘technological’ treatments to help target the specific genetic makeup of viruses. “Patients with laboratory-confirmed EVD aged 18 y or older were eligible for enrolment. Exclusion criteria were as follows: underlying disease or condition that could jeopardize the safety of the participant or other individuals, patient determined by the treating physician on admission to be for end-of-life care only…” (Dunning, Jake, et al). This was a small trial consisting of less than 30 patients total; all were screened, and this was considered their last option before succumbing to illness. Almost all of the patients died, many from Ebola; however, it is still important to recognize that the starting of treatment trials utilizing the new ideas on the viruses and their genetic makeup plays a key role in shaping the future of modern medicine (Dunning, Jake, et al). Modern medicine is constantly evolving to incorporate new ideas and theories from other scientists and people.

Without the ability to evolve or adapt there would be no progress. It is similar. To the way that viruses have had to theoretically adapt to become simpler to survive for hundreds of thousands of years. Adaption is a key to survival, and viruses have adapted to become less complex to survive in an ever-growing and ever-changing world, ‘micro-evolution’ (Milliken).

While many may argue that viruses aren’t alive for the mere notion of their inability to not be able to have a specific translation process similar to cells; new evidence can suggest otherwise. Viruses have evolved through micro-evolution or simplification. Milliken,” To put this in perspective, some viruses, like the Ebola virus, have as few as seven genes. Some of these giants have genes for the proteins that are required for translation—those readers of DNA and RNA that in turn build new viruses. This throws the lack of translational machinery argument for classifying them as nonliving on its head.” This essentially is explaining how the genes in viruses are easily adaptable which is why they lack the ‘machinery’ to translate RNA.

They instead make new RNA to create viruses that are immune to the increased use of antibiotics and viruses’ resistant drugs. This kind of resistance could be speculated to be seen in the Ebola study that was conducted and killed many people (Dunning, Jake, et al). Scientists conducted a human trial to try and solve this global issue; using the information about how viruses could be alive and how this affects vaccines (Dunning, Jake, et al).

Viruses play such an important role in the ecosystem surrounding humans and civilizations. In Patrick Forterre’s article, he discusses how viruses have been around for thousands of years and have simplified over time thus giving them the discussed evolutionary advantage over other organisms. Forterre explains, “Many evolutionists have recognized for a long time that viruses are interesting models for analyses of micro-evolutionary processes, but most of them have failed to recognize viruses as major actors in the history of life.” Viruses have been around for several thousand years. What authors are saying is that they can be observed but it is imperative to recognize the viruses’ full potential and placement as ‘major actors in the history of life’ (Forterre).

Viruses must be considered to be living organisms. They play an intricate role in society and history. It is due to the fact of their long-standing history that it is imperative for scientists to fully be aware of viruses, not only to explore ways to help combat their effects on humans.

An overwhelming amount of scientific evidence can be used to draw the aforementioned conclusion through the articles written by Dunnings, Forterre, and Milliken help show the ideology behind the simple evolution of viruses that pertain to their status as living rather than non-living. Science is the future, the past, but most importantly is how things can help individuals in the present.