| A | B |
|---|
| Virus | A non-living particle composed of a nucleic acid and a protein coat. |
| Virology | The study of viruses. |
| Capsid | The protein coat that surrounds the nucleic acid. |
| Envelope | A membrane-like structure outside the capsid. It is made mostly of lipids. |
| HIV | Human Immunodeficiency Virus |
| Glycoprotein | Protein-containing sugar chains that the virus uses to attach itself to the host cell. |
| Icosahedron | A geometric shape with twenty triangular faces. |
| Helix | Resembles a coiled spring. |
| Retroviruses | RNA viruses. |
| Reverse Transcriptase | An enzyme that allows for the production of viral DNA from viral RNA. |
| Viroids | Disease-causing agents that consist of a short, single strand of RNA with no capsid. |
| Prions | Abnormal forms of proteins that clump together inside a cell and cause disease. |
| Obligate intracellular parasites | Parasites that depend on host cells for replication. |
| Bacteriophages | Viruses that infect bacteria. |
| Lytic cycle | A virus invades a host cell, produces new viruses, destroys the host cell, and releases the newly formed viruses. |
| Virulent | Viruses that undergo the lytic cycle. |
| Receptor sites | Specific sites that viruses recognize and attach to on the host cell's surface. |
| Lysis | Cell disintegration. |
| Lysogenic cycle | Virues that stay in their host cell for an extended period of time. |
| Temperate virus | A virus that replicates through the lysogenic cycle and does not kill the host cell immediately. |
| Prophage | The bacteriophage DNA molecule that integrates itself into a specific site of the host cell's genome. |
| Provirus | Viral DNA made from reverse transcriptase and viral RNA. |
| Antiviral Drugs | Drugs that interfere with viral nucleic acid synthesis. |
| Inactivated virus vaccines | Vaccines where the virus does not replicate inside the host. |
| Attenuated virus vaccines | Vaccines where the virus does replicate inside the host. |
| Acyclovir | Antiviral agent used against herpes and chickenpox. |
| Azidothymidine (AZT) | Inhibits the reverse transcriptase of retroviruses. |
| Protease inhibitors | Interferes with the synthesis of viral capsidsduring viral replication. |
