Are viruses living?

Viruses are not considered "alive" because they lack many of the properties that scientists associate with living organisms. Primarily, they lack the ability to reproduce without the aid of a host cell, and don't use the typical cell- division approach to replication. read more

Scientists are not sure whether viruses are living or non-living. In general, scientists use a list of criteria to determine if something is alive. Let’s look at some traits of living things and see if viruses also have those traits. Living things have cells. Viruses do not have cells. read more

Instead, viruses enter living cells and then hijack the host’s cellular equipment to copy viral genetic information, build new capsids, and assemble everything together. We use the term replicate, instead of reproduce, to indicate viruses need a host cell to multiply. read more

But viruses directly exchange genetic information with living organisms—that is, within the web of life itself. A possible surprise to most physicians, and perhaps to most evolutionary biologists as well, is that most known viruses are persistent and innocuous, not pathogenic. read more