What are viral infections?

Viruses are very tiny germs. They are made of genetic material inside of a protein coating. Viruses cause familiar infectious diseases such as the common cold, flu and warts. They also cause severe illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, smallpox, and Ebola.

Viruses are like hijackers. They invade living, normal cells and use those cells to multiply and produce other viruses like themselves. This can kill, damage, or change the cells and make you sick. Different viruses attack certain cells in your body such as your liver, respiratory system, or blood.

When you get a virus, you may not always get sick from it. Your immune system may be able to fight it off.

For most viral infections, treatments can only help with symptoms while you wait for your immune system to fight off the virus.

Antibiotics do not work for viral infections. There are antiviral medicines to treat some viral infections. Vaccines can help prevent you from getting many viral diseases.

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Bacterial vs Viral Infections

Bacterial and viral infections have many things in common. Both types of infections are caused by microbes -- bacteria and viruses, respectively The Differences Between Bacteria and Viruses Although bacteria and viruses are both too small to be seen without a microscope, they're as different as giraffes and goldfish. Most bacteria are harmless, and some actually help by digesting food, destroying disease-causing microbes, fighting cancer cells, and providing essential nutrients. Fewer than 1% of bacteria cause diseases in people. Viruses are tinier: the largest of them are smaller than the smallest bacteria. All they have is a protein coat and a core of genetic material, either RNA or DNA. Unlike bacteria, viruses can't survive without a host. They can only reproduce by attaching themselves to cells. In most cases, they reprogram the cells to make new viruses until the cells burst and die. In other cases, they turn normal cells into malignant or cancerous cells. Also unlike ...

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The life of a mum: kids, fever and cough oh well, that's life isn't it? There are days of ups and downs Let's just enjoy the ride So the daughter has got another bout of coughs, this time like every other time, we don't know how and where she caught it from.. Last evening she was a little cranky pants, checked that she had a slight fever at 37.6 degrees (10pm before bedtime). I didn't want to administer fever medication straight away, so we stuck on the Smarttemp and turned on the App on my phone to set the alarm to ring if her temp went above 38.5. We all went to sleep, and as you can see, her fever did not go up, alarm did not ring and we all managed to get a good night's sleep and awoke fresh for a new day! If not for the Smarttemp, I would have had to set my alarm clock to ring every few hours through the night to wake up and take her temperature! Thank you Smarttemp! You are indeed a "sleep-saver"!

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We are so humbled to have received yet another two positive 5 STAR reviews!! Thank you

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