[ill]

I hate being ill. It's so boring. There is only so much terrible (absolutely horrenduous!) day-time tv I can take. At least today I actually feel well enough to attempt to blog. It won't be long...but I'm still heeeeeerrreeeeeee...... Actually,,having this virus and a long philosophical talk with my mum led us to wonder what is the difference between a virus and bacteria? Well, microbe.org answers all: viruses are tiny compared to bacteria (virus= 20 to 250 nanometers and bacteria = 1,000 nanometers), a virus only has dna or rna inside it requiring a suitable "host" to infiltrate, bacteria instead are like proper cells, they have "a rigid cell wall and a thin, rubbery cell membrane surrounding the fluid, or cytoplasm, inside the cell. In addition, it may have extra loose bits of DNA called plasmids floating in the cytoplasm. Bacteria also have ribosomes. Some have threadlike structures called flagella that they use to move." The best bit (or not) is that bacteria are smart, they can reproduce all by themselves. Viruses are, here comes the technical term, wait for it.... "moochers." They contain only a limited genetic blueprint and they don't have the necessary building tools. They have to invade other cells and hijack their cellular machinery to reproduce. Viruses invade by attaching to a cell and injecting their genes or by being swallowed up by the cell.

Enough of the science lesson...back to sleep for me.