Understanding the difference between otitis media with effusion and other forms of middle ear infection is important. Otitis media is a generic term defined as an inflammation of the middle ear without reference to a specific etiology or pathogenesis.
Scientists have long sought to uncover the structure and function of viruses. Viruses are unique in that they have been classified as both living and nonliving at various points in the history of biology. Viruses are particles that are capable of causing a number of diseases including cancer.
A virus is a submicroscopic infectious particle composed of a protein coat and a nucleic acid core, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Viruses are similar in size to a large protein macromolecule, generally smaller than 200 nm in diameter.ther bacteriophages can infect a host and insert their DNA into the host DNA. Under certain conditions the viral DNA can detach and direct replication of new virus, eventually killing the host cell. Once inside the cell, the nucleic acid follows one of two paths: lytic or lysogenic, as shown in Figure 7.