viral infection

Summary

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.

Start Here

• Bacterial vs. Viral Infections: How Do They Differ?(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Immunoglobulins Blood Test  (National Library of Medicine)Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Germs and Hygiene: MedlinePlus Health Topic  (National Library of Medicine)Also in Spanish
• Help Control Mosquitoes that Spread Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika Viruses(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - PDFAlso in Spanish
• Infection Control: MedlinePlus Health Topic  (National Library of Medicine)Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• How Infections Spread (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Specifics

• About Human Parainfluenza Viruses (HPIVs) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Acute Flaccid Myelitis: MedlinePlus Health Topic  (National Library of Medicine)Also in Spanish
• Adenoviruses (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Croup: MedlinePlus Health Topic  (National Library of Medicine)Also in Spanish
• Enterovirus D68 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)Also in Spanish
• Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)Also in Spanish
• Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)Also in Spanish
• Molluscum Contagiosum (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Non-Polio Enterovirus (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Tropical Spastic Paraparesis  (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

Images

• Molluscum Contagiosum (Logical Images)
• Viral Exanthem (Logical Images)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Adenoviridae Infections  (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Coxsackievirus Infections  (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Enterovirus  (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease  (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Virus Diseases  (National Institutes of Health)

Journal ArticlesReferences and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Prevalence and risk factors of HTLV-1/2 and other blood borne... 
• Article: Rapid detection of respiratory organisms with the FilmArray respiratory panel... 
• Article: Meta-analysis of correlationship between HLA-G 3'UTR 14-bp Ins/Del polymorphism and... 
• Viral Infections -- see more articles 

Find an Expert

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish
• National Foundation for Infectious Diseases 
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 

Children

• Adenovirus (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)Also in Spanish
• Caring for Your Child's Cold or Flu (American Academy of Pediatrics)
• Coxsackievirus Infections (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)Also in Spanish
• Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease (Logical Images)
• Human Parainfluenza Viruses (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Roseola (Sixth Disease) (Logical Images)
• Viral Exanthem (Logical Images)

Patient Handouts

• ECHO virus (Medical Encyclopedia)Also in Spanish
• Enterovirus D68 (Medical Encyclopedia)Also in Spanish
• Hand-foot-mouth disease (Medical Encyclopedia)Also in Spanish
• Herpangina (Medical Encyclopedia)Also in Spanish
• Molluscum contagiosum (Medical Encyclopedia)Also in Spanish
• Parainfluenza (Medical Encyclopedia)Also in Spanish
• Roseola (Medical Encyclopedia)Also in Spanish
• Zika virus disease (Medical Encyclopedia)Also in Spanish