What is viral infection?

Viruses are a very common substance in our daily lives. They can threaten people's health and have a great destructive impact on their lives. Therefore, paying attention to viral infections is one of the common sense that cannot be ignored in life. There are many types of diseases in life, and there are also many types of viral diseases. Most people don’t know much about viruses. Let’s take a look at what viral infection is.

Viral infection refers to the process in which viruses invade the body through various pathways and proliferate in susceptible host cells. Human viruses refer to viruses that can infect humans or cause disease in humans. The essence of viral infection is the process of interaction between the virus and the body, and between the virus and susceptible cells. Viral infections often cause injuries or viral diseases of varying severity depending on the type of virus and the state of the body. Viruses cause disease by invading the host and infecting cells, and their pathogenic effects are manifested in both the human body as a whole and in cells.

After the body is infected with the virus, it may show different clinical types. Depending on whether there are symptoms or not, it can be divided into overt infection and latent infection; depending on how long the virus stays and how long the symptoms last, it can be divided into acute infection and persistent infection.

1. Hidden infection

Because the number of viruses invading the body is small, the virulence is weak, or the body's resistance is strong, the viruses multiply in the host cells, but the body does not show obvious clinical symptoms, which is called latent infection. Latent infection can enable the body to acquire specific immunity to the virus and protect the body from reinfection with the virus. Although latent infection does not show clinical symptoms, the virus still proliferates in the body and spreads to the outside world, becoming an important source of infection.

2. Overt infection

Because the number of viruses invading the body is large, the virulence is strong, or the body's resistance is weak, the viruses multiply rapidly in the host cells and obvious clinical symptoms appear, which is called overt infection. Overt infection depends on how long the infection lasts. It is divided into acute infection and persistent infection.