Vicious Chronicles of Virology

History abounds with anecdotes that overshadow the effects of atomic bomb explosions on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both in magnitude and impact. Whereas the atomic bombs were chemical weapons, the biological incidents are silent, involve the entire global population, continue to exert their effects even as I write this article, and involve viruses. Honestly speaking, these events were originally intended to help the humans overcome other pathogenic infections but went unwittingly out of control. Perhaps as a consequence of these events that took place in the backdrop of the two world wars and the cold war, stringent laws to test newer therapeutic agents and laboratory practices to maintain absolute sterility of medical equipment came into effect. We shall look into the details of these events, but first… … Viruses are unique obligate parasitic entities that invade living cells of all types - animal, human, plant, bacterial and fungal. Outside the living cells, they are inanimate objects waiting to invade the next cell. The study of viruses is termed Virology. Viruses can be seen only with the aid of an electron microscope, and viruses that attack bacterial cells are referred to as Bacteriophages or simply as phages. Because viruses invade cells of all types, they are the first items of choice for biological pest control, be it in humans, animals or plants.