What are viruses?

Viruses are tiny invaders that need to borrow parts from other cells to multiply.

Imagine you're playing with your favorite toy car. It needs batteries to move, but it can't make its own batteries. That's like a virus: it can’t do anything on its own, so it goes into a cell (like your toy car going into a battery factory) and uses the cell’s tools to copy itself. Then, it leaves to go find more cells to invade.

Viruses are really small, much smaller than bacteria or even the tiniest dust particle you can see with your eye. You’d need a special tool called a microscope to spot them, and even then, they’re like invisible little spies.

When a virus enters a cell, it's like sneaking into a house through the front door. It takes over the inside of the cell and tells it to make more viruses. Soon, the cell is full of new viruses, which pop out to go invade other cells, just like how your toy car leaves the battery factory after making copies of itself.

That’s why when you're sick, it feels like your body is fighting an invisible army, little invaders that need a host to survive and spread.