Is The Virus Alive?

The simplest answer is no, because a couple of reasons, but I admit that this answer does not resolve all the philosophical background related to "life" and what it means to live. Ideally, the virus can be considered as the undead.

A virus can not do themselves, or multiply without the aid of the contents of living cells. Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites. There are other agents described in these words ex. Chlamydiaceae family, but his state of life is less often questioned. Maybe it's because they are able to reproduce by cell division and then continue to grow by producing its own proteins. Viruses are assembled from many components that were produced by the host cell kidnapped - once mounted, do not continue to grow. However, an organization is a reagent, increasingly self-sufficient autonomous replication agent metabolism. Yes, some viruses contain and encode enzymes and other structural proteins used to assemble new virions - even have genes that change / evolve over time

However, a virus depends on the ability of the host cell to generate the energy to do all the manufacturing process. Viruses do not come with batteries included, but then nothing "live" does!

In addition, the genome of the virus is mainly deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) or ribodeoxy nucleic acids (RNA), but not as much as in the case of cells of an organism or other antimicrobial agents.