It is difficult to kill viruses because they

[amp_mcq option1=”consist of tough protein coat” option2=”are very small in size” option3=”lack cellular structure” option4=”spend a lot of time inside the host’s cells” correct=”option3″]

This question was previously asked in

UPSC NDA-2 – 2016

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Viruses lack cellular structure and metabolic machinery of their own. They are obligate intracellular parasites, relying entirely on the host cell’s machinery for replication.

The absence of their own metabolic processes means that many common antimicrobial treatments, such as antibiotics which target bacterial cellular functions, are ineffective against viruses. Developing antiviral drugs is challenging because they must target viral processes without harming the host cell’s similar processes.

While having a protein coat (A) and small size (B) are characteristics of viruses, they don’t inherently make them difficult to kill compared to other microbes. Spending time inside host cells (D) makes them inaccessible to some therapies and antibodies, contributing to the difficulty in *treating* viral infections, but the fundamental reason for the difficulty in *killing* them selectively lies in their non-cellular nature and dependence on host processes.

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