• Question: is it possible to have two viruses at once?

    Asked by taljeda to Amy, Drew, Julia, Sara on 22 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Hey!

      Good question! Yes it is possible! Most people have epstein-barr virus (the virus that causes glandular fever) lying dormant in their bodies! This means that the virus is in its latent cycle (and not causing you any harm) but it can wake up into its lytic cycle and make you sick!
      But at the same time you can get all sorts of others viral infections like flu etc! So yes it is totally possible to have two (or more!) viruses at once! yikes! 🙂

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Hi taljeda! Yes!! You can have many many viruses at once. There is nothing barring us from being infected by multiple viruses at the same time. Bacteria are pretty interesting because they’ve got all sorts of viruses of their own and actually depend on them for providing genetic mutations and diversity! Viruses may actually play a really important role in evolution, so it might not be so bad that we can have a few at once. Of course it is bad if they make us sick!! That’s no fun!

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Yes you can.. many at once…if anything its more likely, if you body is struggling to fight one virus, another one may attack..

    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      As Sara, Amy and Julia say, it isn’t just possible but likely. The only thing that would stop it would be if two viruses were competing for exactly the same resources and one was much more successful.

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