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Phage is short for bacteriophage. They are viruses that attack bacteria. As far as I know there are not viruses that target other viruses, except as a side effe
by woke_neolib 4y ago
Phage is short for bacteriophage. They are viruses that attack bacteria. As far as I know there are not viruses that target other viruses, except as a side effect - the viral life cycle is dependent on a host, and a coronavirus has little to offer a bacteriophage. Similarly, antibiotics target bacteria, not viruses. Antivirals often have very different mechanisms of action.
- etiam 4y agoWell described. There are viruses which affect other viruses with arguably more than a side effect ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virophage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virophage ), but for natural reasons it seems a bit off from fully analogous to bacteriophages. Coronaviruses are at the high end of size and complexity among RNA-viruses, but it's still hard for me to see that virophages would be relevant to combat SARS-CoV-2.