Similarities Between Tamil and Korean

Syntactic Similarities between Tamil and Korean

                               By   N.Murugaiyan

                                      Professor of English (Retd.)

Introduction

There are three parts in this paper, namely,  Part I , Part II and Part III. In the first part is considered the question ‘where did the Koreans come from?’ with reference to the four principal directions and the languages that wielded some sort of influence on Korean. In the second part the syntactic similarities between Korean and Tamil are illustrated with suitable data relating to them. And in the third part  it will be pointed out that  language typology gives  no guarantee for genetic relationship among languages of the world in general Korean and Tamil in particular.

                                                      Part I

The answer to the question ‘Where did the Koreans come from?’ is not just one but it is fourfold.   As their origin is fixed to the four different directions, namely, the East, West, South and the North, we get four different answers. They are remembered as the  Eastern theory, Western Theory, Southern theory and Northern theory.

The Koreans came from the East

According to Kim Chin-u Koreans originated from Japan and this view is in consonance with the statement that the Koreans came from the East. Lee Kim Moon, Professor at the Department of Korean Linguistics in Seoul National University, speaks about ‘ lexical correspondences between Koguryo (an extinct language spoken in Manchuria and Northern Korea) language and Old Japanese’. Owing to this lexical correspondence and some archaeological findings, he observes, “It is safe to say that old Korean was not the Peninsular dialect of Old Japanese. If anything, Old Japanese was the insular dialect of Korean (1983, p.36)”. The statement made above means that Japanese came as a dialect of old Korean and not that Korean as a dialect of Japanese.

 The Koreans came from the West

The Western theory fixes the lineage  of Korean  to Dravidian, the chief language of the group being Tamil that has a continuity that goes to the beginning of the first millennium or even earlier.  Around the third millennium BC people living near the Altaic mountains in central Asia began to migrate eastward confirming the view that the Koreans came from the West. Homer B. Hulbert supports the west theory. His idea was popular when the field of linguistics was in its inception or beginning. The syntactic features that Hulbert saw between Korean and Dravidian Languages are called typological features in the present day linguistics.  According to the most popularly held view in the realm of modern linguistics typological similarities are not adequate enough to establish ‘the  genetic - relationship’ among languages. Analyzing this problem Kim Chin-U says,

It is an accepted view that two are more unrelated languages may nevertheless share typological similarities. Three quarters of a century ago linguistics was still in its infancy, and one can imagine how striking and suggestive the typological similarities between Korean and Dravidian must have been looked to Hulbert, especially when Indo-European  languages, about the well-established language family then, all shared a different typology (1983, p. 16)”

The Koreans came from the South

According to Southern theory Korean belongs to the Austronesian family, i.e., Korean is related to Austronesian languages such as languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Sumatra, Java, Philippines, Papau New Guinea etc. Linguistic support for this argument includes open syllables, the honorific system, numerals and several body parts. On the other hand anthropological evidence includes rice cultivation, tattooing, and the myth of an egg as the birth place of royalty.        

The Koreans came from the North

According to the northern theory Korean is a member of the Altaic language family. It is in fact the descendent of the Eastern Altaic along with languages such as Tunguz (the Tungusic  language of the Evenki  in eastern Siberia), Japanese, Ainu( A language spoken on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido), Kamchatkan (relating to Kamchatka, a peninsula in E Russia).  The Western Altaic consisting of languages such as Mongolian and Turkik (Turkish, Khazak, Uzbek, Tadjik etc.,). The parts of  the  Extinct Altaic,  namely , Sumerian ( a language of ancient Sumer, a language isolate which was spoken in Northern Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq)., Elamite, the primary language in the present day Iran from 2800 – 550  BC).,  Cretan, a language relating to one of the Islands of ancient Greece, Crete., Cyprian, a language associated with Cyprus.,  Etruscan, ( a language isolate spoken by close neighbors of the ancient Romans).,   Scythian  (old Iranian) etc.,  have a close link with Tamil in general , particularly the first two, Sumerian and Elamite.

                                                           Part  II

Syntax plays a vital or crucial or central part in the study of a language as it has interlinks on the one hand with phonology relating to speech or graphology connected with writing and on the other with lexis or vocabulary relating to the field of semantics or word meaning. Certain syntactic similarities between Tamil and Korean are presented with suitable illustrative sentences in the respective language script, namely, Tamil  Bhrami script  for Tamil and Hangul script for Korean along with transliteration using the Roman letters of the alphabet or Latin script. Following are some Korean words with their pronunciation indicated within square brackets, their lexical meaning in English and the sound values of the Hangul alphabet used in them are also presented for enabling the readers of this paper to have a clear idea about particular Hangul alphabet and some of the sound values associated with it :

존 [son]   Hand  (ㅈ = s, ㅗ = o, ㄴ= n)

힘  [him]  Effort or  strength (ㅎ= h, l = i, ㅁ= m)

돈[ton]  money (ㄷ = t, ㅗ= o, ㄴ= n)

내  돈 [ne ton]  my money  (ㄴ= n, ㅐ=e)

예름   [ ]This two-syllable Korean word means ‘summer’.

옐몌 [  ] This two syllabled Korean word means ‘fruit’.

Verb or  Predicate Final  Languages 

Korean sentences are predicate final – sharing the grammatical properties of other predicate final languages such as Japanese, Altaic, and Dravidian – and are very different from sentences of , for example, English, French, Chinese and Austronesian. Tamil, one of the most prominent among Dravidian languages shares this property, sometimes described as OV languages . In Korean  all modifiers such as adjectives , adverbs, numerals, relative clauses, subordinate or co-ordinate clauses, determiners or genitive constructions must precede the element they modify. The illustrative exampes given below and the explanations offered will make clear the predicate or verb final nature of both the languages namely Korean and Tamil . In these languages the relative and other clauses as well as the modifiers such as adjectives and adverbs appear before the verb i.e., they are found on the left of the verb. In the examples given below serve as illustration for the statement made above:

먀ㅏ매녀ㅣㅑㅔㄷㄴㄴㅅㅁ

ai ka  os ul  ip-ess-ta  (Transitive verb)

Child NM clothes AC  wear- (PST)—DC

The child put on the clothes.

குழந்தை  ஆடைகளை அணிந்து கொள்கிறது.

kuḻantai  āṭaikaḷai aṇintu koḷkiṟatu

Child  clothes  puts on

The child puts on the clothes.

Korean

지니 거  ㅐㅕㅈ  ㅈㅈ

Cini-ka  wus-  ss

Jinee –NOM  smile –PAST- INDIC

Jinee smiled.

The examples given below will illustrate the fact that Korean and Tamil are OV languages.

Peter H, Lee  (2003:  32) says,

Korean

메드류가  짐어ㅣ 저 짐을 며어요               

Andrew   home at  lunch    eats

Andrew eats lunch at home.

Tamil

ஆண்ட்ரு வீட்டில் மதிய உணவு சாப்பிடுகிறான்.

āṇṭru vīṭṭil matiya uṇavu cāppiṭukiṟāṉ

Andrew home at lunch eats

Andrew eats lunch at home.

Korean

조연이  점징을  먹어요

Joan         lunch   eats

Joan eats the lunch.

Tamil

ஜோன்  மதியவுணவை  சாப்பிடுகிறாள்.

jōṉ  matiyavuṇavai  cāppiṭukiṟāḷ.

Joan  the lunch eats

Joan eats the lunch.

The Korean sentence given below  will  further be an example for supporting the view that Korean is a verb final or  OV language.

ki sonyo nin wiyu- lil   masi –ass-ta

ki      sonyon-    nin    wiyu-     lil           masi -    ass-   ta

the  boy           subject  milk     object        drink        past    assertion 

                        marker              marker

The  boy drank milk

Agglutination                              

Tamil and Korean are agglutinating languages. What Fromkin / Rodman (1973:230) say about agglutinating languages is true of Korean, an isolate and Tamil, the most ancient representative of the Dravidian languages.  They describe agglutinating languages as follows:

In agglutinating languages, various morphemes are combined to form a single word, each element maintains a distinct and fixed meaning. In such languages, prefixes, suffixes and even infixes are used over and over again to build new words. They usually keep their same phonological shape, except for phonetic changes resulting from the regular phonological rules of the language.    

 Peter H. Lee ( 2003: 31) describes Korean as a typical agglutinative  language in that one or more affixes with constant form and meaning may be attached to various stems. In po-si-ot-kes-sum-ni-da  ( [a respectable person] may have been seen), for instance the passive verb stem  po-i: the subject honorific –si, the past tense – ot, the modal –kes (may), the addressee honorific – sum, the indicative –ni, and the declarative ending –da . He also observes, ‘Many Korean suffixes either do not have counterparts or correspond to independent words in non-agglutinative languages such as English and Chinese.’

The examples given below will serve as further illustrations:

Korean

Pusan kajji   aju   ppalli  talli-nun  kicha

Pusan  to    very    fast  run            train

The train which runs very fast to Pusan

Tamil

மதுரைக்கு அதி வேகமாக ஓடுகிற இரயில்

maturaikku ati vēkamāka ōṭukiṟa irayil

Madurai  to  very  fast    runs  train

The train that runs very fast to Madurai

aju  (Korean) and ati (Tamil) are adjectives that modify ppalli and vekamaka respectively.  As the adjectives in both the languages precede their modifiers, aju  comes before ppalli and ati comes before vekamaka. And also we can say that aju ppalli that precedes  talli modifies it and the Ati Vekamaka modifies the verbal form ōṭukiṟa.   In both the sentences the head word is found at the end of the clause while it is found at the beginning of the relative clause.

Kajji  and  kku are post-positions  in both the languages, Korean and Tamil. Korean and
Tamil make use of postpositions in the form of particles in Korean and as case markers in Tamil.

                                       Part III

 

The main argument in this section would be the presence of typological or structural features such as predicate final or verb final sentences, agglutination, presence of common items of vocabulary, the use of post-positions instead of  prepositions etc., do not guarantee that these two or more languages have genetic relationship. 

John Guy, Curator of South and South East Asian Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art , says,

India with its insatiable appetite for gold seems to have taken the lead in the search for the yellow metal. You just have to look at the ancient Sanskrit name for South East Asia – Suvarmabhoomi – which shows up in a whole variety of sources.

The principal reason for Indians migrating to south east Asia is made clear in the above extract. That lexical borrowing from people who come into contact with them is not uncommon even at earlier times is indicated in the passage quoted from Robert Blust.

Robert Blust (2013: 19) presenting facts about lexical borrowing from India says,

To show the extent of lexical borrowing from early Indian sources, about half of the more than 25000 base entries in the old Javanese dictionary of Zoetmulder (1982) are of Sanskrit origin. While this is an impressive record of contact, it must be kept in mind that the language of the old Javanese texts was that of courts, and hence reflects the linguistic world of the educated elite, not the peasantry. Moreover, despite a wealth of Sanskrit loan words relating to religion, government, trade and such material objects as pearls, silk, gemstones, glass and beads, the basic vocabulary of Javanese having only two known Sanskrit loans: geni (Skt. Agni) ‘fire’ and megha   (Skt. megha) cloud. 

The   syntactic features that Hulbert  deals with in his work  A Comparative Grammar of the Korean Language and the Dravidian Languages of India , 1905 were very well received when linguistics was at its infancy.  But the present–day – linguists would call them typological similarities and they are of the view that typological similarities are not enough to establish the genetic relationship among languages. The reason assigned by them for the similarities between languages like Korean and Tamil is not just  a genetic relationship that is to say that these two languages have the same origin  but cultural contacts, migration in search of wealth etc. 

                     

Bibliography

William Croft , Typology and Universals, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990 Second Edition 2003

Maggie Tallerman, Understanding Syntax, Understanding Language Series Editors: Bernard Comrie and Greville  Corbett, Hodder Education, London, First South Asian Edition 2011

Fromkin/ Rodman, An Introduction to Language, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., Newyork, 1974

Ki- Moon Lee, S. Robert Ramsey, A  History of Korean Language, Cambridge University Press, 2011  

Kim Chin U et al,  The Korean Language , Pace International Research, (Arch cape, OR), 1983

Peter H. Lee, Editor, A History of Korean Literature, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003

Robert Blust, The Austronesian Languages , Australian National University, Canberra, Acton, 2013   

*The writer of this paper can be contacted either by e-mail  <musanage @gmail.com>  or by Phone 9444277116  

What is Mechanical Ventilation and Why it is being used for COVID-19

Mechanical ventilation, or assisted ventilation, is the medical term for artificial ventilation where mechanical means are used to assist or replace spontaneous breathing. This may involve a machine called a ventilator, or the breathing may be assisted manually by a suitably qualified professional, such as an anesthesiologist, Registered Nurse, respiratory therapist, or paramedic, by compressing a bag valve mask device.

Mechanical ventilation can be

Noninvasive, involving various types of face masks

Invasive, involving endotracheal intubation

Selection and use of appropriate techniques require an understanding of respiratory mechanics.

Indications

There are numerous indications for endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation (see table Situations Requiring Airway Control), but, in general, mechanical ventilation should be considered when there are clinical or laboratory signs that the patient cannot maintain an airway or adequate oxygenation or ventilation.

Concerning findings include

Respiratory rate > 30/minute

Inability to maintain arterial oxygen saturation  >  90% with fractional inspired oxygen (FIO2) > 0.60

pH < 7.25

PaCO2 > 50 mm Hg (unless chronic and stable)

The decision to initiate mechanical ventilation should be based on clinical judgment that considers the entire clinical situation and not simple numeric criteria. However, mechanical ventilation should not be delayed until the patient is in extremis.

Respiratory Mechanics

Normal inspiration generates negative intrapleural pressure, which creates a pressure gradient between the atmosphere and the alveoli, resulting in air inflow. In mechanical ventilation, the pressure gradient results from increased (positive) pressure of the air source.

Peak airway pressure is measured at the airway opening (Pao) and is routinely displayed by mechanical ventilators. It represents the total pressure needed to push a volume of gas into the lung and is composed of pressures resulting from inspiratory flow resistance (resistive pressure), the elastic recoil of the lung and chest wall (elastic pressure), and the alveolar pressure present at the beginning of the breath (positive end-expiratory pressure [PEEP]

Resistive pressure is the product of circuit resistance and airflow. In the mechanically ventilated patient, resistance to airflow occurs in the ventilator circuit, the endotracheal tube, and, most importantly, the patient’s airways. (NOTE: Even when these factors are constant, an increase in airflow increases resistive pressure.)

Components of airway pressure during mechanical ventilation, illustrated by an inspiratory-hold maneuver

PEEP = positive end-expiratory pressure.

Elastic pressure is the product of the elastic recoil of the lungs and chest wall (elastance) and the volume of gas delivered. For a given volume, elastic pressure is increased by increased lung stiffness (as in pulmonary fibrosis) or restricted excursion of the chest wall or diaphragm (eg, in tense ascites or massive obesity). Because elastance is the inverse of compliance, high elastance is the same as low compliance.

End-expiratory pressure in the alveoli is normally the same as atmospheric pressure. However, when the alveoli fail to empty completely because of airway obstruction, airflow limitation, or shortened expiratory time, end-expiratory pressure may be positive relative to the atmosphere. This pressure is called intrinsic PEEP or auto PEEP to differentiate it from externally applied (therapeutic) PEEP, which is created by adjusting the mechanical ventilator or by placing a tight-fitting mask that applies positive pressure throughout the respiratory cycle.

Any elevation in peak airway pressure (eg, > 25 cm H2O) should prompt measurement of the end-inspiratory pressure (plateau pressure) by an end-inspiratory hold maneuver to determine the relative contributions of resistive and elastic pressures. The maneuver keeps the exhalation valve closed for an additional 0.3 to 0.5 second after inspiration, delaying exhalation. During this time, airway pressure falls from its peak value as airflow ceases. The resulting end-inspiratory pressure represents the elastic pressure once PEEP is subtracted (assuming the patient is not making active inspiratory or expiratory muscle contractions at the time of measurement). The difference between peak and plateau pressure is the resistive pressure.

Elevated resistive pressure (eg, > 10 cm H2O) suggests that the endotracheal tube has been kinked or plugged with secretions or that an intraluminal mass or bronchospasm is present.

Increased elastic pressure (eg, > 10 cm H2O) suggests decreased lung compliance due to

Edema, fibrosis, or lobar atelectasis

Large pleural effusions, pneumothorax, or fibrothorax

Extrapulmonary restriction as may result from circumferential burns or other chest wall deformity, ascites, pregnancy, or massive obesity

A tidal volume too large for the amount of lung being ventilated (eg, a normal tidal volume being delivered to a single lung because the endotracheal tube is malpositioned)

Intrinsic PEEP (auto PEEP) can be measured in the passive patient through an end-expiratory hold maneuver. Immediately before a breath, the expiratory port is closed for 2 seconds. Flow ceases, eliminating resistive pressure; the resulting pressure reflects alveolar pressure at the end of expiration (intrinsic PEEP). Although accurate measurement depends on the patient being completely passive on the ventilator, it is unwarranted to use neuromuscular blockade solely for the purpose of measuring intrinsic PEEP. A nonquantitative method of identifying intrinsic PEEP is to inspect the expiratory flow tracing. If expiratory flow continues until the next breath or the patient’s chest fails to come to rest before the next breath, intrinsic PEEP is present. The consequences of elevated intrinsic PEEP include increased inspiratory work of breathing and decreased venous return, which may result in decreased cardiac output and hypotension.

The demonstration of intrinsic PEEP should prompt a search for causes of airflow obstruction (eg, airway secretions, decreased elastic recoil, bronchospasm); however, a high minute ventilation (> 20 L/minute) alone can result in intrinsic PEEP in a patient with no airflow obstruction. If the cause is airflow limitation, intrinsic PEEP can be reduced by shortening inspiratory time (ie, increasing inspiratory flow) or reducing the respiratory rate, thereby allowing a greater fraction of the respiratory cycle to be spent in exhalation.

Means and Modes of Mechanical Ventilation

Mechanical ventilators are

Volume cycled: Delivering a constant volume with each breath (pressures may vary)

Pressure cycled: Delivering constant pressure during each breath (volume delivered may vary)

A combination of volume and pressure cycled

Assist-control (A/C) modes of ventilation are modes that maintain a minimum respiratory rate regardless of whether or not the patient initiates a spontaneous breath. Because pressures and volumes are directly linked by the pressure-volume curve, any given volume will correspond to a specific pressure, and vice versa, regardless of whether the ventilator is pressure cycled or volume cycled.

Adjustable ventilator settings differ with mode but include

Respiratory rate

Tidal volume

Trigger sensitivity

Flow rate

Waveform

Inspiratory/expiratory (I/E) ratio

Volume-cycled ventilation

Volume-cycled ventilation delivers a set tidal volume. This mode includes

Volume-control (V/C)

Synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation (SIMV)

The resultant airway pressure is not fixed but varies with the resistance and elastance of the respiratory system and with the flow rate selected.

V/C ventilation is the simplest and most effective means of providing full mechanical ventilation. In this mode, each inspiratory effort beyond the set sensitivity threshold triggers delivery of the fixed tidal volume. If the patient does not trigger the ventilator frequently enough, the ventilator initiates a breath, ensuring the desired minimum respiratory rate.

SIMV also delivers breaths at a set rate and volume that is synchronized to the patient’s efforts. In contrast to V/C, patient efforts above the set respiratory rate are unassisted, although the intake valve opens to allow the breath. This mode remains popular, despite not providing full ventilator support as does V/C, not facilitating liberation of the patient from mechanical ventilation, and not improving patient comfort.

Pressure-cycled ventilation

Pressure-cycled ventilation delivers a set inspiratory pressure. This mode includes

Pressure control ventilation (PCV)

Pressure support ventilation (PSV)

Noninvasive modalities applied via a tight-fitting face mask (several types available)

Hence, tidal volume varies depending on the resistance and elastance of the respiratory system. In this mode, changes in respiratory system mechanics can result in unrecognized changes in minute ventilation. Because it limits the distending pressure of the lungs, this mode can theoretically benefit patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS); however, no clear clinical advantage over V/C has been shown, and, if the volume delivered by PCV is the same as that delivered by V/C, the distending pressures will be the same.

Pressure control ventilation is a pressure-cycled form of A/C. Each inspiratory effort beyond the set sensitivity threshold delivers full pressure support maintained for a fixed inspiratory time. A minimum respiratory rate is maintained.

In pressure support ventilation, a minimum rate is not set; all breaths are triggered by the patient. The ventilator assists the patient by delivering a pressure that continues at a constant level until the patient's inspiratory flow falls below a preset level determined by an algorithm. Thus, a longer or deeper inspiratory effort by the patient results in a larger tidal volume. This mode is commonly used to liberate patients from mechanical ventilation by letting them assume more of the work of breathing. However, no studies indicate that this approach is more successful than others in discontinuing mechanical ventilation.

Noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV)

NIPPV is the delivery of positive pressure ventilation via a tight-fitting mask that covers the nose or both the nose and mouth. Helmets that deliver NIPPV are being studied as an alternative for patients who cannot tolerate the standard tight-fitting face masks. Because of its use in spontaneously breathing patients, it is primarily applied as a form of PSV or to deliver end-expiratory pressure, although volume control can be used.

Thanks https://www.msdmanuals.com

Qualitative Analysis - Group 1 - Inorganic Chemistry

Qualitative Inorganic Analysis  

Objective To identify ions that are present in unknown solutions and solids using "wet chemical" separation methods.  These methods are based on the behavior of different ions when they react with certain reagents.  Reagents are substances chosen because of their chemical activity with the ions being analyzed.  Learning the chemistry that governs the identifications is an important part of this experiment.

Principles All measurements are all comparisons against references.  We normally talk about quantitative measurements of meters, kilograms, and second.  But qualitative measurements are no different.  In this experiment, you compare the chemical changes you observe in a known sample with observations on your unknown sample to determine the identity of the anions and cations in the unknown.  You’ll start with a sample known to contain all 9 cations and an unknown with 4-6 cations.

In the classical analytical scheme the chemical properties of the different ions, both positive ions (cations) and negative ions (anions), are used to separate a mixture of them into successively smaller groups of ions, until some characteristic reaction may be used to confirm the presence or absence of each specific ion.  In addition to analyzing the unknown for its component ions, the qualitative analysis scheme highlights some of the important chemical behavior of these metal salts in aqueous solution.  The concepts of chemical equilibrium are emphasized, as illustrated by precipitation reactions, acid-base reactions, complex-ion formation, and oxidation-reduction reactions.  Each experiment presents a puzzle that is solved "detective fashion" by assembling a collection of chemical clues into an airtight case for the correct identifications.  As a bonus, the clues often take the form of colorful solutions and precipitates.

The qualitative analytical scheme is divided into three parts: 

1. Separation and identification of cations.

2. Identification of anions.  

3. Identification of an unknown in which both a cation and anion are present.

Overview of cation separation process: 

1.  Separate cations that form insoluble chlorides (Ag+, Pb2+) 

2.  Separate cations that t have highly insoluble hydroxides that precipitate when the hydroxide ion          concentration is small, approximately 10-5 M.  (Fe3+, Cr3+, Al3+) 

3.  The remaining 4 cations (Ba2+, Mg2+, Cu2+, Ni2+) cations all precipitate at when the hydroxide        ion concentration increases to 0.01 M so we add SO42- to remove the Ba2+ as BaSO4.  Next add        ammonia to form complex ions (Cu(NH3)22+ and Ni(NH3)22+.  These complex ions are more          stable than are the hydroxides so we can add hydroxide ion to precipitate Mg2+ 

4.  We have a mixture of Cu2+, which we detect by adding iodide and Ni2+, which is detected by     

      adding a reagent called dimethylglyoxime.

 

In qualitative analysis, the ions in a mixture are separated by selective precipitation. Selective precipitation involves the addition of a carefully selected reagent to an aqueous mixture of ions, resulting in the precipitation of one or more of the ions, while leaving the rest in solution. Once each ion is isolated, its identity can be confirmed by using a chemical reaction specific to that ion.

Cations are typically divided into Groups, where each group shares a common reagent that can be used for selective precipitation. The classic qualitative analysis scheme used to separate various groups of cations is shown in the flow chart below.

What's the difference between a bacteria and a virus?

Both bacteria and viruses are so small that they can only be seen through a microscope, and both have the ability to cause infection, but that’s where the similarities end.

Bacteria

Bacteria are one-celled organisms that can be found naturally throughout our bodies and in our environment. Most are harmless and do not cause infection. Bacteria in our bodies help us to digest food, protect us against other bacteria or microbes, and provide nutrients for our body. Seen under a microscope they look like rods, balls, or spirals, and they can multiply quickly under the right conditions. Less than one per cent of bacteria actually make us sick. Infections caused by bacteria include strep throat, tuberculosis, and urinary tract infections (UTI).

Antibiotics are available to treat most bacterial infections; however, it is often best to let your body’s own immune system fight them if it is able to.

Viruses

Viruses on the other hand, cannot live without a host, or another living creature to help them multiply. Viruses are smaller than bacteria and they attach themselves to another living cell and use that cells' genetic material to reproduce themselves. Most viruses cause disease. Examples of diseases caused by viruses include the common cold, herpes, shingles, measles, chickenpox, COVID-19 and AIDS.

Antibiotics will not treat a viral infection. Viral infections require either vaccinations to prevent them in the first place or antiviral drugs to inhibit their development.

Viruses are tinier than bacteria. In fact, the largest virus is smaller than the smallest bacterium. All viruses have is a protein coat and a core of genetic material, either RNA or DNA. Unlike bacteria, viruses can't survive without a host. They can only reproduce by attaching themselves to cells. In most cases, they reprogram the cells to make new viruses until the cells burst and die. In other cases, they turn normal cells into malignant or cancerous cells.

Also unlike bacteria, most viruses do cause disease, and they're quite specific about the cells they attack. For example, certain viruses attack cells in the liver, respiratory system, or blood. In some cases, viruses target bacteria.