Many people think that germs are what make us sick but scientifically speaking, germs are microbes that can be both harmful or helpful and come in four varieties - bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. We’ll leave the discussion of fungi and protozoa for another post and focus on bacteria and viruses in this one. Microbeworld says that viruses are as different from bacteria as goldfish are from giraffes. That is REALLY different! So what are the differences between the two microorganisms? With people still concerned with the H1N1 virus - knowing the differences and similarities might be really helpful!

What’s a Germ?
This page from Science NetLinks provides images of the four types of microbes and a general description of the differences between them.

Virus or Bacterium?
This site gets into more detail in regards to cell structure and reproductive differences.

What’s the Life Span of a Virus?
This podcast and background information tells the differences between the cold virus and flu virus - both life span and how they are transmitted.

Bacteria: More Than Pathogens
This article, written by molecular biologist Trudy Wassenaar, helps clear up the misconceptions associated with bacteria.

Structure Of ‘Beneficial’ Virus That Can Infect Cancer Cells Solved
There are lots of bacteria that are beneficial - not so much for viruses. Here is a Science Daily article that describes a virus that “attacks” cancer cells.