What infectious agent includes Hepatitis and Ebola and uses host cellular machinery to replicate its genome?

• A. Bacteria
• B. Virus
• C. Fungi
• D. Prion

Answer: (B)

Viruses reproduce by hijacking a host cell’s machinery. They don't carry out their own metabolic processes or replicate their genome on their own. Instead, they insert their genetic material into a host cell and rely on the cell’s enzymes and ribosomes to copy the viral genome and synthesize viral proteins, eventually assembling new viral particles. Diseases like Hepatitis and Ebola are caused by viruses, which fits this pattern of dependence on host cellular machinery.

In contrast, cellular organisms like bacteria and fungi carry out their own metabolism and replication independently, and prions are misfolded proteins that don’t contain genetic material to replicate.