Scientists continue to study one of the most crucial health discoveries. It's called the Vampire Virus because it attaches itself to other viruses and essentially makes copies of itself before releasing those viruses, according to the Scientific American website.

This virus was first discovered in the U.S. in October 2023, a year ago, so there's still much to learn about it.

According to Popular Science, scientists observed one virus attaching itself to another virus. Basically, these viruses prey on other viruses so they can replicate themselves. They do this by attaching themselves to the neck of the other virus, thus naming it the Vampire Virus.

Basically, one virus is sucking on another, creating a replication. Just to get technical for a quick moment, the viruses that do this are groups that infect bacteria called bacteriophages.

The Vampire Virus was discovered by scientists at the University of Maryland. One of the scientists, Tagide DeCaralho, says it took a very special microscope to discover viruses latching onto each other like this.

I could see literally hundreds of them had this little guy attached to the neck, and it was clearly not random. We know that viruses can do some amazing, interesting things. But this is just another new thing that no one could have predicted we would see. I can’t believe this. No one has ever seen a bacteriophage—or any other virus—attach to another virus.

So what does this mean for us?

According to The Conversation website, this groundbreaking discovery means a new way to study viral infections and hopefully help revolutionize how to combat them. According to Scientific American, the more scientists can study new viruses, the better equipped they become to fight them.

COVID-19 taught scientists and doctors alike that the supply of antivirals and their predatory nature are limited. According to The Conversation, this will hopefully open new avenues for antiviral therapy.

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