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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XI - 2019
Short Communication
About Coronaviruses
Somchai Bovornkitti 1
Viruses are small, obligate, intracellular parasites. They are not biological
organisms, but merely strands of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protective pro-
tein coat called capsid. Viruses are classified by phenotypic characteristics, such
as morphology, nucleic acid type, mode of replication, host organisms, and type
of disease they cause.
Figure 1 Crown-shape colonavirus
(From Wikipedia. The free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus)
1 The Academy of Science, The Royal Society of Thailand, Bangkok
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