This article is about the aqueous solution. For the gas, see hydrogen chloride. Hydrochloric acid is a corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. A colorless, highly pungent solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl) in water, when it reacts with an organic base it forms a hydrochloride salt.
Bacteria are intercellular organisms (i.e. they live in-between cells); whereas viruses are intracellular organisms (they infiltrate the host cell and live inside the cell). They change the host cell's genetic material from its normal function to producing the virus itself.
Viruses, bacteria, protozoans, fungi, and parasites differ in the following ways: viruses are among the smallest known infectious agents; bacteria are single-celled prokaryotic organisms that reproduce very quickly; protozoans are single-celled eukaryotic organisms that are generally much larger than bacteria; and fungi are eukaryotic organisms that have a rigid cell wall.