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.
A bacterium differs from a virus in its structure and in the way it inhabits a host. Whereas most bacteria live as independent cells with a membrane to separate them from the outside world, viruses can only multiply inside, and to the detriment of, the cells they infect.