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why are viruses called obligate intracelluar parasites ?

Viruses are very small biological entities that lack cellular organization i.e. plasma membrane and metabolic machinery. They posses only the genetic material (DNA or RNA) of their own. Viruses cannot replicate on their own. They require a host cell. They are obligate in the sense that they cannot replicate outside of a host cell.

To make a copy of itself, a virus must first enter a cell (intracellular), hijack the machinations of said cell (parasitic behavior) and then copy itself.They utilize the host cell machinery for their replication.

Viruses are acellular entities and can only perpetuate inside a living host. Hence, they are called as obligatory intracellular parasites

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They use a host cell's nucleotides for transcription and replication. They use a host cell's ribosomes to synthesize proteins. They use a host cell's amino acids to synthesize proteins. They use a host cell's metabolic enzymes and pathways to obtain energy.

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 Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites that can be maintained only inside living cells. Whern we refer to something as "obligate" that indicates that the virus (in this case) must do or behave in the specified manner. Since viruses are obligate intraellular parasites, the term conveys the idea that viruses must carry out their reproduction by parasitizing a host cell. They cannot multiply outside a living cell, they can only replicate inside of a specific host. Animal viruses in laboratories are raised in live chick embryos or propagated in cell tissue culture

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