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Pathogens can definitely evolve to improve fitness and settle into an ecological balance with their hosts. I more meant to contest that most start out very harm
by zbjornson 6y ago
Pathogens can definitely evolve to improve fitness and settle into an ecological balance with their hosts. I more meant to contest that most start out very harmful. I don't think we have data to support that, or to be able to separate virus vs. host adaptations that would cause the appearance of lessened severity, given that most viruses circulating today have ancient origins.