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>> Evolutionary pressure selects for less deadly viruses over time. > I'm hearing that for the first time, do you have a source? A virus that kills its host b
by tpxl 5y ago
>> Evolutionary pressure selects for less deadly viruses over time.
> I'm hearing that for the first time, do you have a source?
A virus that kills its host before it has a chance to infect others cannot reproduce.
I cannot remember which virus it was (might have been ebola) but it wiped whole communities so fast it died off because there were no new hosts to infect.
- Pyramus 5y agoNot sure if that's what parent meant - these are extreme cases. In general (e.g. in the case of SARS-Cov2) evolutionary pressure will increase transmissibility but is indifferent to lethality (again up to the extreme point where lethality precludes transmission).
- tpxl 5y agoWon't any amount of lethality preclude some transmission?
- Pyramus 5y agoIn general no, as was remarked in a sibling comment in this thread: SARS-Cov-2 on average spreads within the first 1-4 days after infection (viral titers peak on day 2 I believe), so the virus is indifferent to what happens after. I also want to remark that there is the opposite effect that transmissibility correlates strongly with viral load (amount of viral particles) and viral load correlates weakly with lethality.