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This is not exactly true. Keeping your infectious host alive longer, will increase transmission. This is why there is an evolutionary pressure for all disease
by q1w2 5y ago
This is not exactly true. Keeping your infectious host alive longer, will increase transmission.
This is why there is an evolutionary pressure for all diseases to keep your host alive, and why some diseases/parasites ultimately evolve to be less harmful/lethal.
- Breza 5y agoIsn't that what happened with the 1918 pandemic?
- Pyramus 5y agoNo, there is no "evolutionary pressure for all diseases", only for those where lethality precludes transmission, i.e. there is some cap at a some max. Which is not the case for SARS-Cov-2 - viral titers peak after 2-4 days and population-weighted IFR is relatively low.
- defgeneric 5y ago> This is why there is an evolutionary pressure for all diseases to keep your host alive Lethality should be distinguished from "keeping the host alive." For example, HIV is more than 90% lethal (untreated) but can take a decade before killing the host.