4 ms·
Viruses like rabies are interesting because they are actually not as serious in the species they evolved to infect; just turns out they rapidly kill some other
by ramraj07 4y ago
Viruses like rabies are interesting because they are actually not as serious in the species they evolved to infect; just turns out they rapidly kill some other species (us) that they don’t care about.
Make no mistake, rabies virus also has multiple immune evading mechanisms that are unluckily supercharged in humans.
- fnordpiglet 4y agoYeah I expect that’s the case - the bubonic plague spread via the reservoir fleas and rats, etc.
- alexvoda 4y agoThat may actually have not been the case: https://theconversation.com/the-black-death-may-not-have-been-spread-by-rats-after-all-196521 https://theconversation.com/the-black-death-may-not-have-bee...
- hnick 4y agoSounds a little like funnel web spider venom - just an evolutionary accident it's so potent to humans, at no evolutionary drawback for its main role.
- acyou 4y agoThought rabies usually killed dogs? https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6823e1.htm#:~:text=Rabies%20virus%20infection%2C%20regardless%20of,2%20weeks%20of%20symptom%20onset https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6823e1.htm#:~:text=.... CDC says it kills 99% regardless. Why would it evolve this way?
- EEBio 4y agoI doubt that rabies has evolutionary developed to target dogs. It’s just a “happy” accident that dogs are so plentiful and can infect many other animals (until recently at least). If I had to guess I’d say rabies had evolutionarily targeted species that today are largely asymptomatic and can easily survive a rabies infection, like bats or birds.