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Pathogens evolve: FWIW: Mutations that cause the pathogen to kill the host quickly often "hurt" the pathogen because it doesn't have a chance to spread to othe
by gwbas1c 2y ago
Pathogens evolve:
FWIW: Mutations that cause the pathogen to kill the host quickly often "hurt" the pathogen because it doesn't have a chance to spread to other hosts. Hopefully this illness spreads "slowly enough" that this mutation has a poor chance of surviving.
- card_zero 2y agoThis effect is unfortunately balanced out by ways of killing the host that spray body fluids everywhere in large amounts and help transmission. I mean it's still better for the pathogen if it can accomplish that and keep the host alive, but that's real finesse.
- etiam 2y agoI don't "pathogens evolve" and malaria is a viable reasoning here at all. There's a practically endless list of better hypotheses than Plasmodium suddenly completely breaking it's normal patterns. For what it's worth though, vector-borne diseases in general (such as one spread by insects) are also largely exempt from the (erratic) tendency for the pathogen to evolve some moderation, as the host doesn't need to move itself and only needs to be fresh enough to attract attention from the vector species.