15 ms·
Don't working immune systems create the same selective pressure already? If an infection kills me, I'm not around to pass the infection on anymore… at least, o
by LnxPrgr3 12y ago
Don't working immune systems create the same selective pressure already?
If an infection kills me, I'm not around to pass the infection on anymore… at least, once my corpse has been dealt with. If I do survive and the same pathogen wants to infect me again, or keep the current infection going, it has to find a way to dodge my immune system.
Malaria hides in red blood cells. HIV hides in immune cells, plus it mutates like crazy. HSV and VZV also manage to take permanent residence. HCV usually does too, which is particularly nasty because it can take decades for symptoms to appear, and those symptoms are caused by gradual liver damage.
Given what happens when we have spotty natural immunity, being able to immunize most of a population in short order seems like an excellent thing.