Coronavirus 2019-2020 thread (no unsubstantiated rumours!)

B

B.I.B.

Captain
vesicles said:
Yes, I believe I said it in an earlier post. In terms of mutations, anything can happen. Nothing serious has happened yet. Chances are some weird virus might adopt a mutation that makes them super bugs and destroy mankind. But we can't live our lives assuming such thing will happen...
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Just think how horrible life would be if Microplasma Bovis which causes late term abortion in cattle made the jump to humans.Here you are stuck at home with covid 19 and you not even allowed to bump pelvises with whoever because the bacteria can be spread through body fluids.
 
plawolf

plawolf

Lieutenant General
Intrepid said:
That would be against the rules of evolution. A virus that kills too many of its hosts destroys its livelihood. Mutations are always around and they usually lead to less dangerous viruses.
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Evolution has no rules. It’s pure random, the advantageous mutations has greater chance to pass on their genes while disadvantageous mutations has less chance. The only deciding factor is time.

Covid19 already has a couple of huge evolutionary advantages that gives it massive leeway in mutations - its long incubation period and it’s asymptotic transmission capabilities means high lethality doesn’t really present too much of an issue for it. It doesn’t matter if it kills more of its hosts if they have already passed on the virus by the time they die.

Indeed, some of the most deadly and horrible natural diseases in history have similar attributes- smallpox, the Black Death, they all had far higher lethality, which means COVID19 can afford to become massively more deadly before it impacts on its own viability.
 
vesicles

vesicles

Colonel
Intrepid said:
That would be against the rules of evolution. A virus that kills too many of its hosts destroys its livelihood. Mutations are always around and they usually lead to less dangerous viruses.
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Like Wolf said, evolution is about the survival of the fittest. Many species have extinct because they cannot fit in. A super virus could be one of those unfit or stupid species that kill off their hosts. These viruses will end up going extinct, like many of their ancestors before them. The bad part is they will take us with them on their way to extinction. Many unsuccessful parasites do stupid things like this all the time.
 
Quickie

Quickie

Colonel
The crazy thing is there's a much higher chance the most intelligent species (of course as per the species' own assessment) on earth will more likely lead themselves into extinction than "stupid" bacteria and viruses. :D
 
T

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
This is chilling. The mutations can hinder the effectiveness of the vaccines. The mutation was in the spike protein which is exactly where you don't want it to be. The worst possibility is that this is Wuhan again, but in Denmark. Measures and research need to be immediately done, even if it turns out to be harmless you can't take the chance.

 
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