06-18-2021, 04:11 PM
Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
Didn't it used to be standard theory that a virus/bacteria always eventually selected higher transmission and lower mortality? I guess in modern populations that include immune compromised people with some form of vaccine antibodies, that this virus hasn't hit the lower mortality phase yet...
That could happen in this case too, but it may take some time. Moreover, additional factors now complicate the trajectory involved in achieving equilibrium: international travel, modern medicine, etc.
The virus/bacterium is not the only thing that changes. One route to lower mortality can be that the most susceptible humans die, and the survivors represent those who are genetically more hardy in face of the infection. Their progeny may be more disposed to experience milder symptoms. It is more useful to think in terms of a co-evolution between humans and the bugs.