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Is Ebola Evolving into a Deadlier Virus?

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Re: Is Ebola Evolving into a Deadlier Virus?

#21

Post by phs318u »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #18
coldcode wrote: post #10

Wait until it gets into the US in a marginal part of society. Given we have no universal health care, it's likely to spread and evolve faster than we can stop it. The person in Dallas could have infected the homeless person in the same ambulance who subsequently wandered off. Imagine an illegal person catching it and fearing discovery tries to avoid a hospital, only to infect those they are sharing a tiny room with.

We didn't have universal healthcare when we stamped out polio, smallpox, or yellow fever. I don't know why you'd think it would stop us now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diseases_eliminated_fr...

Because at that time people didn’t distrust medical authorities like they do now (anti-vaxxers among others), and didn’t fear (as much) the other consequences of coming into contact with government agencies (incarceration/deportation).

Re: Is Ebola Evolving into a Deadlier Virus?

#22

Post by Nasrudith »

Really if Ebola is to be more deadly in absolute terms it ironically should be far less lethal and disturbing in symptoms. If it was weakened to be say about as bad as the flu in terms of lethality its kill count would be way higher.

Ebola is so lethal it would practically have to cause the deceased to autocremate and destroy the remains to be any worse at spreading.

Killing your host quickly is a bad for a parasite - parasiteoids are the closest to being viable in that model where their purpose is "use the host to have your offspring instead of yourself".

Re: Is Ebola Evolving into a Deadlier Virus?

#23

Post by coldcode »

danijelb wrote: post #15
JshWright wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is an illegal person...?

It's a person who illegally crossed the border with a goal to live in a country where they can't live legally

And are now intimidated to hide from every authority.

Re: Is Ebola Evolving into a Deadlier Virus?

#24

Post by taneq »

I thought (ironically) that Ebola would evolve into a less deadly virus, because that would improve its contagion rates. It doesn't care if it kills us (in fact it'd probably rather not). For a virus, the perfect balance is making is making us as sick as possible (ie. using as much of our resources as possible) without actually staying home from work.

Re: Is Ebola Evolving into a Deadlier Virus?

#25

Post by dougabug »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #18
coldcode wrote: post #10

Wait until it gets into the US in a marginal part of society. Given we have no universal health care, it's likely to spread and evolve faster than we can stop it. The person in Dallas could have infected the homeless person in the same ambulance who subsequently wandered off. Imagine an illegal person catching it and fearing discovery tries to avoid a hospital, only to infect those they are sharing a tiny room with.

We didn't have universal healthcare when we stamped out polio, smallpox, or yellow fever. I don't know why you'd think it would stop us now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diseases_eliminated_fr...

We had free vaccination of children at school, and opting out wasn’t common behavior. Also, the population was smaller and healthcare significantly cheaper.

Re: Is Ebola Evolving into a Deadlier Virus?

#26

Post by Nasrudith »

cojxd wrote: post #12
mc32 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imperialism has both good and bad. The bad comes in the form of top down governance. The good comes in the form of modernization. See Roman and imperial China Empires among others.

True. If you want modernisation from imperialism then you get top down governance. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Umm that is exactly what happens with colonization - the colony grows big enough to be self-sufficient and starts getting its potential squandered by the home country's top down governce seeing them as a resource reserve instead of another part of their country.

Either things are reorganized such that they gain more local autonomy granted effectively losing the top down control or they break off. In either case they typically do better because of it. Even with problems in the aftermath they typically rise further - India for instance.

Re: Is Ebola Evolving into a Deadlier Virus?

#27

Post by [deleted] »

coldcode wrote: post #10

Wait until it gets into the US in a marginal part of society. Given we have no universal health care, it's likely to spread and evolve faster than we can stop it. The person in Dallas could have infected the homeless person in the same ambulance who subsequently wandered off. Imagine an illegal person catching it and fearing discovery tries to avoid a hospital, only to infect those they are sharing a tiny room with.

[deleted]

Re: Is Ebola Evolving into a Deadlier Virus?

#28

Post by chiefalchemist »

Nasrudith wrote: post #22

Really if Ebola is to be more deadly in absolute terms it ironically should be far less lethal and disturbing in symptoms. If it was weakened to be say about as bad as the flu in terms of lethality its kill count would be way higher. Ebola is so lethal it would practically have to cause the deceased to autocremate and destroy the remains to be any worse at spreading. Killing your host quickly is a bad for a parasite…

> "Killing your host quickly is a bad for a parasite"

Exactly. If the virus mutates such that the time before symptoms appear gets longer that's bad for the rest of us. But if it's the opposite (i.e., it kills faster), then that's good news and it will - in theory - eventually burn itself out.

Re: Is Ebola Evolving into a Deadlier Virus?

#29

Post by alfromspace »

phs318u wrote: post #21
tick_tock_tick wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We didn't have universal healthcare when we stamped out polio, smallpox, or yellow fever. I don't know why you'd think it would stop us now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diseases_eliminated_fr...

Because at that time people didn’t distrust medical authorities like they do now (anti-vaxxers among others), and didn’t fear (as much) the other consequences of coming into contact with government agencies (incarceration/deportation).

Oh goodness. Citation needed.

And I'm curious whether you happen to be independently against deportation and incarceration. I suppose we'd better open the borders and prisons just to prevent disease, right? Or maybe there's a broader ideology at play here.

Re: Is Ebola Evolving into a Deadlier Virus?

#30

Post by cojxd »

Iv wrote: post #13
cojxd wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Darwinism in action. Isn't this forum pro-theory of evolution and against imperialism?

This is not because you understand the theory of evolution that you consider it a moral thing to happen. Actually, letting the weak die and selecting only the fittest is almost diametrically opposed to the very idea of civilization. Our goal as civilized animals is to make selection an outdated part of evolution. Cure the sick, help the handicap, preserve the old, protect the young. We don't let people die to disease…

Maybe. I don't consider the Congo to be part of my civilisation, so I don't care.
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