In article <deirdre at deeny.MV.COM> _Deirdre writes:
What fascinates me is the thesis that this may be a disease naturally
hosted in big game (e.g. leopards or elephants) and that, because numbers
of the natural host are dwindling, it's jumping species to something more
available.
Perhaps I am missing something, but why should a virus jump into a new
host just because its current host numbers are
dwindling?
I do not see a clear link between a _decrease_ in host
population and an increase in ability for horizontal viral transmission. To
me, a decreased viral population (due to a decreased host number) would
reduce the chance for a virus to jump into a new host. My basic
confusion is that I do not understand how a dwindling host number could
enhance viral mutation rates because mutations are the mechanism by which
mutated viruses are generated. It seems that a larger
population of viral carriers would yield a larger population of viruses,
thus the chance for favorable-random mutations is increased when the host
population is increased. The latter analysis is contrary to the statement
above--i was just wondering how decrease in host population could
enhance host transfer.
Jeff Huckaby
Molecular Biology
William Jewell College
Liberty, MO 64068
USA
eMail mowjmat at coop.crn.org
