Posted on 09/10/2014 11:17:48 AM PDT by Covenantor
(Blah, blah, blah about Obam)....
(Snip)
Hundreds of mutations
An international research team has analyzed about a hundred Ebola virus genomes from 78 patients in Sierra Leone. The patients were diagnosed with Ebola in late May to mid June.
The researchers found more than 300 genetic changes that make the 214 Ebola virus genomes distinct from the viral genomes tied to previous Ebola outbreaks. Moreover, over 50 changes had occurred since the start of the 2014 outbreak, suggesting the virus is in fact mutating.
There are many cases where a change to the genome of an organism has no consequence.
But in this current outbreak of Ebola - with this particular strain - the researchers found a number of genetic mutations had altered proteins in the virus, potentially with disastrous affect.
The team led by Stephen Gire, a scientist with the Sabeti lab at the Broad Institute and Harvard University, wrote about their findings in "Science". They say some of the changes could influence doctors' ability to diagnose Ebola in the field. The data suggest that "continued progression of this epidemic could afford an opportunity for viral adaptation, underscoring the need for rapid containment."
Unknown consequences
But Stephen Gires says they "don't know whether these differences are related to the severity of the current outbreak."
Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit agrees, saying it is impossible to judge by looking at an altered genome whether the changes will translate to alter the biological appearance of a virus.
"Even if a virus mutates rapidly, it doesn't mean something will happen," Schmidt-Chanasit says. Many changes are minor. They are bound to happen when a virus spills over from one host to another, and especially in an epidemic, such as the one we are seeing in western Africa.
The area of research which investigates the relationship between genomes and the "behavior" of a virus in the field is called reverse genetics, and it's in its infancy.
Schmidt-Chanasit says that if investigations regarding this behavior in Ebola were to start now, they would take long time to complete, and would be of little help in the current outbreak....more at link
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread
I take it seriously, just using dark humor to illustrate that fears of sudden changes in health are not implausible, you could be typing one moment and then without warning
Several of our neighbors are returning from a photo safari in Africa this week. I think we’ll avoid them for a while.
Okers.
No, “to survive” implies some kind of plan. You couldn’t observe one even if it existed. I’m not going to continue to reply when people don’t understand the principle of teleology and its fallacious application to nature.
Fixed.
Liberal Academia has been wanting a virus to wipe out the “overpopulation” flyover country.
Fixed.
Then they will ship in illegals to make the food for them....
Liberalism is Neo-Feudalism...
The Royalaty HATED THE MERCHANT CLASS, they didn’t mind the SERF because they CONTROLLED THEM!
The War on the Merchant/Middle class is an ongoing war STARTED by the ELITES!
Viruses mutate, for whatever reason.
Some of those mutants have a better chance of surviving attacks by immune systems, or whatever else is out to kill them.
So, while it may appear to us that viruses mutate to survive, that’s only because we’re not paying attention to what happens to the individual viruses. No virus actually chooses to mutate as a survival strategy.
steve86 has it right.
Don’t some viruses kind of peter out if they mutate enough?
“No virus actually chooses to mutate as a survival strategy.”
Are you sure? There is no scientific evidence supporting this statement, only supposition. The question becomes, does a virus have life energy of its own? My guess is the answer is Yes.
That’s an interesting thought — I really can’t say.
When I think about it, I can’t even say for certain that viruses don’t plan to mutate, as a survival strategy. For all I know viruses have the capacity to organize themselves into some sort of hive mind, which has the capacity for creating strategies. Maybe the Obama White House and Pentagon used such a virus hive mind to create its ISIS strategy. Or, maybe I’ve watched one too many syfi flick.
No, “to survive” implies some kind of plan. [snip] I’m not going to continue to reply when people don’t understand the principle of teleology and its fallacious application to nature.
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If my reading of the statement had been the same as yours, I would completely agree.
But I didn’t read it the same way as you did; at the level of a virus, I don’t see ‘to survive’ implying a plan, just an observable fact that they mutate AND some survive. But I’m just a student of philosophy (well, I was 30 some years ago), so you science guys typically eat my lunch.
As for your not continuing to reply, do you think anyone will notice?
LOL. Gives you good reason to not suffer threw their vacation photos.
Petering out-probably just wishful thinking...
Viruses are not considered to be alive. It makes talking about them rather difficult because the language doesn't really cover their status.
Viruses are not alive, and are incapable of having any kind of strategy. However, the factors that enable them to propagate can almost make them seem to think. The reality is that there are many viruses that reach dead ends and do not propagate, but we never see those. We only see the mutants that do propagate. So the illusion is that they analyze intelligently and adapt themselves to their environment.
Viruses are considered by some to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce, and evolve through natural selection.
However they lack key characteristics (such as cell structure) that are generally considered necessary to count as life.
Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as “organisms at the edge of life”.
In my work I feel viruses in the field around the human body. They feel like a cloud that has an energy of its own. Thus they feel to me as if they have a life energy and function as parasites.
They are sometimes difficult to differentiate from an attached earthbound spirit or ghost around a person that also has a life energy of its own but no physical structure at our visible level.
You made my original point better than I did. Then, I got off the rails.
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