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To: stremba

Is there any chance ..and I am talking a realistic chance...that if this is an escaped bioweapon that was not perfected that it could somehow mutate with Ebola in Africa?


138 posted on 01/30/2021 6:57:35 PM PST by RummyChick (To President Trump: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3923111/posts)
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To: RummyChick

No. That’s not how viral mutations work. Viruses don’t reproduce sexually, so they don’t really interact with other viruses. There’s zero chance that the COVID virus will in any way mutate with Ebola.

Also whether it’s a naturally-occurring virus or an escaped bioweapon is irrelevant. The virus infects its host and reproduces in the same way regardless of its origin. All a virus really is is a strand of genetic material surrounded by some proteins. The proteins provide structural protection and facilitate the injection of the genetic material into a host cell and the incorporation of the viral genetic material into the host cell’s genome. Once that happens the host cell turns into a “virus factory” and it begins synthesis of copies of the invading virus. Mutations can (and do) occur during this process, but unless the cell was already invaded by another virus, such mutations would have nothing to do with other viruses. Since most invaded cells end up rupturing to release the new virus copies, it’s not likely that a previous infection would leave genetic material intact. Only if a person were infected simultaneously with COVID and Ebola could there be any real chance of any interaction. It’s not a realistic chance.

Paradoxically such a virus might be less of a public health issue anyway. A virus that is both highly contagious and highly fatal really would not tend to spread very widely. In order to spread, a virus must have hosts. A successful virus doesn’t kill the host, but rather keeps the host alive to spread it to other hosts. A virus that rapidly kills its host has more difficulty spreading. A highly fatal virus will typically contain itself to a particular geographic area; infected individuals don’t travel elsewhere to spread it before dying.


151 posted on 01/31/2021 7:00:31 AM PST by stremba
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