body { -ms-overflow-style: scrollbar; overflow-y: scroll; overscroll-behavior-y: none; } .errorContainer { background-color: #FFF; color: #0F1419; max-width: 600px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 10%; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; } .errorButton { margin: 3em 0; } .errorButton a { background: #1DA1F2; border-radius: 2.5em; color: white; padding: 1em 2em; text-decoration: none; } .errorButton a:hover, .errorButton a:focus { background: rgb(26, 145, 218); } .errorFooter { color: #657786; font-size: 80%; line-height: 1.5; padding: 1em 0; } .errorFooter a, .errorFooter a:visited { color: #657786; text-decoration: none; padding-right: 1em; } .errorFooter a:hover, .errorFooter a:active { text-decoration: underline; } #placeholder, #react-root { display: none !important; } body { background-color: #FFF !important; }

JavaScript is not available.

We’ve detected that JavaScript is disabled in this browser. Please enable JavaScript or switch to a supported browser to continue using twitter.com. You can see a list of supported browsers in our Help Center.

Terms of Service Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Imprint Ads info © 2023 Twitter, Inc.

Conversation

This thread is worth reading for any of us who have believed that viruses had an overall trend to evolve to be less lethal.

Quote Tweet

Adrian Constantin

This

is a layman's understanding regarding virus pathogenicity and evolution: science only says that viruses which kill all their hosts will disappear. That's all. From this, it doesn't follow that viruses have an "inner desire" not to kill their hosts or to become milder.

Show this thread

1

19

33

Replying to

I don't know much, but afaik this thread does not contradict the idea that viruses overall tend to get less lethal

10:47 PM · Jan 29, 2022

Replying to

I don't think it directly contradicts that. But the example of smallpox, for example, and how it stayed extremely lethal for millennia, shows that it's far from guaranteed to happen.

1

3

Replying to

yea agreed, it's not guaranteed, just in my brain this is an entirely separate thing from "general trend"

1

1

Show replies