Ebola

[Roy Goodacre]

In article <3hqjq3$31r at cisunix1.dfci.harvard.edu> york at mbcrr.dfci.harvard.edu (Ian A. York) writes:

>Who knows?  Your question breaks down into two parts:  (1)  Can a virus 
>wipe out 90% of a species?  -yes, sure.  I think the first round of 
>myxoma in Australia may have done that to the rabbits (of course being 
>rabbits they replaced that pretty fast, so you'd never know that now.)  

It's what is commonly known as a virgin population that has never been exposed 
to the virus.  Take smallpox for example, now full eradicated (if such a thing 
is possible) no one in the UK or most developed countries has been vaccinated 
against it.  Therefore if it were to reappear the consequenses could be 
'rather' dramatic.

Outbreaks that kill 90% (or at least large numbers) of their host are 
usually adapting to a new host.


Dr Roy Goodacre            E-mail: rrg at aber.ac.uk
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Snail: Inst Biol Sci, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Dyfed, UK