The Importance of Ebola

[Patrick O'Neil]

On 13 May 1995 DANDERSON at PRL.PULMONARY.UBC.CA wrote:

> On Fri, 12 May 1995, Ken Dudman wrote:
> 
> > 	Ok, I know I may get flamed for this, but I really don't care
> > because I firmly believe my view on all this. Just try to keep an open
> > mind on it.
[...]
> This is a blameless way to solve the population problem of the world. 
> However, is this massive reduction of humanity a benefit to man?  My 
> Question is based on lack of knowledge of Ebola?  How does Ebola 
> "pick" its host which will survive infection.  How would this affect 
> the gene pool of the human race?  Good or Bad (which by its own 
> rights is definitional)?

A virus doesn't "pick" a host, whether for elimination or survival.  It 
goes where it lands and grows/reproduces where the environment is 
favorable.  Survivors are just statistically lucky.  As for a change in 
the gene pool, not much of one unless you really could or did get a REAL 
significant infected population so that population size were reduced to 
the extreme.  In this VERY hypothetical case, you might select for those 
who have a more efficient immune system (at least in regards to the virus 
in question).  
  In any case, as was pointed out by another poster.  Even if the ebola 
virus in Zaire were to go airborne and spread all over bejesus, it would 
not infect most humans (it might get a lot of people, even tens of 
millions like the flu pandemic of 1918, but not all) and so there would 
be a some localized population density reduction but no real loss.

Patrick