Question

[Alison Campbell]

In article <4kpesl$b94_001 at net7b.io.org>, howzit at io.org (Ursula
Keuper-Bennett) wrote:

> In article <4krqsb$47e at nms.telepost.no>,
>    gronvold at telepost.no (Vidar Grønvold) wrote:
> 
> >      Bacteria can be either deletrious or helpful in an organism. But
> >what about virus. Is there known any helpful function of virus in
> >nature? I find it hard to believe they exist as only a deletrious
> >thing.
> 
> The only helpful virus I can think of is the one implicated in 
> myxomatosis (disease of rabbits).  As I understand it, Australia was so 
> overrun with rabbits, the disease was purposefully introduced to control 
> their population.

There's now another one which was accidentally released.  It's
calicivirus.  It kills rabbits very effectively (~90% death rate). 
Myxomatosis is still in use, however the levels of immunity in wild
rabbits are rising and so it is losing some of its effectiveness. 

> So for Australians the virus was helpful.  I think the rabbits would 
> assess things a tad differently however.

mm, probably.  For farmers, however, both viruses are an absolute
Godsend!  (well, except for rabbit farmers who are rather annoyed by the
whole thing)
alison