Certain viruses cannot be transmitted between humans
the verdict
CONTESTED
contested - the weight sits with the supporting side
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
2 sources for · 0 against
Retrieved evidence suggests that viruses making host jumps may initially struggle with transmission between new hosts, though definitive evidence is limited.
A friend told me, during a 3 minute discussion, that viruses that are endemic in host A and make repeated jumps to host B but can't be transmitted between individuals of species B, may slowly adapt (through these repeated jumps) to be able to be transmitted between individuals of host B and become epidemic. This is...mostly true. A good example is avian influenza - there are a number of human infections linked to contact with infected poultry, but the virus is not particularly good at sustaining long chains of human-to-human transmission, likely due to differences in the respiratory tract between humans and birds. I don't know much about epidemiology. I don't understand how a virus population that is endemic to host A may adapt to host B with repeated jumps while the viruses that jump to host B are dead end because they cannot be transmitted further more. Or Are these viruses able to jum
C-type RNA viruses have been described in about 20 different vertebrate species. Their presence in man is suggested by electron microscopic, biochemical and serologic studies, although a definite re;icating human virus has not yet been isolated. These viruses are inherited through the germ cell and their production is regulated by genetic information carried in the host cell (i.e. endogenous virus). Two classes of endogenous C-type viruses have been recognized in certain animals particularly the mouse: ecotropic and xenotropic. They may have their counterparts in man. Ecotropic viruses spread through the host and can be easily transmitted to cells of the same species; they can produce malignancy. Xenotropic viruses cannot infect cells from their host species but are infectious for cells from heterologous species. The interaction between xenotropic and ecotropic viruses could lead to the transfer among species of genetic information relating to normal life processes and malignancy. These C-type viruses may play a role in evolution, normal development and differentiation as well as autoimmune disease and cancer.
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