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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2011 18:23:57 GMT 1
Possibly, I'm not in a position to say
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2011 18:31:55 GMT 1
neither am i
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2011 19:00:14 GMT 1
Both would make sense. It is beneficial for the virus to be less lethal, and obviously it's beneficial for us not to die.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2011 19:23:24 GMT 1
Surely you're not thinking of courting an ant??? O.o
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2011 22:01:59 GMT 1
Not to blow my own trumpet but I'm a microbiology student so I feel I should say something here (don't hate me). Although, I don't pretend to know everything so this is just my opinion (and some facts). A disease is different from an infection. The disease is ONLY the symptoms caused, a lot of posts said disease when really they meant infection. Not a major point but something that should be pointed out. There have been a varied collection of disease dynamics seen in nature, and ultimately there are some complex systems that may not be as black and white as discussed e.g. reproductive success. Look at human STI's such as herpes, it's symptoms are nothing more than an annoyance, however it is still passed from person to person very easily. HIV is incredibly young as a virus and hasn't developed a benign interaction as of yet. What I am getting at is that over time a virus is likely to evolve less lethal symptoms in order to keep the host alive (not always but normally the longer the host lives the more likely to transmit the infection). HIV is a very poor virus, in that it almost always kills you, whereas herpes is highly (almost completely) unlikely to kill, making full use of you, it's host. Back to the ants, STI's are very possible. Without concrete research this pretty impossible to prove. Even the research would be difficult for various reasons. Oh and HIV immunity has been studied and indeed certain people are immune to HIV. Whether we are becoming immune as a species I doubt.
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Post by Myrm on Feb 27, 2011 22:04:58 GMT 1
A vary interesting reply, jaay. Thank you for your contribution.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2011 1:57:51 GMT 1
Oh and HIV immunity has been studied and indeed certain people are immune to HIV. Whether we are becoming immune as a species I doubt. Over the longer term, we will become immune to HIV as it is today. Of course, viruses always mutate in order to stay one step ahead of our immune systems. There's no reason why STIs couldn't develope in ants, though if any studies have been done on this, I don't know about them.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2011 17:15:38 GMT 1
If there is or ever was a ant STD I should think it would not last long unless past from mother to offspring. Due to the fact that males only live a few months.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2011 17:20:37 GMT 1
Queens are likely to get it easily as they can mate multiple times. If an STD was in the area then it could spread very easily.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2011 17:23:23 GMT 1
Theoretically, an ant non-fatal STI could exist and pass its self on effectively if it could be transmitted both horizontally and vertically.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2011 21:22:13 GMT 1
True that I hope my ants don't have STDs
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2011 21:53:30 GMT 1
Don't worry, if they do it's non fatal.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2011 22:06:06 GMT 1
Yes but my ants' pride is at stake ;D
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2011 22:17:30 GMT 1
Don't worry, if they do it's non fatal. We do not know that. It could be the cause of unexplained deaths of small colonies. Although if it does kill quickly how could it pass on through generations.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2011 22:36:41 GMT 1
Well really we will never know
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