LC-Virus+Article


 * 1. If we are unlucky..." the author writes we will see evolution in action. What does she mean? Why would it by unlucky to see the avian virus evolve.
 * The avian virus flue could evolve into a virus that is easily transmitted from person to person.
 * 2. Define parasite.
 * An organism that lives in or on another organism of another species known as the host from which the parasite receives its nutrients.- Dictionary.com
 * 3. Define gene.
 * The basic physical unit of heredity; a linear sequence of nucleotides along a segment of DNA that provides the coded instructions for synthesis of RNA, which, when translated into protein, leads to the expression of hereditary character.- Dictionary.com
 * 4. She compares viruses to tiny parcels. Why? How are these parcels mailed?
 * Viruses are parcels of genes that are mailed from one organism to another by air, feces, or an outside carrier
 * 5. 20 million people died of the Spanish Flu during World War II. Yet the author claims to know that this flu virus was particularly deadly not that it was a normal virus but because of the war and wartime "deprivation" people were more likely to get sick and die. What two pieces of evidence indicate this was a very deadly virus unlike the normal flu virus.
 * First of all, because the virus only infected healthy young adults, and it was recreated and proven more lethal than most other human flu viruses.
 * 6. What is H5N1?
 * H5N1 is an eight gene virus much like the one of the 1918 Spanish pandemic. It is also known as the bird flu because of its effect on chickens.
 * 7. Since H5N1 has killed mostly birds, why are we worried about it?
 * Because out of the people H5N1 has infected, it has killed half of the victims which is a high death toll.
 * 8. Two processes could change the H5N1 in a deadly way: sex and mutation. What is viral sex and how could it change the virus? What is viral mutation and how could this change the virus?
 * Viral sex is two forms of human viruses come together and form a new virus all together. Viral mutation is an acquired genetic change.
 * 9. How can mutation lead to evolution (origin of new species)?
 * Mutations alter the genetic information thus causing a different species.
 * 10. How can sex lead to evolution (origin of new species)?
 * Sex shuffles the gene information but not changing it thus causing a different species.