Genetic fossils betray hepatitis B's ancient roots | Life | Science News
I thought with the new bird flu found to jump from birds to humans and the fact the new bird flu does NOT make birds sick, but does kill humans, that a little info about how diseases can jump from animal to human may be interesting. Hepatitis B is familiar to any healthcare worker and also a lot of other people. Most viruses act by getting into a living cell in another organism and then splicing into that cell's DNA and cranking out copies of itself along with the new cells usually made within the cell to replace itself.
The extreme age of Hep B virus is amazing. What is more amazing is that the Hep B virus did not become 'supercharged' as a disease until it was taken up by mammals! Hope some of you appreciate the info. I find it so facinating that the birds carried the ancient virus until the mammals came along!
I thought with the new bird flu found to jump from birds to humans and the fact the new bird flu does NOT make birds sick, but does kill humans, that a little info about how diseases can jump from animal to human may be interesting. Hepatitis B is familiar to any healthcare worker and also a lot of other people. Most viruses act by getting into a living cell in another organism and then splicing into that cell's DNA and cranking out copies of itself along with the new cells usually made within the cell to replace itself.
The extreme age of Hep B virus is amazing. What is more amazing is that the Hep B virus did not become 'supercharged' as a disease until it was taken up by mammals! Hope some of you appreciate the info. I find it so facinating that the birds carried the ancient virus until the mammals came along!
