A Hidden Universe that Would Reach Out 100 Million Light Years.
In the invisible, parallel world of Earth, they kill half the bacteria
in the ocean every day, and invade a microbe host 10 trillion times a
second around the world. There are 10 billion trillion, trillion viruses
inhabiting Planet Earth, which is more stars than are in the Universe
-- stacked end to end, they would reach out 100 million light years.
Over tens, hundreds and millions years, our ancestors have been picking
up retroviruses (HIV is a retrovirus) that reproduce by taking their
genetic material and inserting it into our own chromosomes. There are
probably about 100,000 elements in the human genome that you can trace
to a virus ancestor. They make up about 8 percent of our genome, and
genes that encode proteins only make up 1.2 percent of our genome making
us more virus than human.
Occasionally, a retrovirus will end
up in a sperm cell or an egg and insert its genes there, which then may
give rise to a new organism, a new animal, a new person where every cell
in that body has got that virus.
In 2009, MIT researchers have
explained why two mutations in the H1N1 avian flu virus were critical
for viral transmission in humans during the 1918 pandemic outbreak that
killed at least 50 million people -- believed more than that taken by
the Black Death, and higher than the number killed in World War I.
The 1918 flu pandemic -- commonly known as the Spanish flu -- was an
influenza pandemic that started in the United States, appeared in West
Africa and France and then spread to nearly every part of the globe in
three waves lasting from March 1918 to June 1920, spreading to the
Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It was caused by an unusually severe
and deadly Influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1.
In
contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect
juvenile, elderly, or otherwise weakened patients, the Spanish Flu also
claimed healthy young adults, resulting from infection rates of up to
50% and the extreme severity of the symptoms, suspected to be caused by
cytokine storms.
Over tens, hundreds and millions years, our ancestors have been picking up retroviruses (HIV is a retrovirus) that reproduce by taking their genetic material and inserting it into our own chromosomes. There are probably about 100,000 elements in the human genome that you can trace to a virus ancestor. They make up about 8 percent of our genome, and genes that encode proteins only make up 1.2 percent of our genome making us more virus than human.
Occasionally, a retrovirus will end up in a sperm cell or an egg and insert its genes there, which then may give rise to a new organism, a new animal, a new person where every cell in that body has got that virus.
In 2009, MIT researchers have explained why two mutations in the H1N1 avian flu virus were critical for viral transmission in humans during the 1918 pandemic outbreak that killed at least 50 million people -- believed more than that taken by the Black Death, and higher than the number killed in World War I.
The 1918 flu pandemic -- commonly known as the Spanish flu -- was an influenza pandemic that started in the United States, appeared in West Africa and France and then spread to nearly every part of the globe in three waves lasting from March 1918 to June 1920, spreading to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It was caused by an unusually severe and deadly Influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1.
In contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or otherwise weakened patients, the Spanish Flu also claimed healthy young adults, resulting from infection rates of up to 50% and the extreme severity of the symptoms, suspected to be caused by cytokine storms.
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