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Young people with polio receiving physiotherapy in the 1950s. The social history of viruses describes the influence of viruses and viral infections on human history. Epidemics caused by viruses began when human behaviour changed during the Neolithic period, around 12,000 years ago, when humans developed more densely populated agricultural communities.
Viruses are a major driving force in evolution; the arms race between viruses and their host, or the Red Queen hypothesis, causes strong evolutionary pressures in both the host and viruses. [1] The host evolves to evade and destroy viruses, while the virus evolves mechanisms to continue infecting the host.
First accepted evidence for viruses infecting eukaryotic cells (the group Geminiviridae). [91] However, viruses are still poorly understood and may have arisen before "life" itself, or may be a more recent phenomenon. Major extinctions in terrestrial vertebrates and large amphibians. Earliest examples of armoured dinosaurs. 195 Ma
Infectious disease experts remain vigilant for signs of next major outbreak
A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. [1] Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. [2] [3] Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most numerous type of biological entity.
Polio was eliminated from most parts of the world as part of a decadeslong effort by the World Health Organization and partners to wipe out the disease. Until it is gone from the planet, the virus ...
The world’s first confirmed coronavirus pandemic occurred in 2002, when SARS-CoV-1 was reported in China. It spread to more than two dozen countries in North and South America and Europe before ...
Viral evolution is a subfield of evolutionary biology and virology concerned with the evolution of viruses. [1] [2] Viruses have short generation times, and many—in particular RNA viruses—have relatively high mutation rates (on the order of one point mutation or more per genome per round of replication).