News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Scientists have discovered the first virovore – an organism that eats viruses. Parent comment

Re:Scientists have discovered the first virovore – an organi... by fnordpiglet on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @03:26PM (#34237490)
Viruses as I understand it are generally fairly specific as to what they can infect. I don’t think there’s any reason to believe an algae virus infect ciliates. But again, I’m a programmer, not a microbiologist.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Scientists have discovered the first virovore – an organi... by zdragnar on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @04:15PM (#34238180)
Cross-species infection usually happens (I think) due to mutation, rather than a single strain being able to target vastly different species.

However, there are some that do. For example, the Powassan virus. Ticks pick up the virus from woodland mammals, and then transfer it to humans. However, ticks do not transfer the disease from human to human [0].

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powassan_virus

We are probably much closer to mice and squirrels than algae are to ciliates though.

[ Parent | on HN ]