>
> Those that kill the host too quickly are wither not passed on, or are not
> passed on to as many new hosts as those that are less virulent.  Simple
> math.  In biology the name of the game is to spread far and wide.  Killing
> one's host before it can pass on your progeny does not make for a bug that
> lasts.


We are assuming that the bug changes and that is the reason for a symbiotic
relationship.

In the case of Varroa, which is where this all started, Varroa is only the
agent that allows bad things to happen. The bug may have been in a symbiotic
relationship before Varroa, but not after, and that is mostly because of the
host, not the bug.

The host is selected for by the bug, not the other way around. In the case
of bees, maybe it is hygienic behavior, or shorting the emergence of brood.
That is what breeding is all about, getting the correct bee, not the correct
bug.

Again, something like Ebola and HIV is a cross species jump. It can care
less if it kills off all its hosts in the new species as it still has a home
with the original species. We do not live in a static universe that obeys
our desires. Otherwise I would have T-Rex in my backyard.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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