Why didn’t things like polio and smallpox mutate as much or as dangerously?
In: Biology
Different organisms mutate at different rates. Turtles haven’t changed much in hundreds of millions of years. Humans developed from an ape-like ancestor just 2 million years ago. Some coronaviruses are extremely prone to mutations – hence why no vaccine for common cold caused by them as it’s almost never the same strain or combination of strains that infect you every year.
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