As most bacteria evolve to a less deatly version of itself to promote spreading, why hasn’t TB evolved to a more harmless bacteria? It’s so old, so there was plenty of time. Killing the host seems pointless in a evolutionary sense.
Thanks!
In: Biology
Keep in mind evolution doesn’t have “points” or “make sense”, it just goes with what works best, now. There are plenty of really, really, REALLY dumb adaptations out there.
In the case of TB specifically though, why would it need to change? Untreated TB infections can take 5-15 years to kill someone, almost every moment of which the person is hacking up particles to spread the illness around. A decade of active spreading feels like a pretty sweet score for a bacterium to get out of it’s host.
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