Would it be realistically possible to eliminate the common flu from the Earth, and would there be any kind of adverse consequences?
In: Biology
If you’re talking about common flu, meaning influenza. It would be highly unlikely that it would be eliminated. The virus that causes influenza is an RNA virus. And because RNA is super unstable compared to DNA, it mutates way more. So even if we got rid of one type, another new completely different type wouldn’t be far away. Due to the mutations changing it.
Currently, there are a few different influenza types (Influenza A, B, and C) that have a whole heap of different species within those groups. And there’s a good chance that even more are hiding around the corner in other animals. All it takes is a mutated strain and bam! Another influenza is out and about among humans.
If you’re talking about the common cold. That’s even more unlikely. There are hundreds of viruses that can cause what we refer to as the common cold. And they’re all different types. Some may have the same tricky mutation skills that the influenza virus has, some may have other sneaky skills to avoid our attempts at eliminating them.
If, by a very very very (I cannot stress this enough) slim to assuredly no chance, they were eliminated. It would be hard to predict the consequences, adverse or otherwise. Mammals developed the placenta as a result of a virus influencing our DNA way back in the past. They’ve had a big hand in speeding up evolution of many different species all over the world. But they have also been implicated in some cancers and neurological disorders. So in answer to your second question – maybe, maybe not.
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