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Route into human population
January 30, 2006 by pdxjjb@gmail.com (not verified), 3 years 40 weeks ago
Comment id: 1347
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Assuming this holds up to scrutiny, it will be interesting to ask how such a virus got into the human population. The article implies that this happened recently (else it would not account for a recently-observed statistical uptick in obesity, contradicting the suggestions in the article).
One might reasonably wonder if the industrialization of the chicken industry since WWII selected for this virus, which then found its way into human beings through the food supply. In other words, perhaps economic pressure to raise nice fat birds cheaply tended to make the virus more prevalent in chickens, increasing the likelyhood of eventual transmission to humans.