Friday, January 23, 2009

The Red Queen Lives

Has anyone paid real attention to the increasing frequency of large outbreaks of bacterial infection such as the Lysteriosis outbreak at a meat processing plant last year as well as a new outbreak in leeks in Quebec:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Health/Canadians+still+dark+about+listeriosis+outbreak/1167036/story.html

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Health/made+packaged+leeks+recalled+listeria/1201872/story.html

What about the salmonella outbreak in peanut paste and derivative products all around the world?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99763921

Now, an Avian Flu scare has farms in Abbotsford, BC. under quarantine:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gWuE1x5XSc7pJHL_BZrc7f5g1eqg

I don't think this is just happenstance. I think that even though human beings have stopped operating under the effects of natural selection on a species-wide level and we're not "evolving" any further, bacteria and viruses continue to evolve...and I think they're making a comeback.

This is the Red Queen theory in effect...its playing itself out. We haven't "beaten" bacteria and virus strains with our medications and treatments...we have staved them off for a time, allowed them time to mutate and adapt and they're fighting back.
http://www.experiment-resources.com/red-queen-hypothesis.html

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