• Question: how do viruses become dangerous on animals?

    Asked by aivanov to Janet on 16 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by beth12.
    • Photo: Janet Daly

      Janet Daly answered on 16 Mar 2013:

      They can be dangerous if an animal is very young (so its defence systems are not fully developed) or very old. They are also dangerous if the virus usually infects a different animal – this means that it can ‘accidentally’ kill an animal (which is usually not good for the virus either because it needs the animal to be alive to replicate itself).

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