Why do some viruses flourish? And are there loads we don't hear about?

[managedmis]

Any medical /science people around to answer? Is this one a perfect storm - super contagious, hard to detect, could be mistaken for flu?

Surely there must be viruses like this emerging all the time? Back in the olden days, if you like, they've probably wouldn't have even noticed? Just thought it was bad year for flu?

I once caught a weird virus in Jordan..started out like flu..I returned to UK a few days after it started and finally ended up in tropical desease hospital..it seemed like malaria but wasn't and after 4 months it went..no treatment etc.. doctors told me there's loads of viruses out there with no name or cure!!

It isn’t hard to detect. It is a new strain from the coronavirus family, these viruses usually only cause mild to moderate upper-respiratory tract illnesses, like the common cold. And yes, viruses mutate frequently.

The perfect storm is long incubation period with no symptoms while also being contagious. HIV anyone? If you can keep your poor hosts alive and give them a symptom that spreads it around so much the better (coughing in this case). This one's host is us.

The common cold is pretty successful. But for fatalities, there's nothing like a mosquito borne disease that only affects poor people in the majority world. No one will care who can fix it and it will kill millions. Malaria.

We're all obsessed with covid-19 but malaria is still killing children. Mosquitoes have killed more people than every other animal put together.

www.nature.com/articles/news021001-6

Thanks everyone, especially Mrs TP

Yes, we didn't hear about the 250,000 that died from flu in the UK a couple of years ago.
Wasn't mentioned, no social distancing or lockdown.