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RE: [Opinion] Culling livestock to fight a respiratory virus is a bad idea

in Popular STEM25 days ago

Culling seems like a knee-jerk reaction rather than a sustainable solution. If viruses naturally evolve to be less lethal, aren’t we accelerating the emergence of stealthier, more contagious strains? Instead of mass culling, shouldn't we prioritize biosecurity, vaccination, and alternative control measures? Food security matters, too.

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 25 days ago 

If viruses naturally evolve to be less lethal, aren’t we accelerating the emergence of stealthier, more contagious strains?

I struggled with clarity when discussing this point in the article. Importantly, I think we might also accelerate the arrival of a variant that could spread more easily to humans. The problem with that is that 'less lethal' to chickens isn't necessarily 'less lethal' to humans.