Copies Quote by Carl Zimmer
“When you get sick with the flu you get infected with flu viruses and they make lots of new flu viruses, but those new viruses are not exact copies of the old ones. They have mutations in them. A lot of those mutations are harmful.”
About This Quote
Source Interview: The Science of Viruses, Carl Zimmer, 2015
Viruses replicate with errors, creating mutated copies; many mutations are detrimental to the virus.
In simple terms: Flu viruses change when they copy themselves, often harming the virus.
Key Takeaway
Understand viral mutation to improve prevention.
Themes
biology
virology
mutation
health
Mood
cautious
analytical
Type
educational
informative
When to use this quote
- public health campaigns
- vaccine development
- clinical research
- education
- policy making
Key Concepts
genetic variation
viral evolution
Questions to Reflect On
- How do mutations affect vaccine effectiveness?
- What strategies reduce harmful viral mutations?
A Different Perspective
Mutations can also produce more virulent strains, complicating control.
![“After observing mutations in fruit flies for many years, Professes Goldschmidt fell into despair. The changes, he lamented, were so hopelessly micro [insignificant] that if a thousand mutations were combined in one specimen, there would still be no new species.” quote by Norman Macbeth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/58c/norman-macbeth-47158_despair_after-observing-mutations-in-fruit-flies_221683.jpg)
![“I never knew any man who had once tasted the sweetness of experimental knowledge, that ever afterward fasted after ye Vapour garlick and onions of phantasmatical seeming philosophy." [William Petty]” quote by Carl Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e5a/carl-zimmer-16331_knowledge_i-never-knew-any-man-who-had-once-tasted_1770.jpg)
![“[Writing to Lucretius, on Epicurus' belief that the soul was no different from the rest of the cosmos; made of atoms] "Death is therefore nothing to us, and does not concern us at all, since it appears that the substance of the soul is perishable. When the separation of body and soul, whose union…” quote by Carl Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/305/carl-zimmer-16331_death_writing-to-lucretius-on-epicurus-belief_514065.jpg)
