A livestock virus can mutate one hundred times faster than the flu
The SAT-1 strain of foot-and-mouth disease evolves one hundred times faster than the human flu, creating a 'quasispecies cloud' that allows the virus to outpace modern vaccine development.
The SAT-1 serotype of foot-and-mouth disease is one of the most volatile pathogens in the livestock world. Its RNA genome mutates at a staggering rate, producing new variations one hundred times faster than the influenza virus. This rapid evolution creates a genetic cloud of variants that can render standard vaccines seventy percent ineffective in a single year.
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