• red_giant [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.net
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    13 days ago

    It’s a fair question. Plenty of viruses do mutate rapidly, especially other RNA viruses.

    Measles can’t do it because of the lucky fact that the change required to escape immunity requires multiple simultaneous mutations that would render it likely unable to attach to human cells.

    Is that high school knowledge?

    • SocialistVibes01@lemmy.ml
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      13 days ago

      Well, in MY school it was (RNA vs DNA viruses and their “virulence”. And how vaccines work). Just like Geography and World History. 🤷‍♂️

      • red_giant [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.net
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        13 days ago

        Yeah and measles is an RNA virus.

        RNA viruses are the ones that typically mutate more rapidly, more easily escape immunity, which is why measles not being able to escape immunity is a pretty fair question imo, with an interesting answer that isn’t exactly intuitive.