The Tamiflu Taliban

Perhaps those who like to pretend they understand Evolution haven’t grasped that most ‘evolving’ is need driven; the greater the need to adapt the more likelihood that some new strain will emerge.
Why? Well it is simply that Evolution is partly driven by necessity in that if a species is under threat from various changes in its environment those least affected will be the ones favoured to reproduce even if under normal circumstances they would ,otherwise, be less fit to survive.

So threats to survival change priorities. Obviously the greater the threat, the greater chance that those who cannot adapt will not survive and multiple serious threats mean that evolution is relegated to ‘Hells Kitchen’ where the only priority is survival, no place for subtlety or elegance, not so much survival of the fittest but more survival of the survivors!

Now if these threats are the result of climate change or simply an increase in the number of predators then changing size, developing camouflage or growing more or less fur might be all that’s needed.
However, if your environment starts to become deadly to you then you need drastic changes and so in desperation you form alliances with your competition which both increases your chances of developing resistances but also increases the territory you can inhabit.

So now you are a new strain of “pig, bird, human" ‘flu you’re not that deadly yet but you can keep the enemy busy while you adapt to their latest weapons, strain their resources and develop more effective warriors.

Influenza viruses are able to swap genetic material but scientists have played down concerns that H1N1 virus, could combine with the more dangerous H5N1 avian flu virus creating a super virus...