Hacker News Reader

There’s no surprise, zoonotic viruses are well known. That said, viruses are usually highly adapted to a specific host. Jumping host species isn’t trivial, and the mechanisms for how this happens are worth exploring.

View on HN

But usually zoonotic diseases are especially deadly since killing the host is not in a parasites best interest but new diseases haven't worked out an equilibrium with the victim species yet.

https://aeon.co/essays/when-bacteria-kill-us-it-s-more-accid...

The bulk of our diseases are zoonotic in nature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoonosis

Has the figure at 61%.

Sure, but here is a key line from the Wikipedia article you reference: "Most human diseases originated in other animals; however, only diseases that routinely involve non-human to human transmission, such as rabies, are considered direct zoonosis"

You aren't going to catch the current coronavirus from your dog.

True. But you could catch Rabies.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com