> In population genetics, the founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population.
Anyways, to be more on topic, I read this quote from the article: "Because of the founder effect, showing that a particular mutation increases viral transmission in humans is very difficult." Does the author here mean that it is hard to determine whether a mutation increases viral transmission in humans or not because that mutation's survival may not necessarily be the result of genetic fitness but founder effect?