This is not my field and my understanding of it is limited to high school science, but a picture being painted for me as a naive consumer of scientific news is that we're seeing evidence that viruses are playing a role in evolution. We get infected with things that alter our DNA, and sometimes those alterations give us advantages.

It leads me to wonder if there's a role mosquitos play in our ecosystem after all. It's long held that mosquitos serve no positive purpose in ecosystems and ought to be eradicated when possible. When confronting the affects of malaria, it's hard to argue against the idea, but it's certainly true that mosquitos are an effective virus delivery mechanism. If sometimes viruses play to our advantage, maybe there's more to the insect's role.

Or maybe I just need to read more.