• Question: Do we know what the oldest virus is?

    Asked by anon-282569 on 24 Feb 2021.
    • Photo: Amal Lavender

      Amal Lavender answered on 24 Feb 2021:

      Herpes

    • Photo: Moya Macdonald

      Moya Macdonald answered on 24 Feb 2021:

      I don’t think we know exactly what type of virus is the oldest. Just like we don’t know exactly what type of life is the oldest! But I think we know that it probably evolved at the same time as life (which is about 3.4 billion years ago – so many many many millions of years before us!)

    • Photo: Isabel Lewis

      Isabel Lewis answered on 25 Feb 2021:

      The oldest virus known to infect humans is Smallpox and measles, however viruses existed before they were able to enter humans. It has been said viruses infected insects over 300 million years ago!

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