system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What evolutionary advantage does a virus have if it kills the host?
gpt
Traits that evolve do not necessarily have to have an evolutionary advantage. Biological effects often have unintended consequences. The fact that an effect that kills the host can evolve from the properties that allow it to spread successfully is an accident and has no evolutionary disadvantage as long as it's still capable of transmitting itself to more hosts that can spread it before it kills them.