[Vocabulary] pandemic strain

[Silverobama]

Hi,

What does the "pandemic strain" mean?

Scientists who study viruses say they don't know what a pandemic strain would look like.

I really don't know what it means this time, can anyone help? Does it mean that scientists don't know how the people would react to this viruses?

 

[JMurray]

Scientists who study viruses say they don't know what a pandemic strain would look like.

pandemic = in medicine, an epidemic that infects a population over a very large area, such as an entire country or continent.
strain = in this context, a variation on an organism that is distinctive but not necessarily a different type or breed of that organism.
I think the example is saying that scientists don't know how they would identify a version of a virus that might have the potential to infect a population over a very large area.

not a teacher

 

[Tdol]

I think the example is saying that scientists don't know how they would identify a version of a virus that might have the potential to infect a population over a very large area.

That's exactly how I would interpret it.

 

[Silverobama]

Thanks a lot, JM.

According thefreedictionary.com, "strain" means:

A group of organisms of the same species, having distinctive characteristics but not usually considered a separate breed or variety

But I still don't understand this sentence.:-(

 

[Silverobama]

Does the "strain" in this context mean that "a type of virus"?

 

[BobK]

Does the "strain" in this context mean [STRIKE]that[/STRIKE] "a type of virus"?

Roughly, but only slightly different. You could think of it as a virus rather than a virus - it looks grossly the same, but there are one or two crucial differences.

b

 

[Silverobama]

Hello, B. How to understand "You could think of it as a virus rather than a virus"?

 

[BobK]

Hello, B. How to understand "You could think of it as a virus rather than a virus"?

Look again. I didn't say that. I could have made the difference more obvious - say '"virus" and "viʁus"' or '"virus" and "virus". ;-)

b

 

[emsr2d2]

Look again. I didn't say that. I could have made the difference more obvious - say '"virus" and "viʁus"' or '"virus" and "virus". ;-)

b

I might be having a dim day but I, for one, cannot fathom what you mean about "the difference" with "virus". Are you talking about pronunciation? A pun? I only know one spelling and one pronunciation of "virus" regardless of which definition is used.

 

[charliedeut]

I might be having a dim day but I, for one, cannot fathom what you mean about "the difference" with "virus". Are you talking about pronunciation? A pun? I only know one spelling and one pronunciation of "virus" regardless of which definition is used.

I just didn't want to be the first to ask !

 

[Silverobama]

Anyway, the "strain" here means "a type of virus", doesn't it?

Thanks a lot

 

[BobK]

Sorry to have caused all this trouble . I made some random changes to fonts and sizes. (I'd show the code if I could, but I don't know the magic words; [literal], the obvious, doesn't seem to work. Same word, slight differences in underlying code - same basic organism, but slight differences in DNA.

I thought the example was pretty cool, but the response suggests that it's just freezing. ;-)

b

 

[emsr2d2]

Sorry, Bob, am still lost.

 

[BobK]

Sorry, Bob, am still lost.

You obviously read it before I noticed the fact that my "[literal]" coding hadn't worked. See my replacement wording.

b

 

[emsr2d2]

Oh, I think I get it now!