Viruses mutate so damn fast that they have a major advantage in the genetic arms race against human immune systems. Is this a new virus or just a newly discovered virus? Unlike the animal / plant kingdom where you would normally assume that it is just one of the millions that haven't been cataloged yet, viruses mutate at such a fast rate there's an equal chance it's something quite new. Here's the latest salvo in a war that has been raging for millenia, and which is responsible for more loss of human life than all deaths inflicted by humans (i.e. in war, politics, etc.)

Scientists have identified a lethal new virus in Africa that causes bleeding like the dreaded Ebola virus. The so-called "Lujo" virus infected five people in Zambia and South Africa last fall. Four of them died, but a fifth survived, perhaps helped by a medicine recommended by the scientists. It's not clear how the first person became infected, but the bug comes from a family of viruses found in rodents, said Dr. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist involved in the discovery. "This one is really, really aggressive" he said of the virus.