The media have a tendency to using the word “mutate” (or its derivatives) whenever “evolve” (or its derivatives) is more accurate. This is especially true in medical articles when they talk about germs “mutating” as opposed to “evolving”. Therefore, I was surprised this morning when I read an article on a new AIDS medication that contained the following:
If the single pill does help patients stick to their pill-taking regimen, that in turn could slow the emergence – and ultimately, transmission – of drug-resistant strains of the virus. Those strains can evolve when patients take less than 95 percent of their pills, said John Martin, head of Gilead Sciences Inc., the manufacturer of two of the drugs in Atripla.
