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@Chalfie
Viruses have an inherent fault in their replication mechanism and machinery. It's very error prone. Which means that when it makes copies of itself they're not always the same. This is mutation. This mutation enables them to look different on the outside (surface proteins and stuff). Which means when they encounter a new host (me or you) it may appear as a new infection. Even if you've had that virus before.
The rate of mutation can be measured by looking at the genomic differences between isolates from the same infection in different places. For a virus, you'd want to be mutating moderately and cause low mortality. So that you can just be passed around without damaging your host population.
Ripping through a host population with a high level of infectivity and a high mortality is no good for either the host or the virus ultimately.
Edit: what Dov said.