OK, a science post from me. Let's talk about pathogens. Specifically, let's talk about zoonotic pathogens. These are bacteria, parasites, worms, fungus, and viruses that are hosted by animals or infect animals and can be passed to humans. Because our immune system is different from animals, an animal can host these pathogens and not ever die or suffer from them. Something that might give a pig the sniffles and cough, could cause deadly encephalitis in a human and kill them in three days. Sources of zoonotic pathogens are different from vectors of these pathogens. Example: The white footed mouse in the Americas and some coastal bird species in Europe are the source of Lyme disease (a bacteria). It's spread by ticks. Ticks are not the starting point of the infection, they are a vector.
I want to talk about a virus that has been forgotten in the recent months, but I think will help show how these viruses jump species because I'm reading far too many people on social media claim that this novel covid virus HAD to have been made in a lab and how it's come as such a surprise. Both of those claims are false but I can see how it may seem that way to some folks. Unless you're reading science articles or you're in the field of public health, this new virus has come as a shock. For those of us who live, eat, and breathe science publications or those whose job it is to look after the public health in times of outbreaks, including finding sources and vectors of what appear to be new pathogens, this was predictable and predicted. The virus I'm referring to continues to erupt in places like India, Malaysia and The Philippines. It's called Nipah (named after the place where it was first officially identified in 1998) and its source is from bats and it infected pigs, who became mildly ill and then jumped to humans and became deadly. It is a Henipavirus and its highly contagious, has a long incubation period and kills 50 to 80% of humans it infects. Humans contract it from infected pigs as well as human-to-human. These pathogens jump species because humans are farming in areas they've not farmed before. Industrial sized pig farms in Malaysia lead to the discovery of this virus in 1998. They were farming introduced livestock where bats live, defecate and die. It did not take a mad scientist in a lab to create it. Nature was perfectly capable, all on her own. As developing countries become more affluent, their appetite for meat products grow and it is stressing the natural, biologically-diverse environments. Any veterinarian can tell you, perhaps especially those in New Zealand, India, Australia, and other more tropical countries, that domesticated livestock are at risk and pose a risk to human health.
Twain joked that pathogens are God's favourite. They are invisible to us, but can kill us more cruelly than any devil. They adapt quicker than we can come up with anti-biotics or vaccines. Even the bunnies aren't safe from them. A new type of rabbit hemorrhagic fever has erupted, RHDV2. I guess Twain would conclude that God doesn't favour the bunnies, either.
From the WHO website: 'It is estimated that, globally, about one billion cases of illness and millions of deaths occur every year from zoonoses. Some 60% of emerging infectious diseases that are reported globally are zoonoses. Over 30 new human pathogens have been detected in the last three decades, 75% of which have originated in animals.' So, if any of your kids are at school and interested in science, animals, medicine, microbiology, ecology... point them in this direction please. We need more clever folks working on this problem, as it is only getting worse. I will put some links below to more information if anyone wants to read, or hear, more about zoonoses.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/02/25/515258818/a-taste-for-pork-helped-a-deadly-virus-jump-to-humans?fbclid=IwAR2myk_0CiNKEXvBVap7twHlzLG2-Cx0spLZKAhzlb7WMgK7ZuxYxBOggzo
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