Corona virus: Why is a plague like this growing in the world?
Sunday, June 28, 2020
UPDATimes - Over the past 30 years, there has been an increase in the number of outbreaks as well as the corona virus outbreak that is happening in China today. Why?
One clear fact: Humans multiply. The global population now reaches 7.7 billion people, and we live increasingly close to one another.
Faster human mobility - by plane travel of about 4.5 billion people per year - and eating patterns with the consumption of animals, including wild animals - are factors supporting the spread of the virus.
More people in a narrow place means increasing the risk of exposure to pathogens that cause disease.
The Healthmap.org website tracks outbreaks recorded throughout the world, in line with current developments.
The corona virus that started in Wuhan is spread between humans from the fluid that comes out when the carrier of the virus coughs or sneezes.
The ability of the virus to survive outside the human body is only brief, and transmission occurs when people are near each other.
In 2014, the Ebola outbreak spread through blood and other bodily fluids, only those who were very close together would be infected.
Not all viruses are transmitted from human to human. But viruses like Zika - which spread from mosquitoes to humans - will be made easier when we live close together.
Since 2007, more and more people have lived in cities, more than 4 billion people.
Zika mosquitoes benefit because these insects thrive in dense, warm and humid urban areas.
On the other hand, not all cities are ready to provide adequate housing for their residents.
So many people are forced to live in slums without clean water or a good sewerage system. In this condition, the disease spreads quickly.
Traveling
Through aircraft, trains and cars, the virus can be the largest to various parts of the world in less than a day.
A few weeks after the outbreak was declared, cases of suspected corona virus infection were found in more than 16 countries.
In 2019, 4.5 billion people traveled by plane, whereas 10 years ago that number was 2.4 billion.
Wuhan is the main station of China's fast train and the virus outbreak occurred ahead of the biggest migration event in human history - more than three billion people traveled in China for Chinese New Year celebrations.
One of the worst pandemics ever recorded in history is the 1918 flu outbreak known as the Spanish Flu.
This happened in Europe before mass migration, at the end of the First World War.
When the flu spreads, the soldiers return to their homes and bring the flu with them.
The virus is carried into communities that have no data and without an adequate immune system.
A study by virus expert John Oxford stated that the source of the Spanish Flu virus was a transit tent that was traversed by around 100,000 soldiers every day.
Even before air travel, the epidemic spread to almost all parts of the world, killing 50 to 100 million people.
The Spanish flu takes six to nine months to spread throughout the world. Now we can circle the planet in a day. This virus can spread faster.
A variety of meat, a variety of animals, a variety of diseases
Ebola, SARS and now the Corona virus are zoonotic viruses - their initial spread is from animals to humans.
The corona virus is thought to originate from the meat market in Wuhan. Initial reports suggest the virus may have originated from live snakes.
At present three of the four new diseases are zoonotic.
Globally, meat consumption is increasing and livestock is developing as parts of the world become more prosperous and our taste for meat increases.
Corona virus jumps from wild animals to humans.
In China, live animal and meat markets are common in densely populated regions. This could explain why the last two epidemics originated in the region.
In Indonesia, the organization Dog Meat Free Indonesia (DMFI) also expressed their concern about trade in the meat and wild animal markets in Indonesia.
In their press release, DMFI was concerned about the slaughter of rabies-positive dogs carried out close to wild animals that were traded for meat such as bats, snakes and rats.
According to Dr. Erni Nelwan, Head of the Communicable Disease and Immunology Research Cluster at the IMERI Faculty of Medicine UI, eating patterns of wild animals is indeed at risk of causing illness or food borne illness.
But developing cities into rural areas also opens up the possibility of contact with wild animals. Lassa fever develops because of this when humans cut down forests to open agriculture.
Rats that live in the forest, evacuate to homes and carry Lassa fever spread to humans.
We are not ready
The world is increasingly connected to one another, but we still don't have a global health system capable of responding to this epidemic at its source.
To prevent an outbreak, we still rely on government in the country of origin of the epidemic. If they fail, the whole planet is in danger.
This happened in the West African region during the Ebola outbreak. The health systems in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone failed to overcome the virus so they spread, killing 11,310 people in West Africa.
Fortunately, the virus is relatively slow to spread.
But respiratory viruses like influenza or corona viruses spread more quickly.
Outbreaks often occur in poor areas with poor health systems. Weak regulation, poor health and sanitation education, and dense population cause increased risk.
Very few countries are willing to invest their limited resources in dealing with outbreaks that might not have happened.
Even though we have the technology to develop drugs that can ward off viruses, drug companies often don't invest there, especially when the risk is only the death of a few thousand people. Not enough money is generated there.
Good news
Although more outbreaks occur, fewer people die because of it - according to the study of the Royal Society, a British scientific institution.
Rapid economic growth - as in China - improves hygiene and access to health facilities. Communication systems to avoid transmission also improve.
Likewise with care. The more people get access, the better prevention. Vaccines are also being developed faster.
Even though the global handling system is imperfect, we are better at detecting and responding to outbreaks.
A country like China can build a hospital with 1,000 beds a week. Things like this are just fantasy in 1918.
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