Corona Scourge: A wake up call

Corona virus did not emerge from nowhere. There aredifferent theories having been put forth regarding the origin and disseminationof this novel virus; some uphold the wild life as responsible, others thinkcats and dogs as the source of infection to human population while some considerwild bats to be reservoir of infection but nothing has been proved, except onething that man’s sadistic approach and manipulation of  the animal world to extract benefits over thepast centuries has come back to hound us. Past 30 years have witnessed a risein emerging infectious diseases in people, 70 percent of which are consideredZoonotic, meaning they have the ability to exist in animals without producingdisease in them but can be transmitted to Humans. The crash scientificexperiments and research of introducing infections to laboratory as well aswild animals has for sure brought the antigenic drift of infections and achange in Parasite- Host relationship with an added effect of climate change somuch so that the many basic animal infections make themselves competent toinvade human populations. Emerging and re-emerging dreadful infections thathave given sleepless nights to man in the recent past such as Bird flu, Swineflu, Ebola virus, Zika virus, Dengu, SARS and now Corona virus  all share one thing in common that is theseinfections owe their origin from animal source. Scientists believe that achance mutation of SARS like virus occurred in Civet-Cats infected by Bats in alive animal market. Consequent upon the changes in environment, human behaviorand the habitat destruction, the biosecurity threats are increasingly emergingfrom wild life species such as bats and birds. The world health organization (WHO) and most of the Infectious diseaseexperts,  a couple of years ago agreedthat the source of the next human pandemic was likely to be zoonotic and wildlife would be the prime suspect. They further said that the next dreadfulpandemic might be the result of a currently unknown zoonotic agent. Sinceaffliction of livestock with the Corona virus insult has not been reported sofar, but because of its origin in wildlife, if it infects livestock too, thatwould add to the ongoing catastrophe all over the world. Perhaps it may not bea coincidence that the Corona virus has manifested at the very time the UnitedNations is trying to form a convention on Biological Diversity in order toprotect what remains of the organic world. The contagion may be the karmicresult of our own ignorance and disregard of the other species that started inchina and spread worldwide like wildfire. The belief is gaining ground that thepresent Corona infection might have come from Pangolins which are scale coveredmammals kept in cages in appalling conditions in Asia, reserved for dinnermenus. Most of animals in these markets are kept in extremely poor conditions,without food and water for several days. Thus the way we treat animals has aprofound effect on our ecosystems and the habitat. Our balanced ecosystem isthe only wealth we are left with in this age of extensive industrialization,deforestation and population explosion. Worldwide encroachment to forest landand wildlife habitat by man is not without backlash. China’s ban on wild animaltrade is one silver lining in this ensuing global tragedy. It should be a permanentban rather than a temporary one otherwise many more pernicious viruses may bein the queue waiting to feed on us not in the distant future given the climatechange is upon us. It reminds me of Thomas Berry in his “Mystique of the Earth”who said- “To think that we can have viable human economy by destroying Eartheconomy is absurd. Indigenous people still live in a universe but we don’t- Welive in an economic system.” It is bound to befall that whenever we aim atchanging God’s nature either by trying to alter natural ecosystem or climate,for our economic greed it backfires on us in the shape of diseases anddisasters. It is law of nature.

There should be a tirade launched by the preservationistsagainst wildlife markets especially in China, Vietnam, Thailand and many othercountries. The closure of wildlife markets has to be strongly pleaded. Thiswill hopefully prevent not only new outbreaks in the future but also keep evenmore potentially virulent viruses from overwhelming the human world. We mustnot forget the root cause of this scourge – Man’s revolting disregard,manipulation, and over-exploitation of animal species meant for ecologicalbalance of this material world. The ongoing extinctions of the wildlifesometime in the future is going to impact us more than world wars I and IIbecause we have an unfathomable ecological horizon to reckon with and not justthe folly of an economic system run amuck. Animals were considered cardinal,spiritual, sentient and intellectual fellows in the lives of indigenous peopleand several civilizations past. But as the colonial and technological powersover-ran the world indigenous people came to be treated not better than Mulesor donkeys. The criminal neglect of dismantling of Nature over the last centuryhas dropped us at a point where Globalization itself is going to be redefinedand reappraised.  The entire spectrum ofNature’s curriculum has to be extensively revisited time and again. Thus ourrelationship to the sensate world will have to reverse or we perish. The Coronavirus is the tip of the Ice berg only.

   

Dr. Muzaffar Shaheen is Professor& Head Epidemiology andPreventive Medicine, SKUAST-K.

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