Coronavirus Outbreak Was Predicted
The movie ‘Contagion’ is currently trending on Amazon Prime amidst the novel Coronavirus outbreak. The film itself deals with a disease that spreads through fomite, which is an object or a material that acts as a carrier of infection, like a dress, surface, utensils, and furniture. Coronavirus itself spreads through fomites and aerosols.
One of the facets from the film that struck me was undoubtedly the part where the spread of the disease to the primary patient Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) was explained. The montage shows a bat eating fruit from a tree. Due to human interference, it flew from the tree to a pig farm where it drops the fruit. One of the pigs consumes it. That pig was killed and taken to a restaurant. The chef, who was cleaning to the pig, simply rubs his hand on his apron. Then he goes on to shake hands with Beth.
Two things were highlighted.
1. The disease itself is a result of human interference in the natural world.
2. Washing hands is important, especially when you go out to the public.
The novel Coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan province in China and the first patient was identified in December. It began to spread from human to human. Today, the World Health Organisation declared it a pandemic.
Coronavirus origins were linked to a Market in China and were inferred to be zoonotic in nature. The disease is caused by SARS-CoV-2 which is a newly discovered virus closely related to bat coronaviruses and pangolin coronaviruses.
As per researchers, both Bats and Pangolins are reservoirs of deadly viruses.
A study published in the Nature journal in 2015 had pointed out that there could be a possible outbreak in the future as a good percentage of the bat population in China have severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) like viruses. Novel Coronavirus and SARS come in the same category of Coronaviruses.
Another research by the National Institutes of Health published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018 also predicted a possible pandemic through zoonoses. This pandemic can happen due to factors like overpopulation, overcrowding, altered human behaviors, environmental interference, environmental changes, and inadequate global public health mechanisms.
All these are clearly highlighted in the current novel Coronavirus outbreak. It began from a small cluster of patients in Hubei province in China. China is the most populated country on Earth and is visited by people from around the world.
Today, the Chinese have managed to contain and slow down the disease but it worsened in the United States, Spain, and Italy, mostly owing to the improper handling of the outbreak and lack of facilities.
The novel Coronavirus itself highlights the necessity for more reformations and changes in terms of handling people’s healthcare, environmental issues, and population.
Every major outbreak and pandemic is closely linked to population or overcrowding. Population control is imperative because it results in the need for more resources. To get more resources, the human will interfere in nature and cut more trees which result in the migration of wildlife and other environmental changes.
Along with pollution and improper healthcare, it is no surprise that the pandemic took place in this decade.
Before Coronavirus pandemic, the earth saw Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 and Cholera pandemic 100 years before that.
But, if this outbreak proves the researchers’ point of seeing animals as potential threats to humans then we cannot disregard the fact that there might another outbreak.
Since we have seen the repercussions of the disease, hopefully, this will lead to a global reckoning. For eg: China has banned the consumption of wild animals like Pangolin.
Authorities need to keep their eyes open so that in the future, such diseases can be handled better and it doesn’t force people to remain indoors, affecting the lives and economy.
More than anything scientists and researchers who present possible threats must be heard before judged. And, a whistleblower like Dr. Li Wenliang should not be silenced.