Last week we took a look at Robin Lustig’s excellent post on the effects of fear and hype in the media and how certain topics like terrorism and H1N1 are exaggerated and used to promote newspaper sales. This week we’re going to take a closer look at the pandemic itself, its origins and the role humanity plays in the evolution of these viruses.
The world is a much more mobile place nowadays. You can get from one side of the globe to the other side in a matter of hours thanks to modern technology. Airports are a vast hub for business and travel, people can connect from a busy airport like Heathrow to any country in the world. With such a widespread population able to move between countries at will it has become increasingly difficult to contain the spread of dangerous viruses such as H1N1 and H5N1. Historical boundaries that slowed the spread of disease have evaporated due to the advances of modern technology.
As the human population grows, our contact with the animal kingdom increases, this allows viruses within both kingdoms to evolve, mutate and cross the human-animal divide. Several other factors including the destruction of habitats, global climate change and changes in weather patterns, plus a flourishing trade in animals and wildlife has also increased our exposure to these dangerous virus strains. The closer the contact we have with the animal kingdom the greater the chance of a zoonotic disease.
Recently a group of leading scientists have suggested that prevention is the key to avoiding worldwide pandemics. Both H1N1 and H5N1 originated due to overcrowding, poor animal treatment and health, as well repeated contact between humanity and the infected animals. Scientist have argued that intensive farming, hot and dirty conditions which allow bacteria to thrive and the poor health of these animals is the main cause of evolving zoonotic diseases; all of these conditions can be averted if methods of prevention are introduced.
Scientists are currently encouraging people to adopt a one world, one health philosophy which is aimed at preventing the outbreak of disease by dealing with initial causes. If we coordinate our efforts and look after animal populations, instead of intensively farming them, it is likely that we will be able to prevent most zoonotic outbreaks or at least identify and contain them before they spread.
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