ENVIRONMENT
We caused this pandemic, and we might cause the next one too From flu viruses that originated in pigs to Ebola viruses that originated in bats, most diseases originate in animals. These diseases are known as zoonoses - pathogens that start in animals and spread from humans.
“Why has this increase happened? Because of us.” The amount of zoonoses discovered each year have more than doubled over the last few decades. Why has this increase happened? Because of us. There are always going to be diseases occurring and spreading to humans naturally, but we have created the perfect environment for this to occur. As humanity rapidly encroaches upon natural habitats in our exponential expansion, we place ourselves much closer to these zoonotic diseases. Take, for example, the 2013 Ebola Outbreak. It was traced back to Meliandou, a recently built village in Guinea located in what used to be a forest and natural habitat for bats. It was through this closer contact to wildlife that the virus managed to spread to humans and begin an epidemic - whereas in the past it might’ve been confined to bats. There’s another factor that affects diseases - biodiversity. Let’s say we have a disease that can infect pigeons. In a highly diverse environment, there might be a few pigeons - but there are enough other species that cannot get infected to prevent the disease from spreading like wildlife. Now let’s say that this environment has been turned into a human settlement and has been deforested. Species that couldn’t adapt to the change have moved or died, leaving only the most adaptable species - such as a pigeon. Now if that same disease were to spread again, it has plenty of pigeons to infect - making it far more likely that the disease spreads to humans.
Finally, our world is now so interconnected that it is easier than ever for diseases to spread. When an infected person can fly around the world in just over two days, it’s easy to see why epidemics (affecting an entire country/region) can quickly become a pandemic (infecting multiple countries/regions). Looking at COVID-19, we can see these factors all play a part. The Coronavirus has been traced back to the Huanan Market in Wuhan. It’s believed that COVID-19 originated in bats, then spread to pango
lins, then to humans. In order for the disease to spread, this would’ve had to happen in a very short time frame - and the Huanan market is one of the places where all three species could come into contact. Once humans were infected, it began to spread very quickly - aided by the lost biodiversity that we have experienced over the past few decades and the interconnectivity of the world that we live in. The conditions were there for this pandemic to begin, and they are still there for another one to start. So, what can we do to prevent the next pandemic? It starts with a greater respect for the environment and for biodiversity. Humanity has, for the most part, weathered the current pandemic - we need to make sure the next one isn’t worse.
William Brown, Year 13, Reeves House
