What caused the pandemic?

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. 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).

“Why has this increase

happened? Because of us.” 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 The amount of zoonoses discovered each year have COVID-19 originated in bats, then spread to pango 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 habi- lins, then to humans. In order for the disease to tat for bats. It was through this closer contact to spread, this would’ve had to happen in a very short wildlife that the virus managed to spread to humans time frame - and the Huanan market is one of the and begin an epidemic - whereas in the past it places where all three species could come into conmight’ve been confined to bats. tact. Once humans were infected, it began to spread very quickly - aided by the lost biodiversity that we There’s another factor that affects diseases - biodi- have experienced over the past few decades and the versity. Let’s say we have a disease that can infect interconnectivity of the world that we live in. pigeons. In a highly diverse environment, there might be a few pigeons - but there are enough other The conditions were there for this pandemic to species that cannot get infected to prevent the dis- begin, and they are still there for another one to ease from spreading like wildlife. Now let’s say that start. So, what can we do to prevent the next panthis environment has been turned into a human set- demic? It starts with a greater respect for the envitlement and has been deforested. Species that could- ronment and for biodiversity. Humanity has, for the n’t adapt to the change have moved or died, leaving most part, weathered the current pandemic - we only the most adaptable species - such as a pigeon. need to make sure the next one isn’t worse. 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.