03-21-2020, 09:09 AM
Just using this as a place to hold larger articles I am finding.
This next one is about bats. My question is how is it that they were allowed to be sold in a market? How did the transmission happen? Was it from eating a bat, touching it, getting a bite? Coming in touch with its feces?
And then-it may be that it isn't even from a bat-it is just that it is similar to that found in bats. But I am still researching.
Someone gave me this article:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/19/health/co...xHtWTn1P88
The underlying causes of zoonotic spillover from bats or from other wild species have almost always -- always -- been shown to be human behavior," said Cunningham. "Human activities are causing this."
When a bat is stressed -- by being hunted, or having its habitat damaged by deforestation -- its immune system is challenged and finds it harder to cope with pathogens it otherwise took in its stride. "We believe that the impact of stress on bats would be very much as it would be on people," said Cunningham.
"It would allow infections to increase and to be excreted -- to be shed. You can think of it like if people are stressed and have the cold sore virus, they will get a cold sore. That is the virus being 'expressed.' This can happen in bats too."
Pathogens that have evolved in bats can withstand a high body temperature, so a human fever will not work as a defense mechanism.
In the likely epicenter of the virus -- the so-called wet-markets of Wuhan, China -- where wild animals are held captive together and sold as delicacies or pets, a terrifying mix of viruses and species can occur.
"If they are being shipped or held in markets, in close proximity to other animals or humans," said Cunningham, "then there is a chance those viruses are being shed in large numbers." He said the other animals in a market like that are also more vulnerable to infection as they too are stressed.
We are also destroying their habitats into landscapes that are more human-dominated. Animals are mixing in weird ways that have never happened before. So in a wet market, you are going to have a load of animals in cages on top of each other."
Cunningham and Jones both pointed to one factor that means rare instances of zoonotic spillover can turn into global problems in weeks. "Spillovers from wild animals will have occurred historically, but the person who would have been infected would probably have died or recovered before coming into contact with a large number of other people in a town or in a city," said Cunningham.
"These days with motorized transport and planes you can be in a forest in central Africa one day, and in a city like central London the next."
Jones agreed. "Any spillover you might have had before is magnified by the fact there is so many of us, and we are so well connected."
There are two simple lessons, they say, that humanity can learn, and must learn fast.
First, bats are not to blame, and might actually help provide the solution. "It's easy to point the finger at the host species," said Cunningham.
"But actually it's the way we interact with them that has led to the pandemic spread of the pathogen." He added that their immune systems are poorly understood and may provide important clues. "Understanding how bats cope with these pathogens can teach us how to deal with them, if they spillover to people."
It's not OK to transform a forest into agriculture without understanding the impact that has on climate, carbon storage, disease emergence and flood risk," said Jones. "You can't do those things in isolation without thinking about what that does to humans."
This next one is about bats. My question is how is it that they were allowed to be sold in a market? How did the transmission happen? Was it from eating a bat, touching it, getting a bite? Coming in touch with its feces?
And then-it may be that it isn't even from a bat-it is just that it is similar to that found in bats. But I am still researching.
Someone gave me this article:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/19/health/co...xHtWTn1P88
The underlying causes of zoonotic spillover from bats or from other wild species have almost always -- always -- been shown to be human behavior," said Cunningham. "Human activities are causing this."
When a bat is stressed -- by being hunted, or having its habitat damaged by deforestation -- its immune system is challenged and finds it harder to cope with pathogens it otherwise took in its stride. "We believe that the impact of stress on bats would be very much as it would be on people," said Cunningham.
"It would allow infections to increase and to be excreted -- to be shed. You can think of it like if people are stressed and have the cold sore virus, they will get a cold sore. That is the virus being 'expressed.' This can happen in bats too."
Pathogens that have evolved in bats can withstand a high body temperature, so a human fever will not work as a defense mechanism.
In the likely epicenter of the virus -- the so-called wet-markets of Wuhan, China -- where wild animals are held captive together and sold as delicacies or pets, a terrifying mix of viruses and species can occur.
"If they are being shipped or held in markets, in close proximity to other animals or humans," said Cunningham, "then there is a chance those viruses are being shed in large numbers." He said the other animals in a market like that are also more vulnerable to infection as they too are stressed.
We are also destroying their habitats into landscapes that are more human-dominated. Animals are mixing in weird ways that have never happened before. So in a wet market, you are going to have a load of animals in cages on top of each other."
Cunningham and Jones both pointed to one factor that means rare instances of zoonotic spillover can turn into global problems in weeks. "Spillovers from wild animals will have occurred historically, but the person who would have been infected would probably have died or recovered before coming into contact with a large number of other people in a town or in a city," said Cunningham.
"These days with motorized transport and planes you can be in a forest in central Africa one day, and in a city like central London the next."
Jones agreed. "Any spillover you might have had before is magnified by the fact there is so many of us, and we are so well connected."
There are two simple lessons, they say, that humanity can learn, and must learn fast.
First, bats are not to blame, and might actually help provide the solution. "It's easy to point the finger at the host species," said Cunningham.
"But actually it's the way we interact with them that has led to the pandemic spread of the pathogen." He added that their immune systems are poorly understood and may provide important clues. "Understanding how bats cope with these pathogens can teach us how to deal with them, if they spillover to people."
It's not OK to transform a forest into agriculture without understanding the impact that has on climate, carbon storage, disease emergence and flood risk," said Jones. "You can't do those things in isolation without thinking about what that does to humans."