Experts Mention the Role of Humans in the Emergence of Corona Disease

Bisnis.com, JAKARTA – Scientists continue to study the new coronavirus in hopes of producing a vaccine. On the other hand, most experts agree that the virus originated in bats and that its first cases could be linked to a seafood market in Wuhan, China.

However, the BBC’s new program Extinction: The Facts hosted by broadcaster David Attenborough reveals why scientists believe humans can also be blamed for their relationship with nature.

Peter Daszak, a disease ecologist with the EcoHealth Alliance, said researchers have seen the pandemic outbreak rates increase over the previous period.

“We’ve had swine flu, SARS, Ebola, and we’ve always asked where it came from or what might have caused it? We have found that humans are behind every pandemic, the human impact on the environment drives disease, “he was quoted as saying Express UK, Tuesday (22/9/2020).

Daszak explained to what extent the impact of the trading industry at the global level has an effect on this. He said the wildlife trade was at an unprecedented level.

According to him, humans now have a very large market with tens of thousands of live animals, spreading the virus through feces and urine. This is where the virus is most likely to spread.

“We’ve seen a huge increase in the use of fur trim for winter jackets, and that means hundreds of thousands of animals are being raised on farms,” ​​he said.

Felicia Keesing, a disease ecologist from Bard College explains how this infection can be transmitted from animals to humans. He said animals have many different viruses circulating in their bodies, just like humans.

Furthermore, one of the clearest ways that the virus is more likely to jump is with more animal-human contact. It gets worse when the animals are stressed so they release the virus at a higher rate.

Daszak believes human intervention in natural habitats plays a big role in pandemic outbreaks, including Covid-19. According to him, about 31 percent of all diseases that arise come from the process of land use change, while humans continue to encroach on wildlife habitats.

Forests around the world, which have high biodiversity, contain thousands of unknown viruses. So, once humans start making connections, inevitably the virus starts to be exposed too.

“The first person who entered the flight camp, went out hunting for meat from wild animals, then caught the virus. That’s how HIV came about, ”said Daszak.

He also explained how the consumption of the product by humans also increases the risk. After the animals enter the farm, the virus passes from wildlife to livestock, then to humans. Each of these steps has brought people closer to wildlife and the virus.

Keesing also explains why destroying natural habitats can increase the numbers of small animals such as bats, which can eventually carry and spread disease.

According to his judgment, when humans change the natural habitat of animals, something else also plays a role. Not all species make people sick. Often, the best reservoirs for pathogens are smallish species such as mice and bats.

When humans have intact natural systems with high biodiversity, these small species remain under control. However, when humans destroy habitats, the big predators and herbivores disappear first.

That is, the species with a small body is the winner. They breed wild. They live in super-high densities and are much more likely to make humans sick, he said.