The question is similar to the children’s question “Who is stronger – a whale or an elephant?”. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as pathogenic E. coli strains, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella orcytobacter, take much more lives than new viruses that appear every few years, kill several hundred or thousands of people and disappear. Of course, there is a story with the Spanish flu, which at the beginning of the 20th century killed millions. But then there was a war, the usual way of life was replaced, everything was mixed up. In addition, typhoid fever caused by the Salmonella bacterium was then dying like flies.
Most new exotic viruses had animals as the original hosts. (like the new coronavirus from China – Note Ed.). The increasing pressure of man on the wild increases the number of contacts between people and exotic animals – where they still remain. At first, these new viruses are highly pathogenic, that is, they greatly harm the health of the infected person. But, adapting to humans, they tend to become less dangerous, because for a successful epidemic, it is important for the virus not to kill the infected host, but to spread to as many individuals as possible.
For ordinary Russians, the likelihood of catching a bacterial infection that will be resistant to all major antibiotics is now much higher than contracting an exotic virus that has flared up in Africa or China.
The problem with viruses is that we do not know how to specifically destroy them inside the patient. This is a fundamental difference from bacterial diseases, where antibiotics really kill the pathogen. Therefore, the best way to prevent viral infections is to vaccinate healthy people.
Modern methods of molecular biology allow you to create potential vaccines against new viruses in six months or even less. However, then it will take several more years to prove the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, to certify it, to introduce it in the schedule of vaccinations, to produce in sufficient quantities, and so on. By that time everyone will forget about today’s virus, another will arise. Therefore, universal vaccination of the inhabitants of Russia with a still non-existent vaccine for the Wuhan virus is completely unnecessary. Although it is clear that activities on such a development are very beneficial for politicians, scientists, and industrialists who receive contracts for it.
If suddenly the number of people not vaccinated against the old known viruses reaches the limit, we can return “to the blessed old days.” Then the measles virus will be transmitted from the sick person not yet vaccinated, and many of them will diebecause there are no drugs against this disease. But now we can detect new viruses in a matter of days and just as quickly develop methods for their diagnosis. So at least stocking up with popcorn and monitoring the spread of the infection and the associated evolution of the virus is relatively simple.
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