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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'A common germ pool': The frightening origins of the coronavirus
https://grist.org/climate/a-common-germ-pool-the-frightening-environmental-origins-of-covid-19/?utm_content=buffer3276c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&fbclid=IwAR3S1u31sW4UlKvEe9IK1tGpac9D4qiVzopMK1SSdu1tLvr53DLDc72R04oIn November 2002, a 46-year-old man from the Chinese coastal province of Guangdong developed a fever and struggled to breathe. Not much is known about him except that he was a local government official with a wife and daughter. But, as David Quammen writes in his book Spillover, a note in his medical history jumps out: He had recently helped to prepare meals that included chicken, domestic cat, and snake.
This man had one of the earliest suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, the disease that later became known as SARS. (Quammen doesnt report whether he survived.) Like COVID-19, the pandemic currently sweeping across the globe, SARS was a coronavirus. And like COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, SARS originally came from animals.
Some 60 percent of the new diseases that crop up around the globe each year are zoonotic meaning they come from domesticated animals or wildlife. Scientists have found that infectious diseases are now emerging more rapidly than in the past. In the 1950s, some 30 new infectious diseases were reported over the course of the decade, according to a study in the journal Nature. In the 1980s, the number reported jumped to nearly 100. Part of that increase is likely a result of how we are treating the environment.
~snip
SARS originated in bats, likely by way of the mongoose-like civet cat. The Middle East respiratory syndrome known as MERS also came from bats and was passed to humans through camels. Its too early to say exactly where COVID-19 began, but it likely traveled from bats to scaly anteaters called pangolins to humans. Such species-to-species spillovers are common, and to some degree inevitable.
~snip
Bernstein offered a sobering warning that the coronavirus is not the worst pandemic possible. Weve gotten a few shots over the bow here, he said. Weve had SARS, MERS, COVID, HIV. We need to see what nature is trying to tell us here. We need to recognize that were playing with fire.
This man had one of the earliest suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, the disease that later became known as SARS. (Quammen doesnt report whether he survived.) Like COVID-19, the pandemic currently sweeping across the globe, SARS was a coronavirus. And like COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, SARS originally came from animals.
Some 60 percent of the new diseases that crop up around the globe each year are zoonotic meaning they come from domesticated animals or wildlife. Scientists have found that infectious diseases are now emerging more rapidly than in the past. In the 1950s, some 30 new infectious diseases were reported over the course of the decade, according to a study in the journal Nature. In the 1980s, the number reported jumped to nearly 100. Part of that increase is likely a result of how we are treating the environment.
~snip
SARS originated in bats, likely by way of the mongoose-like civet cat. The Middle East respiratory syndrome known as MERS also came from bats and was passed to humans through camels. Its too early to say exactly where COVID-19 began, but it likely traveled from bats to scaly anteaters called pangolins to humans. Such species-to-species spillovers are common, and to some degree inevitable.
~snip
Bernstein offered a sobering warning that the coronavirus is not the worst pandemic possible. Weve gotten a few shots over the bow here, he said. Weve had SARS, MERS, COVID, HIV. We need to see what nature is trying to tell us here. We need to recognize that were playing with fire.
Much more at link - the article is from last month, but I just saw it & it's very informative & interesting
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'A common germ pool': The frightening origins of the coronavirus (Original Post)
JimGinPA
Apr 2020
OP
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,895 posts)1. Quammen's book is amazing, and I strongly recommend it.
roamer65
(36,747 posts)2. Population reduction would mitigate the problem.
Less people to invade habitats to which we do not belong.
We are killing this planet.
Thekaspervote
(32,793 posts)3. Agree
LisaM
(27,830 posts)4. That is such a solid argument.
I remember the ZPG movement. I've done my part. I have not had any kids, though I would have dearly loved to have. I don't know how to get the message across.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)5. The US has been below replacement for about 50 years now (nt)
LisaM
(27,830 posts)7. We aren't distributed correctly.
The coastal cities are too full while beautiful cities like Detroit are well under capacity.
Duppers
(28,127 posts)6. K & R to counter RW talking points.
Thanks for posting this.